The best restaurants in the province of Valencia
Alchemist (Luis de Santoángel, 1; tel. 685 20 14 13) €€
Unprejudiced and free Italian cuisine.
Mario Tarroni (born in Ravenna and owner of this place) is a chef, let's say, private. His obsession is to live in peace and also natural wines. In fact, Alquimista is one of those few (still) restaurants where you can enjoy a excellent variety of wines without sulfites . It is appreciated.
Also the mortadella, mozzarella and arugula piadina with which the menu almost always starts, and the variety of homemade pastas.
We like them all, but when there's a truffle involved, it's easy to lose track of time (and space).
A secret that is no longer a secret: you can take the wine with you without problems and also buy fresh pasta to cook at home.
Askua (Felipe María Garín, 4; tel. 963 37 55 36) €€€€
The temple of all those gourmets who unconditionally love the product: here one comes to devour excellence and stop experimenting.
Who can best speak of this restaurant (besides that portent of the room that is Ricardo Gadea ) are their suppliers: ribeye steak from Luismi Garayar, hake shells Albert Ferreras, anchovies from Rafa López, chistorra from Patxi Larranaga (from Lasarte) or that delicacy of the gods that is the Guetaria tear pea.
And it is that Askua represents like no other this type of restaurant created to eat, drink (fantastic wine list with jewels of Burgundy, Bordeaux or Champagne) and remember the authentic values of gastronomy. Namely: honesty, product and emotion
Askua is the ideal place for eternal after-meals or to be like a perfect son-in-law.
Anyora Winery (Vicente Gallart, 15; tel. 963 55 88 09) €€
The new Cabanyal has a name of tradition: a cellar of vins i menjars de semper, where the bar is the protagonist.
They do not finish finding their gastronomic identity to the maritime towns, but Roman Navarro (also owner of Tonyina) has perhaps discovered a way with this tavern born in 1937, whose ideology is tradition and naturalness: sausages from Alfafara, lamb from Viver, salted fish from Alicante and market products in the form of preserves, offal, shellfish, titanium, classic tapas and a bar, a lot of bar.
The axis of the premises is one of them, for 12 people, where the pulse of the neighborhood beats.
His thing is to get carried away by the excellent selection of offal dishes and the v Natural wines chosen by Nicola Sacchetta.
tradition never fails
Scoundrel Bistro (Master José Serrano, 5) tel. 963 74 05 09 €€
Casual cuisine in the best sense of the word (is there another?) or why the second brands are so many times more fun than the first.
Why does one come to Canalla? To eat without thinking much about food . To share laughter, confidences, nights that will be and moments that we will remember forever.
This place is perfect as a vital stage, because its only aim is to entertain, in addition to providing good food. Its salmon, arugula and tartar cheese nem is essential, the courgette ribbon salad, sesame and mango dressing and, of course, that pastrami sandwich (a version of the mythical Katz's) which is already a city classic.
Another must on the menu: the Peking pork sandwich, without which you cannot live.
Carmel House (Isabel de Villena, 155; tel. 963 71 00 73) €€
A tricky subject, the paella, but Carmel House has achieved the unthinkable: the approval of clients, industry, colleagues and the press. It is without a doubt, “the” definitive paella.
It is said soon: from 1922 –next to the house of the writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez– , in front of La Malvarrosa beach, cooking the most purist and orthodox Valencian preparation that may exist: saffron, beans, rice, chicken, water, salt, oil, carob, rabbit and tomato; wooden spoon (served like this) with each container and, of course, always with orange wood.
Toni Novo in front of a recently renovated room and a clientele that knows what they are coming for: to eat the best paella of his life.
It is difficult to choose the starters prior to such a memorable dish. Well, in this case, you should not miss the squid.
Two seasons (Painter Salvador April, 28; tel. 963 03 46 70) €€
Perhaps the "covered" of Valencia and, precisely for that reason, essential. Market cuisine without fear of the contemporary.
