Unless you are prepared to seek out a good version of this dish and pay for it, the best advice I can give you about sampling this seemingly quintessential Spanish dish is don't bother.

Just as over the decades I've heard plenty of Spaniards moan about how bad the food they ate in London was, I've heard just as many visitors to Spain complain about the awful paellas they've had there.

Spain has traditionally been perhaps Europe's greatest consumer of rice, yet until quite recently, few cook books outlined recipes for many rice dishes as it was a low-status food eaten by the poor.

Rice in Spanish is 'Arroz' and there are a legion of celebrated Arroz dishes from around the country which are superb and worth hunting out. Paella dishes make up a mere fraction of these.

Whilst every family in and around Valencia may have its own unique set of paella recipes, what constitutes these real paellas is actually quite limited as they are made within a rigid set of parameters. Whilst a paella takes its name from the circular paellera pan, not all Arroz dishes made in a paellera are paellas.

So what is a paella? It is hard to define as one needs to know what ingredients were obtainable and in season in the Valencia region, but there are only a few we recognise, so it's probably best to just list those.

Undisputed paella:
Made with chicken and rabbit, beans (artichokes in Spring) with variations including snails and chickpeas (in Southern Valencia)
This is the real Paella Valenciana. An excellent description in English in the second post here. (most of the subsequent posts aren't paellas)

Paella de Marisco:
Usually mussels, squid, cuttlefish, prawns, langoustines - there are also a couple of variations based on different kinds of lobster (like bogavante or langosta). Be very wary of any paella de marisco loaded with lots of vegetables, especially peas.

Paella de Pato:
In the swampy areas where rice is grown, ducks were more plentiful than rabbits, this paella is kind of similar to the Paella Valenciana but duck is used instead of rabbit.

Paella de Verduras:
Now I'm really stretching the definition of paella. This is a vegetarian dry rice dish made with vegetables from the region. Some Valencians accept this as a paella, some don't. This is the kind I myself make most often and I personally consider it to be Arroz de Verduras, especially as I make it with ingredients sourced in London and cook it indoors.

Paella Morena:
One final pull on the definition of paella
This is a favourite of mine and as far as you can stretch a paella before it becomes another fabulous regional speciality - Arroz a Banda. It's made with fish stock, cuttlefish and artichoke. It's also (along with the Paella de Verduras) the only kind of paella where onions are acceptable.

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Paellas are very much special occasion dishes and are rarely, if ever, served to order. You eat them when the paella is good and ready. A Spaniard will usually have to 'encargar' (order) one in advance and turn up with enough friends/family to make it worthwhile.

Foreign tourists to Valencia seem to expect to find paella on demand in the city centre. Spanish visitors know they have to make an effort and book tables at lunch time at one of the out of town restaurants that specialise in this dish. There are always coach loads of visitors who travel to these restaurants specially yet few are from English speaking countries.


There are a couple of restaurants within the city of Valencia that offer good paellas. It's best to book in advance, and accept that the experience won't be cheap, note also that they may need a minimum number of diners.

One of these is Chust Godoy.
Or you might like to try
Tinto y Oro - Calle de los Sogueros, 4 (on the corner of Calle de Ripalda), telephone 963153901 MAP
If you want Paella on the beach, at Playa Patacona there is La Ferradura another decent place to sample this speciality. MAP

On the outskirts of Valencia:
Restaurant Rossinyol in Náquera - carretera Valencia-Serra, Km 16 Náquera telephone; 961681007 MAP
Or there is L'Andana, Avda Juan XXIII, 69, telephone 962433939 MAP

Restaurante Paco Gandia in Pinosa (Alicante) - San Francisco, 2
Telephone 965 47 80 23 MAP
This place has been getting a lot of English language attention on the internet (such as this WSJ article where it gets raved about). The place seems to conform to pretty much everything I know and would expect to find in a great Arroceria but be warned that the price is particularly high, and from what I can tell from Spanish reviews, service is not so hospitable, and it's much better if you can get a group of at least ten people together - call them first to make sure they can accommodate one or two people and what options you'd have.
(I admit I feel quite ashamed that I took this sort of dining experience so much for granted as a child).

Outside of Valencia
Murcia - http://www.rinconhuertano.com/
Ibiza - http://www.hoteltorredelmar.com/
Tokyo - Ginza Espero