Valencia has a very wide and long beach that stretches northwards from the port that is known as La Malvarosa once you’re past El Cabañal (see previous post). The beach front, Paseo Neptuno, is thronged with restaurants and bars, the best of which is…
La Pepica (Intermediate A), 6 Paseo Neptuno, www.lapepica.com
My favourite place for Sunday lunch; Frommer’s describes this venerable restaurant as ‘the Picasso of paella’ and ‘the benchmark for the dish everywhere else in the world’, and I agree, it’s the best one I’ve ever had.
I’ve been twice and had the seafood paella each time (A+). All the white wines I’ve had here have been great. I can also recommend the mixed tuna salad and the steamed baby clams as starters and the ‘pudim’ (another form of the ubiquitous ‘flan’ aka caramel pudding) makes for a strong finish.
The restaurant is huge, there must be seating for a couple of hundred, but you should still reserve, especially if you want to sit on the outside terrace facing the sea. The back wall is covered with photos of famous customers from the past, including Pele and Hemingway.