**Iago Castrillón and Alberto Alonso (Patxi)** grew up under the teaching of the great Ricard Camarena to planting a pike in Ruzafa by the hand of Dos Estaciones: his house and the food house that is giving so many joys to gourmets less foodies, because here the food is the important thing.
Keys to this restaurant? Temporality, product and a sensible proposal that revolves around flavour.
Plus? Every day they bake loaves of Galician bread and enjoy the more spring kitchen ( for example of the warm vegetable stew and fennel velouté) as well as of the most autumnal hunt: hare, chestnuts and mole or wild boar loin with turnip confit. These two cooks are going out.
Its steamed skewered hake is one of the best fish dishes in Valencia, as we can assure you.
El Poblet _ (Post Office, 8; tel. 961 11 11 06) €€€€_
The most gastronomic restaurant in Quique Dacosta in Valencia live your best moment: creativity, room and dishes for the memory.
El Poblet was born in 2012 with the idea of being an embassy for Dacosta and its historic dishes from Denia: the foie cubalibre, the lively forest or the wonderful ash rice.
But Quique, in addition to being an exemplary cook, is a genius letting talent grow.
And that has been done with Luis Valls —Today in charge of the stoves.
This translates into a proposal whose hallmarks are flavor and risk in dishes such as guirra sheep gizzards, flame-fed rock mullet or grilled “Viking” churrasco.
Manuela Romeralo commands the room with the help of Teresa Pérez, in the cellar. Fun and good drinking are guaranteed.
Valencia deserved a Poblet
Kaymus (Avda. del Mestre Rodrigo, 44; tel. 963 48 66 66) €€€€
Market cuisine with one foot in creativity and the other in the pantry. Difficult balance, portentous when it happens.
Kaymus, Nacho Romero's eating house (after passing through the kitchens of Can Fabes, next to Santi Santamaría, and La Broche, with Sergi Arola), was born with the impossible challenge of flourishing in a barren neighborhood: it is a miracle that it is still standing.
A lotus flower in this mud of mediocrity that is gastronomy so often. But Nacho endures based on simplicity, talent, memory and elegance.
One note: it won't take long to do exploit Valencia with great dishes such as the scallop with veal gizzard, the vegetable rossejat and a menu of sparkling wines and Sherry wines on par with the best.
The wild sea bass marinated in red curry is “to put a floor on”.
big blue _ (Avda. de Aragón, 12; tel. 961 47 45 23) €€_
What was born as a rice restaurant in front of Mestalla It has become an essential product mecca in the Valencian Community.
People are always people. And it is that no matter how relevant the rest of the elements of the gastronomic equation seem (room, wine list, kitchen or cutlery), in the end, the most important thing is always the human factor.
The care, warmth and love of a professional like Abraham Brández , who believes at face value that truth of Curnonsky: “the kitchen exists when things have the taste of what they are”. Gran Azul is his home and also the place where we like everything: rice, fideuás, seafood, tartar, meat or wild fish.
Impossible to choose a dish, but come on: rice with nettles is (we say it loud) one of the greats of Valencia. With all that this means.
The Big Blue paella
Komori (General Gil Dolz, s/n; tel. 960 04 56 35) €€€€
Komori is the embassy of the Kabuki group in Valencia but, in reality, it is much more than that.
Exemplary Japanese cuisine with one foot in the Mediterranean.
This restaurant is the fusion of three talents: Andres Pereda (sushi man with capital letters) in the kitchen, the infinite hand of Nacho Honrubia in the room and the teachers behind the scenes of Ricardo Sanz, soul of Kabuki; There's no margin of error.
Despite flirting with other world cuisines, we stick with the sea bream sashimi with white truffle, the hamachi usuzukuri and the tremendous festival of niguiris: bull, chutoro, red tuna loin, turbot, scallop, beef tongue, sardine and grilled eel.
In the glasses, monsieur Jacques Selosse so nothing can go wrong.
