Eating in Valencia
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Tips on Paella
- To recognize "real" local paella from tourist junk, avoid any places with large paella pictures on the door step. This is a sure sign for frozen/microwaved paella.
- When possible, make reservations or arrive early (no later than 2PM), especially on Sunday, because these restaurants fill up quite quickly on the weekend.
- Paella is typically eaten at mid-day (between 2-5PM), so many restaurants do not serve it at dinner. Be careful of those that do as this is not the custom here and the quality of the paella may be poor.
- The paella pan is of a size that almost all restaurants require a minimum of two servings for an order. Restaurants that allow ordering one order are likely serving frozen paella.
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Local paella — There are several versions of this tasteful rice dish, some with meat (chicken and/or rabbit usually), others with fish or seafood, or even meat and fish at the same time. It is very difficult to say which is the "real" paella, as every person has his/her own version (Though NO paella that deserves this name contains sausage, ham or meat broth, for instance). If you want to eat an authentic Paella, try it at the Malvarrosa beach area; you will find there are several good restaurants. The authentic Valencian Paella is made only with fresh ingredients, in a special iron pan and using a fire made with wood (not gas or electricity).
Arròs a banda and arròs negre — This rice is black because it contains squid ink. You can find these dishes at the same places as above.
Fideuà, a paella-like dish, with short noodles and fish, was invented in the Gandía and Denia area (Alicante) and can be usually found in paella restaurants. It deserves a try too.
All i pebre — All i pebre is made of eel, a snake like fish typical from the Albufera, a lagoon near Valencia. You can drive to El Palmar and taste it there. Delicious, but a very special taste. You can find good paella, and other traditional dishes at the restaurants here too.
Llet merengada — A kind of milk-based soft ice cream with a cinnamon-lemon taste.
Bunyols — Fried doughnuts, sometimes round shaped, sometimes like rings. Widely available only during March. Dip them in hot chocolate. Sometimes they are too oily, so don't eat a lot of them or you will not be hungry again for several hours. If you can choose the 'carabasa' (pumpkin) version, you should try it. They are generally tastier.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Valencia
