Eat Like Ushi

A good article I found with food recommendations was from the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destination/spain/34915/Valencia-restaurants.html). I was trying to decide upon a place for my last dinner and after scoping out the beach area during the day, it took a monumental dedication to make the 1 hour walk there again and then back just for food.

The beach places I was considering (La Pepica, L'Estimat, La Rosa) didn't seem to intrigue me as much as hoped. Casa Montana is a highly rated tapas bar with a cosy setting, wine barrels and classic posters. Their anchovies (one of my favourites) and michirones (fava beans) are the specialties. The locals chatting inside, the friendly staff and a front seat to the bar made it the right decision in the end.

- V-2 (2 anchoa, 2 boquerones, 2 mejillones, olivas) - a nice cold platter with anchovies and mussels. They went well with the soft bread;
- Habas Estofados (Michirones) platito €1.9 - small plate of thick fava beans cooked with ham hock;
- Patatas Bravas de Secano platito €1.8 - smooth potatoes so good that the sauce and sour cream are unnecessary;
- Sardina Plancha (1/2 docena) €4.2 - grilled sardines are rarely a first choice for me but they were recommended. They were quite good given that, but next time I'd opt for the Clochinas Valencianas or something else.

A great meal, an excellent setting, a quality house rioja, and a 50min walk back to the hostel whilst contemplating.

Horchata is a fantastic drink. I recall my first taste at a small Mexican/Yucatan restaurants in the Mission district of San Francisco (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/poc-chuc-san-francisco-10-2011). Since then I've taken many opportunities from any restaurant, usually Mexican or Latin American and the one Melbourne cafe. The drinks seem to be a creation of rice, milk and cinnamon into a really lovely refreshing blend.

It was with great interest that Valencia was one of the originators of horchata, and it had a very strong presence around town from shops to restaurants, street stalls and even a few at Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias by the watersides.

What's different in Valencia is that they are made from tigernuts and so referred locally as horchata de chufa. The best shop in town is reputedly Horchateria de Santa Catalina and very convenient when passing through to the large Placa de la Reina.

The horchata is refreshing and sweet without any hint of sickliness or syrup. The drink didn't last long.

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.

I'm not sure where I came across this name. It isn't in any of the guide books and looking online now suggests that it is closed. It wasn't a particularly convenient area either, requiring a solid walk west of the city centre. I didn't feel unsafe but I can see how some might wandering through dark streets with only a few strangers and street lights for company.

The place was sold to me as modern tapas and the setting really felt like the downstairs of a family home. There were tables around the sides, a stairs that I wasn't sure where they lead, and a central area where the food was cooked.

- "Calabres" Cheese Croquette €1.5
- Mini Truffled Duck Burger with Caramelised Onions €3
- Coca Pork Tenderloin, Torta del Caser Cheese & Spinach €3
- Galician octopus on mash €9.5
- Tarta de queso €5

Overall the meal was reasonable without being as exciting or outstanding as I hoped. The duck burger was probably the one I was most interested in (during my slider phase) but didn't deliver a strong sense of truffles nor duck meat.