Highly recommended on calm spring nights, the interior patio of the Westin. That's life.
The little room (Seneca, 12, under Esquina a Yecla; tel. 963 81 75 16) €€€€
Begona Rodrigo in a state of grace: the total cook faces her maturity looking at the terreta.
A true professional because, beyond the noise (she was the winner of the first edition of "Top Chef", presenter of the Kitchen Channel and sweeps Nómada, her most rogue gastronomic proposal) “La Rodrigo” is more focused than ever on her mother house –La Salita–.
In part thanks to a speech clearly focused on the Mediterranean and, in part, by dishes for the memory: carabinero with fennel, all i pebre with eel cooked at low temperature, artichokes with almond pesto and that cheese cart without which we can no longer imagine this room. Good, Begoña, good.
The pickled and salted tiara, in addition to its flagship dish, is a ten without hesitation.
Xiaolongbao of “all I pebre” and eel skin torrezno sandwich and paté of their cheeks from La Salita
Branch office (Juan Carlos I Royal Marina, Customs Dock, s/n; tel. 963 74 66 65) €€€
Brilliant gastronomic proposal of the f family savior in which, without a doubt, it is one of the most spectacular settings of this new Valencia.
It is on the third floor of Veles e Vents, that fabulous terrace in the gastronomic space of contemporary culture designed by David Chipperfield , which is already Icon of La Marina and also of that city that wants to look at the sea again.
The kitchen is in the hands of Miriam Andres Salvador, something that is as good a sign as it is honest is her speech –once the path of the avant-garde has been abandoned, the best refuge is always the territory–: squid bites, cod brandade brioche or sea tripe with broad beans; always under the watchful eye of that exemplary room that is Javier de Andrés.
The setting, from which you can see an immense and beautiful Mediterranean, is unparalleled. Enjoy it, especially, at sunset.
momiji _ (Mercado de Colón, Jorge Juan s/n; tel. 960 70 91 75) €€€_
Kaiseki Ryory cuisine by Diego Laso on the ground floor of the Colón Market and also a must for lovers of the most essential “Japanese”.
The principles of this type of cuisine: use seasonal ingredients, preserve the natural flavor of the products and make them with heart and intuition.
It is the speech that in Momiji reaches the table, from the hand of one of the sushi man with the most future in Spain, Diego Lasso.
His perfection with the cut is almost obsessive, his sincere love for Japanese culture and for some dishes that fearlessly look at the environment: Eel temaki from La Albufera de Valencia , braised salmon nigiri, spicy tuna uramaki or salmon makizushi from Martin & Mary's fishmonger.
Much better at the bar and, if possible, order the tuna tartare.
Kaiseki Ryory Cuisine
Nozomi _ (Pedro El Grande, 11 D; tel. 961 48 77 64) €€€_
This is a full-fledged sushi bar: the closest thing to a piece of Kyoto in the middle of Ruzafa neighborhood , where orthodoxy reigns and love for the most essential and pure Japanese cuisine.
Nozomi is the house of José Miguel Herrera and Nuria Morell, that have turned this bullet train (it is its literal translation from Japanese) into the most coveted table in Valencia and also into one of the great "Japs" in Spain.
The keys? A wonderful setting with a sky of cherry blossoms inspired by origami techniques, exceptional raw material, perfection in the art of Nuria's cutting and a room where civility, silence and emotion reign.
It is advisable to let yourself be carried away by the pleasure of the Omakase tasting menu (€35) and demand that Nuria never finish dancing niguiris on the plate.
Sunday night (when many others close) is perhaps the best time to secure a spot at Nozomi. Day of visits of so many friends of the guild and with fewer reservation problems yes
Rausell _ (Ángel Guimerá, 61; tel. 963 84 31 93) €€€_
To the point: this is one of the most overwhelming bars in all of Spain. stratospheric product and the warmth of a family that truly believes in this.
Here is already the third generation of the Rausell , responsible for that eatery that helped define an entire neighborhood, back in 1945: Arrancapins.
