Valencia Eats: Paella at La Genuina

May 9

May 9 Valencia Eats: Paella at La Genuina

Paella is one of Spain's most important culinary treasures, and Valencia is the birthplace of paella. As a tourist, it's hard to have great paella in Valencia, however, as local Valencianos just about never eat paella in restaurants. Paella is something that is cooked at home, by their abuelas (and always for lunch, never for dinner). The paella you can find in restaurants are often cooked at the beginning of the day, and you get a scoop of hours-old paella when you order.

I was delighted to be introduced to a restaurant that serves great paella, then, by my Valenciano Airbnb host when I first moved to Valencia. It's called La Genuina, and it's outside of the city in a little town called Pinedo. Housed inside of this traditional hut, it's also quite charming!

Paella always takes a long time to prepare properly, even if you order in advance when you make your reservation. So paella lunches are always preceded by appetizers. In my first visit, we had lovely, tender clotxinas (local mussels). This is only available during the summertime.

And a mushroom and egg scramble. Not terribly exciting, but we got it because one in our party did not like seafood.

On my second visit, we had small clams, which were okay, though I didn't care for their sandiness. I had these clams again at a different restaurant, and they were also sandy, so it wasn't just La Genuina. Also tried esgarraet for the first time. Esgarraet means "torn" in Valenciano, and it's torn pieces of red bell pepper and salted cod.

And finally, the paella! Here is the paella valenciana for 5. It's traditionally eaten straight out of the pan, but you can plate it too if you'd like. Paella valenciana typically has chicken and rabbit, and this one has duck and snails too. It also has wide, flat green beans, and my favorite, the huge white lima bean-like beans.

This is what the 2 person portion looks like. This is a tip for when you come with more than 3 people: order two flavors of paella, as the minimum order for a paella is 2 portions!

On my second visit, since we were a party of 4, we also ordered the arroz negro, cooked in squid ink with squid and prawns. It's eaten with allioli (yes, it's spelled that way here!). The flavor was great, although a bit salty.

I really enjoy the paella at La Genuina, especially the flavor of the rice, as well as the crispy, crusty bottom where the rice touches the pan - I've since learned that not every paella achieves this. This part is called "socarrat" in Valenciano, and beloved by many. After having paella in a few places now, La Genuina is continues to be my favorite place for paella!

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La Genuina

Carrera del Riu, 283

Town of Pinedo

46024 Valencia