Best place for Paella?

"best area"?... that's a nonsense, there's no best area for food, if anything there's best restaurants or best cooks. It's absurd to believe that just because something originated in such or such area means that every restaurant there is going to be cooking that dish decently. Are all the "best" pizzerias in -and only in- Italy?... I don't think so :))

Anyhow, paella is just one of the many rice dishes that are indigenous to these shores of the Mediterranean, from Catalonia to Murcia. If one wants to be picky, paella in particular is thought to have been 'invented' in Valencia but it's commonly served in most restaurants across the other regions. In Catalonia, it's tradition for paella to be part of the menu-del-dia in maaaany restaurants on Thursdays. But again, it doesn't mean all restaurants are staffed with decent cooks, if you catch my drift! It's also a regular home cooked dish.

In Barcelona, one of the best restaurants for paella and other rice dishes (mar i muntanya -sort of surf'n'turf-, arroç del Senyoret, etc...) is El 7 Portes, located to the south of El Gòtic neighbourhood. Another one is La Mar Salada in La Barceloneta neighbourhood. Here a few more: http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/restaurants/barcelonas-best-paellas-the-rice-stuff

Thank you, Enric!! I was actually being rather facetious when I said "best area" for Paella, but I did, in fact, see a post somewhere, mentioning not to order paella in somewhere(maybe Sevilla?) You must order it in......(Valencia, Barcelona?) Reason given was because it was specific to the region. So your reply was what I was hoping for and we will enjoy one of your suggestions!! And we are enjoying your city, too!!!! Montserrat yesterday, Sagrada Familia, Cass Mila, Casa Battlo day before. Today Barri Gotic plus more. Enjoying it all!!

Glad you're enjoying...!

It originated in Valencia and they take pride there in preparing it. But Enric is right in that you still can find good paella, often prepared in regional variations, in different areas. I've had great paella in Cuba of all places.

One key is to always avoid paella from restaurants that show it on menus with helpful photos. Those are pre-made, frozen dishes that are then reheated for tourists that don't know any better. And while some restaurants will genuinely serve it as a daily special in short order to individual diners, the genuine dish almost always needs a longer preparation and at least two diners.

I had great paella at Somor Rostro in the Barcelonetto neighborhood. But it may not be something they serve all the time. I can also recommend an excellent place in Valencia if you are going there.

"obviously" Douglas :)).... Cuba was one of the colonies where lots of Catalans and Valencians moved to, back in the 1800s.

Being from Barcelona, Enric shows a little chauvinism -- not only is Valencia the place for Paella, the true dish is not done with seafood, but with chicken, rabbit, and beans. Second place goes to the black version, with squid ink.
The seafood version comes in third. :-)

I was telling a taxi driver in Valencia about being on my first trip to Catalunya and he forcibly corrected me -- when you get up to Tarragona, then you'll be in Catalunya, he said. "Valencia is not Catalunya!" It was a nice echo of the many 'Catalunya is not Spain' signs that you see in Barcelona.

El Barquet in Tarragona is a favourite of mine for rice dishes, black rice especially.

http://www.restaurantbarquet.com

Thank you to all!! Interesting information and helpful!!

Donna,
Please try and arrange a meeting with Eric to buy this guy a beverage of his choice as his posts are spot on with excellent guidance (plus if you ask him to pick the place I bet you will be taken to a place few tourists will know and you shall enjoy an excellent experience.)!

whatever you say avirosemail... but the fact is the best Valencian cooks are working at the restaurants in Barcelona and in Madrid. Besides, as with other many dishes (ie. gazpacho, xató, samfaina, etc) there's never "one way" of doing it as it varies from one town to the next town down the road.

Yes, Enric, I'm just joshing. The Valencians were annoyed with me when I said that the California version of horchata is better than theirs, and I also miffed a few Catalunyan cooks by saying that our alta california variation of their catalunyan canelones in bechamel sauce--called here enchiladas suizas-- are also tastier.

In fact, sometimes I wonder why I gain so much weight during vacation when all the really good cooking is right here at home...
As Herb Caen used to say, like all San Franciscans, when we get to heaven we will look around and say "It's nice, but it ain't San Francisco."

LOL!... what a silly thing to say, everybody knows Heaven is here in Catalonia, hahaha!
Hope guys you have a nice time visiting my turf :))

Enric is indeed right.
One Night In Heaven (M People 1993) definitely finds us in Catalonia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCekWXCO6Uc

My daughter and I are planning on taking a cooking class in Barcelona and make paella.
Then on the way back to Cuenca, we are stopping in Valencia for a night and I would love
to know where to get the best Valencian paella! We are staying at the El Coso hotel and of
course, the person there told me their restaurant has good paella, but I would love to hear
the restaurant recommendations and good seafood restaurant in Barcelona. Thanks!

No doubt too late for Donna, but maybe still timely for phylliscountryman, in Barcelona you might try Can Majo, which is in Barceloneta but several blocks away from the long strip of tourist-touting seafood restaurants. A Catalan friend recommended it to me as serving "the best paella in Barcelona". I sought it out and found it, with quite a bit of walking and inquiring, and when I arrived mid-evening on a weekday evening, they were jam-packed and fully reserved, mostly with locals it seemed, but they told me to come back in a while and they would try. I did, they did, and I was seated about 10:15 pm. You might do more research and make a reservation. My seafood paella was prepared for me, took a while to come out of the kitchen, and was excellent, but I am not experienced enough to know how it might compare to others.

Just a piece of advice... a paella has to be cooked on the spot so to speak, so if you order a paella in a restaurant and it's served before say 25' or so then it means it's ready-made, either made a few hours earlier or worst, one of those un-edible Paellador-type frozen ready-to-eat.... avoid the later at all cost! (hint: Paellador is the brand you want to avoid!) If it has been made a few hours earlier but it's been made by a good cook, it might just be acceptable but note that rice is at its best 5-10' after has left the stove, from there it's all "downhill". Many restaurants -the good ones anyway- when you ask for paella they already warn you that I'll take nearly half an hour... take that as a good hint :))

Enric, my spies on the ground in BCN tell me Montalban Casa Jose in Poble Sec is a very good place for seafood and rice. Are you familiar with this locale ?

Been told so too, but I've not tried myself (yet!) You see, rice dishes -whether paella or any of the many other typical ones here in Catalonia, such as arròs negre (black rice), rice casserole, arròs de marisc, mar i muntanya, arròs a la marinera, etc.- is something one's mum really excels at, and when she comes to visit she knows it's always appreciated when she cooks one... so it's difficult afterwards to find a restaurant surpassing hers, LOL!

we enjoyed paella made on the beach at Ayos in Nerja, just like on the RS tv show. It may have been the lovely beach view, the sunny skies or possibly the several pitchers of sangria, but it was darn good. We also stumbled onto a children's festival in Segovia where there was a massive paella party going on in the town square above the aquaduct, and it too was fantastic! Something about watching the locals make it in giant pans right in front of you.... Yum!

The question of who has the best seafood paella has been definitively settled in a recent contest (meaning promotion) in Cullera with celebrity judges and everything:

http://www.lasprovincias.es/comunitat/201605/24/restaurante-casa-granero-serra-20160524201531.html

Use the restaurants listed in the article as suggestions for your stops in the area. ;-)