Today the brothers command it Joseph and Michael, in addition to a militia of soldiers of that gastronomy that we love so much and who know perfectly what the diner wants: to be happy.
On the table (and in sight, on the bar) are red prawns from Denia, nettles, razor clams, organic vegetables, acorn-fed Iberian ham or Wagyu sashimi —everything, absolutely everything, we like at Rausell. May it continue like this always. . José is a great oenophile, so ask him, without fear, about the champagnes that he has off the menu.
A place for tradition and tranquility
Ricard Camarena Restaurant (Avda. de Burjasot, 54 Bombas Gens Art Center; tel. 963 35 54 18) €€€€€
The best restaurant in Valencia rises to the skies in its new location: the Bombas Gens Art Center.
If he needed something (that is to say) Ricard Camarena's kitchen was a space to match; well, he already has it.
And how. The restaurant, designed by Francesc Rifé , grows to almost 1,000 m2 and is divided into several spaces: bar, dining room, patio with garden, open and private kitchen.
And, now yes, the very personal and masterful proposal of this cook of cooks, whose essence is the flavor, territory and balance.
Each dish (impossible to reduce the experience to two or three examples) is a note of a greater symphony that has never sounded like this. A ten.
The Ricard Camarena experience stretches up to €150 but, of course, each one of them is worth it. We are facing one of the great chefs in Spain.
riff _ (Count of Altea, 18; tel. 963 33 53 53) €€€€_
The gastronomic maturity of Bernd Knöller is dressed in balance, elegance and musicality.
Since 2001 at the head of Riff and what he calls n “haute cuisine” in Valencia, Bernd has experienced all the changes of a gastronomy that here has turned from the “techno-emotional” to the product , from the most pompous to the most casual, but always sheltered in his trench of common sense and love for cooking "more from here".
Valencian tomato salad, sticky rice with mushrooms, green shoots and beer yeast or knife with cottage cheese —p perfect examples of the maturity of a professional at its best–.
Technique, cleanliness, elegance and a room that works like clockwork thanks to Paquita Pozo.
Bernd's treatment of the organic vegetables that Martin and Cécile grow in their garden in Càlig is exceptional.
Duck with Jerusalem artichoke from Riff
Saiti (Queen Doña Germana, 4; tel. 960 05 41 24) €€
Creative cuisine by the hand of Vicente Patiño. Territory, exceptional product and a room where warmth reigns.
Patiño is at his best and that is saying a lot, because we are facing one of the great discreet chefs in Spain.
In Saiti (his house of his) he unleashes a simple but very personal kitchen; Some time ago he left behind the sanbenito of his Russian salad –which is still exceptional–, to build a discourse whose DNA is the territory and the flavor: here you come to eat.
There are three options in the form of menus, €29, €39 and €59 . And his thing is to return every season to this corner of the Ensanche where gastronomy with meaning is celebrated.
Excellent selection of wines by Darío. An advice: start with bubbles and let yourself go.
Are there copyrights to a dish?
Caroline returns (Post Office, 8; tel. 963 21 86 86) €€
World cuisine with a twist or the most cosmopolitan proposal on the planet Quique Dacosta.
We really like this restaurant. Above all, its bar, in which and Chus Mirapeix pays tribute to what has always been understood by a waiter: cordial, warm and professional.
Adrián Sánchez takes the reins in the kitchen and follows the route that Luis Valls defined so well (now in El Poblet).
Cosmopolitan and fun cuisine, downtown dishes and some already essential; foie cubalibre, coca forest, crispy gizzards or chicken tikka masala taco....
Behind the warehouse is Manuela Romeralo (also world champion in cigar tasting) and its excellent selection of Sherry wines and champagnes.
€ Less than €10
€€ Up to €20
€€€ Up to €50
€€€€ More than 50 €
*You can find the 2018 Gastronomic and Wine Guide in a digital version for your devices, at Manzana , Zinium Y google play .