The gastronomy of the Comunitat Valenciana is characterised by its wealth of flavours and ingredients from the orchard, the sea and the mountains, which together give rise to exquisite dishes that will leave you with fond memories of your stay. Paella and rice dishes undoubtedly stand out, but there is much more: hearty stews and pots for dipping, top quality fish, grilled meats, delicious desserts and wines with designation of origin. Whether in the form of signature cuisine or tapas, you’re sure to enjoy yourself, and if you don’t know where to start, don’t worry because we’ve prepared a list of the best restaurants in the Valencian Community.
Post content
Which are the best restaurants in Valencia?
València’s restaurants are a reference point for their traditional-style paella and for their top-quality rice dishes. Bomba rice, garden produce, fish from the Albufera and lamb, pork and beef from the inland are the ingredients you will find on your table in the restaurants listed below, an example of good Valencian cuisine.
1. Restaurant Bon Aire
The motto of Bon Aire could not be better chosen, “rice and tradition” are the two words that have accompanied this restaurant since its origins in 1982, when rice dishes were already its star dish. Dry, baked and sweet rice dishes are still the speciality of the house today, although we can also find meat, seafood and fish of the highest quality. In addition to the à la carte menu, the Bon Aire restaurant offers three different set menus:
- Bon Aire Menu: includes a starter, main course (rice) and dessert tasting for 22€.
- Albufera Menu: similar to the previous one but with a wider range of rice dishes. It costs 30€ per person.
- Special Menu: is the same as the previous ones but the rice dishes have ingredients such as seafood and foi. It costs 36€.
Bon Aire is one of the best-known restaurants in Valencia as it is located next to the Albufera. It is open every day of the week from 9:30h to 18:00h.
2. Bodega Anyora
The Anyora restaurant, located in the heart of the Canyamelar neighbourhood, pays homage in each dish to the traditional dishes, those that our grandmother used to make and whose flavours are still present in our memories. Croquettes, cannelloni, omelettes? Their dishes are simple because the important thing is the product, always of the highest quality. And we cannot forget the wine. The Anyora winery has an extensive wine list of organic, natural and biodynamic wines that are perfect with their dishes.
The winery makes a nod to the past with its decoration. In the room we can find wooden doors, tiles, earthenware jars and other elements that seem to be taken from another era. You can enjoy this charming wine cellar every day except Sunday.
The prices are quite affordable, you can eat wonderfully for less than 20€. They also have a menu of the day during the week, for 16€ for the “petit menu” and for 28€ for the “menu batiste”, ideal for groups.
3. Llisa Negra
Quique Dacosta surprises us once again with this project called Llisa Negra, which is located in the heart of Valencia and is committed to product-based cuisine. The embers and the fire are the protagonists of the menu, as diners can see the grill from their seats. Llisa Negra’s speciality is undoubtedly fish and seafood from the Valencian Community, although we can also find Galician beef.
Chef Quique Dacosta, who has three Michelin stars behind him, offers two tasting menus in addition to the à la carte menu:
- Menu Llisa Negra: includes 8 courses for 63€.
- Menu A Poqueta nuit: includes 5 passes for 49€.
The restaurant is closed on Mondays and only offers dinner on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Travel Tip: To organize your trip we recommend using Passporter totally free. You can be inspired by the experiences of other travelers, choose the places that interest you most, create the travel route with a geolocated map, upload all important documents such as reservations and invite your friends so that everyone can participate in the organization of the trip.
Which are the best restaurants in Alicante?
In Alicante there are two very different gastronomic areas: one on the coast and the other inland. While on the coast, fish and seafood dishes are more popular, inland you will find dishes whose main ingredient is meat. Here are some of our favourite restaurants where chefs are able to combine the best of the sea and the mountains.
1. Pont-Sec
By the hand of Pep Romany, the architect of this gastronomic project, the Pont-Sec restaurant has managed to fuse tradition, territory and seasonality to offer its customers a culinary experience they will not forget. Its dishes are history and memories, but also innovation and avant-garde, as they never miss the opportunity to experiment and surprise with new ideas.
The speciality of Pont-Sec is the cocas, made with care and local ingredients of the highest quality, and baked with precision at the time of serving. For between €3.5 and €7.5, depending on the ingredients, you can enjoy this crunchy, seasonal-flavoured marvel. The restaurant is also famous for its rice dishes, fresh fish and meat dishes. The menu is quite extensive, so you won’t find it easy to make up your mind when faced with such a delicious offer.
A meal at Pont-Sec for two people costs around 80€-100€. But it’s also possible to enjoy their food on weekdays at more affordable prices with the menú del día for 25€. The restaurant is in Dénia and is open every day except Sunday evenings and Mondays.
2. La Ereta
Indecisive when it comes to choosing something from the menu? Then La Ereta is the restaurant for you. La Ereta offers a tasting menu that combines traditional cuisine with the most modern cooking techniques and methods, inviting diners to let themselves be carried away.
Dani Frias, alma mater of the project, and his team have designed two tasting menus to delight our senses. The first is called “Ereta menu” and consists of seven courses (€69). The second, “Degus”, includes ten courses (€85). Both can be accompanied by a wine pairing for an additional €35.
The food is sensational, and the views leave nothing to be desired. The restaurant is located in an elevated area of Alicante, so you can see the whole city from the dining room. La Ereta is open every day of the week except Mondays and Tuesdays, and Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
3. La Perla de Xàbia/Jávea
This restaurant opened its doors in 1984 as a small family business, and over the years it has done nothing but evolve and surprise its diners. Their cuisine is based on local and quality produce, whose flavours are enhanced by the use of the most advanced techniques.
