paella

• 23 comments •



You always hear people going on about how amazing paella is. I've never seen it on a menu, and aside from a few fish or shrimp dishes, Mina doesn't really cook seafood. We couldn't imagine a better place than Spain to try it for the first time. Apparently, it's only viewed as a national dish by non-Spaniards because it is more specifically a Valencian dish. I thought it would be easy to find. While it was on the menu at every single restaurant we went to, it seemed you had to go at a specific time because they would make it in a big pan (the etymology of the word paella has something to do with the pan it's cooked in) and once it runs out, that's it. We would usually sit down to eat lunch right before siesta time, which meant all the restaurants were closing and we were out of luck.

A note about the restaurant we did go to: it was much nicer than the other pub-like restaurants we had been frequenting during the week and, like most restaurants, they serve bread before the meal - bread that you don't order. We were surprised when we saw a hefty charge for it on our bill. You expect that kind of thing in Egypt, not Europe.  Although we thought it was kind of shady, we didn't say anything. I wonder if this sort of thing is becoming common in most tourist towns.

It was a very nice evening, though. I'm not sure if it was the freshness of the seafood or the method of preparation, but it made the ingredients that I usually despise (shrimp, scallops, mussels etc..) more than tolerable. I was surprised that I enjoyed it, because I'm really not a shellfish person. Mina loved it, and can't wait to try making her own (less greasy) version at home.

-Alex






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23 comments

  1. Bread is always given at the beginning of a meal for free unless it's a foreign food restaurant, where you have to ask for it/might get charged for it. Judging by the dude playing guitar in the background, I guess you went to a pretty touristy place, so they probably just took advantage. The paella looks good, though :)

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  2. Mmm, I love paella! There really is no better place to try it. There is a few places in Europe that they will place that bread surchage on... sometimes even in Italy...

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  3. The paella looks really good!
    This habit of charging for bread etc is also quite commen in Italy, basically in all Southern Europe. But mainly for sure in touristy places... Really dislike it too.
    Viele Gruesse, Kristina

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  4. That paella looks particularly amazing. I have had it a few times from street vendors, and I've made it a bunch of times too! It's great for a party with lots of people!

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  5. Lovely blog, loving the posts!
    I'm so damn jealous right now! I love your blog, definitely following.
    Come by sometime?

    Rena.

    http://themoonchildco.blogspot.com

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  6. We had a so-so paella in Barcelona. I feel like it's either really good or really bad. I'm glad you found a tasty one!

    Italy was the same way with bread. You had to specifically tell them right away you did NOT want bread or there'd be a charge on your bill. Sneaky Europeans ;)

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  7. I'd agree with the above poster who said it's usually done in touristy places. Usually bread is free. After all, in Spain, without bread there is no meal.

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  8. I remember when I was in Barcelona and saw it everywhere!

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  9. how wonderful to travel...my sister went to Spain alone, I thought that was so brave!

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  10. This is such a fun blog and the images are stunning. :)
    I haven't tried paella but hope to try it sometime soon.

    Hope we can give eachother a follow. :)

    -Sandra.*
    (www.cardinalmess.blogspot.com)

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  11. I went all the way to Valencia and never tried paella. Still kicking myself for it!

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  12. oh my gosh, that paella looks amazing. i'm so jealous!

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  13. SWOON! I LOVE PAELLA!!!!!!!!!!!

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  14. One of my most fave dishes ever!

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  15. Ohmygoodness it looks so delicious!

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  16. When we went to Spain they brought us bread we didn't order and charged us for it too!

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  17. We ran into a charge for the giant pretzels on the table while at a restaurant in the Marienplatz in Munich. Thankfully our server was kind enough to tell us not to touch them unless we wanted to pay for them. That was pretty common for all the other restaurants in Munich -- the 90 cents a piece was totally worth it!

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  18. I have never had the paella , so I don't know how does it taste, but that is looking delicious in the picture. thanks for sharing..

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  19. yup, in most places in western europe, at least in my experience, they charge for the bread. in spanish they call it the "cubierto" and in french they call it the "couvert" (table setting).

    we got charged 2 euros per person for that last summer in italy!

    http://oneika-the-traveller.blogspot.com

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  20. I've heard that happens with the bread in Italy as well, bit sneaky really.

    Looks yummy!

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  21. Headed to Spain next month and I have been hearing about the paella. Thanks for writing this and I will now be on the lookout for hefty bread charges!

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  22. Anonymous24.1.11

    If you could e-mail me with a few suggestions on just how you made your blog look this excellent, I would be grateful.

    ReplyDelete

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