If there’s a particular dish in Spain that people associate with Valencia, it’d be Paella – which is a Spanish rice dish made often with seafood. So during our trip to Spain, we made sure that we’d try to seek out one of the more famous places for paella – la Matandeta restaurant.
The restaurant is a very family orientated restaurant and when we arrived, there was a massive Spanish kids birthday party going on – we didn’t have a reservation but the staff were nice enough to find us a spot.
We were pretty hungry so we decided to order a curry croquette (which is something Ms. Buddha loves); a slice of liver pie and of course a seafood paella. We didn’t know it came with little nibbles! So when the croquette came – which was excellent but a little too heavy – the slight spice of the curry cut through the heaviness a little though.
As always, the dip and the olives was excellent – it always amazes me how great dip and olives are in Spain, I suspect it’s because of the high quality of ingredients and the environment compared to Hong Kong where everything is imported.
Next came the liver pie – and being someone who really loves offal and liver – the thin crust absorbed the livery taste nicely – although I’d prefer a little less fattiness to the meat though – overall a good pie.
Lastly came the seafood paella – which frankly looked a bit intimidating given that we’d already eaten a lot of food. As paella goes, it was terrific as the seafood was very fresh and the sauce soaked into the bomba rice well. The octopus mixed in added a very good chewy texture to the rice. We were completely stuffed by the end! (Although very satisfied!)
If you’re looking for a great paella – la Matandeta is a good place to check paella off your list, oh, don’t forget to say hi to my new friend!
Buddha Explores 