The restaurant’s chefs receive fresh ingredients daily from the Jávea fish market, which they transform with passion and affection into tasty Mediterranean dishes whose presentation will leave you speechless. In addition, in their wine cellar they have more than 120 wine references that will make the experience even more gratifying.
The house speciality is paellas, rice dishes and fideuas, but don’t miss the opportunity to try some of their seafood-based starters such as razor clams with ratatouille and Iberian bacon, or some of their grilled fish.
A meal for two with wine costs around €100 in total, and the restaurant is open every day except Mondays, and only serves dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.
4. Ca Joan Altea
If you are a meat lover, Altea is the restaurant for you. Recognised as one of the 55 best restaurants in the Valencian Community, Altea is famous for its grilled beef. Joan Abril, founder of the project, far from focusing on Alicante’s famous rice dishes, decided to specialise in a less common ingredient in the region, beef and veal. It was the right decision, and the diners who sit at the table in his restaurant agree with it every day.
The restaurant offers both à la carte and tasting menus. There are three tasting menus or experiences, as they call them.
- Cow experience menu: includes two starters, turbot or beef chop, dessert and a bottle of wine. It costs 120€.
- Working cow experience menu: includes two starters, turbot or working cow, dessert and bottle of wine. 150€.
- Beef experience menu: includes three starters, turbot or beef chop, dessert and bottle of wine for 240€.
Which are the best restaurants in Castellón?
The cuisine of the province of Castellón has influences from the Comunitat Valenciana as well as from Catalonia and even Aragon, although the star dish is still rice dishes. The variety of Mediterranean ingredients gives rise to a very complete cuisine where there is still room for sweets. As in Alicante, there is also a long tradition of confectionery in Castellón. Pastries, both sweet and savoury, are always present on the table.
1. La Taverna de Joan Forés
La Taverna is a seasonal restaurant located in Villafranca del Cid where you will find dishes prepared with ingredients of the highest quality and unpretentious. Seafood and fish, meats, rice dishes, everything is good! In addition, their dishes combine tradition and modernity, and we can enjoy dishes such as a rice dish with artichokes and galleys, and even bull’s tail meatballs with teriyaki sauce. There are dishes to suit all tastes.
La Taverna de Joan Forés is a very pleasant place to eat, and the prices are in keeping with the quality of the dishes. You can eat very well for around 60€. They also have an extensive wine list. The restaurant is open every day except Monday, and only serves dinner on Saturdays.
2. La Farola
Between the natural parks of Sierra Calderona and Sierra de Espadán we find the restaurant La Farola in the region of Alto Palacia, an area known for its oils, sausages and rice. This small and cosy restaurant was born as a village bar, but with time and the effort of its chefs, it evolved and modernised to become a gastronomic reference in the region.
At La Farola they also have their own brand of extra virgin olive oil, Essential, with which they season all their dishes. The restaurant has an à la carte menu and a set menu during the week. During the town’s gastronomic days they also prepare an incredible tasting menu. If you are lucky enough to be near Altura, don’t hesitate to visit them any day of the week except Mondays.
3. Gastroadictos
Gastroadictos is an elegant and cosy restaurant located in a narrow white alley in the centre of Segorbe. When we walk through the front door we find a wonderful patio, spacious and tastefully decorated, a presentation that is also reflected in the restaurant’s dishes. But design is not everything. This family restaurant breaks away from the local gastronomic scene to delight our senses with delicious and complex dishes where the product is the protagonist. At Gastroadictos they take care of every detail, which is why their ingredients are local, seasonal and of the highest quality.
“Enthusiasm + fun” is Gastroadictos’ motto, which cannot describe the dining experience any better. Excitement when you open the menu and find tasting menus from €14, and fun when the dishes start to arrive, each one a work of art in itself. Whether or not you’re going to Segorbe, we highly recommend a visit to one of the best restaurants in the Valencian Community, which is only open for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday.
Visit the official website of the Comunitat Valenciana where you will find more options of restaurants.
How to organise your trip to the Valencian Community?
Register or download the Passporter App and discover all its possibilities.
- Get inspired by the experiences of other travellers.
- Create your own itinerary and add suggestions from the app.
- Add the stops that interest you most, as well as the restaurants and bars where you want to eat (you can use the points of interest listed in this post as a reference).
- Organise your itinerary by route days according to their location on the map.
- Check the travel budget that the app calculates for you based on your travel stops, restaurants, and leisure activities.
- Make any changes you need to make and you’re all set for your trip.
- Share your experience. Upload photos of the places you have visited on your trip to the app and recommend the best restaurants in the Valencian Community to other travellers.
If you have any doubts about how to organise your trip, you can consult our post: How to create a travel itinerary in Passporter.
Frequently asked questions when travelling to the Valencian Community
The most typical dish of the Valencian Community is paella, however, its cuisine is very varied, and in addition to excellent rice dishes it offers typical dishes such as Fideua, Olla Valenciana, Horchata, cocas, Esgarraet, Titaina, or Ail i pebre among other fantastic dishes full of flavour.
The cuisine of the Valencian Community is famous for its garden produce, so it is normal to find vegan and vegetarian options on the menu. If not, ask the waiter, the chefs usually have no problem adapting the menu.
The Valencian Community also has a sweet tooth, and in fact, there are some very good pastry chefs and bakeries like these:
-Valencia: La Rosa de Jericó, Trufas Martinez, Nibs, Torreblanca.
-Castellón: Damablanca, San Vicent, Namelaka.
–Alicante: Dalua, Opalo, Prefiero Sussu, Crujiente.
No Comments