Once in Valencia, the search is for paella. It is a dish that originated in Valencia and is now probably the most associated Spanish food. It is very impressive to see enormous paella pans filled with yellow rice and topped with ingredients. I think the largest I've seen is the reasonable quality version downstairs in Covent Garden.
Valencian paella is different to those typically encountered elsewhere in the world. Whereas most places serve seafood or chorizo-based types, Valencian traditionally uses chicken, rabbit and snails. The best in the world is supposedly at a place called Paco Gandia in Pinoso, which has a rabbit and snail version that brings people there. It is located about 50km from Alicante and unfortunately, as hard as I tried, I couldn't spare the time to get there.
Surprisingly within Valencia itself, finding good reviews for a paella place is difficult. Most comments seem to be about La Pepica, a place along the beach that has mixed ratings from exceptional to terrible. Also in the area are lesser talked about L'Estimat and La Rosa. Within Valencia main township itself, I asked for a recommendation from my hostel and there suggested Ocho y Medio (which translates to 8 and a half).
The restaurant is set in a nice courtyard where you can enjoy the sun, warmth and people watching. Unfortunately the paella lists per person price and the minimum is for 2, which is very typical at most paella places I saw. For this reason I had to get a double which cost €25.80. It was expectantly huge but what can you do...
- Paella Valenciana (with chicken, rabbit, Perona green beans, white beans & snails) - I managed to finish this behemoth much to the amusement and amazement of the families eating around me. Other than a French pair, the rest all seemed to be Spanish. The rice was well cooked and had that excellent crisp bottom. The meats were fine, a little overcooked (unsurprisingly I suppose) and the white beans were a very nice touch.
All-in-all a good paella. Not my favourite ever, but that may just be because the chorizo and seafood ones are flavoured more to my liking than this traditional white meat type. They have several seafood types including prawns, cuttlefish and squid ink.