This famed rice delicacy is often mistaken as Spain’s national dish

The dish

Paella, Spain

Plate up

Let’s start with an important point: paella is not the national dish of Spain. At least, not as far as Spain is concerned. If you go to, say, Galicia and order paella, you might as well ask for spaghetti bolognese. And that’s because paella is not from Spain as a whole – it’s from Valencia. And it is certainly the most important and representative dish of that coastal region. The classic version, paella Valenciana, is a rice dish cooked in a wide, shallow pan, using rabbit and/or chicken, plus snails, green beans, lima beans, tomatoes, and occasionally seasonal vegetables, with local round-grain rice, saffron, paprika and stock, finished with rosemary. A good paella will also have a “socarrat”, a thin layer of slightly burnt, caramelised rice on the bottom of the pan.

First serve

The genesis of paella occurred in the 10th century, when Moorish settlers arrived on the Iberian peninsula and cultivated their most cherished culinary staple: rice. This ingredient became widespread throughout what is now Spain, though it wasn’t until the 18th century that farmers in Valencia began cooking lunchtime meals of rice with the ingredients they found around them: snails, rabbit, tomatoes and the like. By the 19th century, urban-dwelling Valencian families had begun travelling out to the countryside for gatherings to eat paella. On the coast meanwhile, fishermen soon replaced the meat in paella with seafood, a style that’s still popular.

Order there

In the city of Valencia, eat what is possibly the best paella Valenciana around at Restaurante Levante (restaurantelevante.com). Or try the various seafood paellas at La Pepica (lapepica.com).

Order here

In Melbourne, get your paella fix at Simply Spanish (simplyspanish.com). In Sydney, try the dish at Encasa (encasa.com.au). And if you’re in Brisbane, check out Moda (modarestaurant.com.au).

One more thing

Paella is not just a dish – it’s also the name of the pan, in which a whole series of dishes can be cooked. The word paella is actually Valencian for all types of cooking vessels; in the rest of Spain the classic wide, shallow pan is sometimes called a “paellera” to avoid confusion.