So where to begin? Once upon a time, about 9 days ago, GrubDaddy and GrubGirl arrived in Valencia after 8 hours of driving up from Granada. They were hungry and knew that paella and Valencia go together like white on rice. (Get it - rice?) So we decided to grab some dinner at Restaurante Felix since it was literally around the corner from our apartment.
The meal took two attempts. The first attempt was a FAIL because we walked in at 7:45pm, and the owner shoo-ed us away and told us to come back at "ocho y media" or 8:30pm. Embarrassed at our lack of siesta-ing, we went back and took a nap, and tried again closer to 9:15pm - and were now hungrier than ever for paella.
The meal started with some peanuts - tapa for the wine (GrubGirl) and beer (GrubDaddy) ordered - and was followed with some delicious toasted bread and tomato topping. The tomato concoction was amazing - olive oily, fresh meaty tomatoes - I'm not going to lie, I ate it right from the bowl once the bread was out. Nice way to lead up to the paella!
GrubDaddy ordered the Seafood Paella and I ordered the Valencian Paella (when in Rome, right?) It took around 30 minutes for the food to come out, but boy was it worth it. The Seafood Paella was crispy on the sides, and filled with shrimp, mussels, and scallops.
The Valencian Paella was filled with green peppers, fava beans, and chicken. While a tad bit salty (the theme in Spain) the meat was cooked perfectly and the beans and peppers gave a nice balance of health to an otherwise massive helping of rice.
Overall the meal was great. It definitely lived up to my expectations of paella - the one dish wonder. And just to seal the deal on paella, here's a picture of the Guinness book world record winner for the biggest paella right below our apartment.
Not really, but it's pretty freakin big. If we weren't carrying all our bags, I would have taken a swim in it. But alas, we must move on - tis the life of a traveller.
Signing off,
GrubGirl
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