The Future of Food is in Valencia
There is always an opinion about the best of tradition, and the best of contemporary culture, and the best Valencia hotels will carry a little bit of both. With old world sensibilities that value hospitality and graciousness, mixed with new ways of keeping comfortable and connected to modern life, there are happy marriages of the old and the new here. Your stay in Valencia will be one of your most memorable travel experiences, and you may leave here deciding not to choose between the old or the new, but to take the best of both.
The city offers so much in the way of culture, arts and music being a lively part of the social scene. There is also fantastic people watching, great clubs to spend an evening dancing and mixing it up, and fascinating side trips that always make the journey full. However, it is probably the food that you’re most likely to write home about. Known particularly for its paella, Valencia has a historic position in the culinary story of the world. There are many, many generations of chefs and cooks who will insist that paella cannot be altered, that the rice has to be the same short grain that has characterized it for centuries, and that the real secret of paella is Valencia’s water. The amounts must be precisely measured, exactly as the grandmothers have done. There are also some chefs who are doing fantastic things to food here, making meals into works of art, and the artwork suggests that change is in the air.
Local Valencia chef Quique Dacosta is the head chef at El Poblet, and his creations are making mouths water around the world. He’s not entirely an iconoclast, but he is taking certain liberties with how things are supposed to be done here, and the result, it seems, is making life better for everyone who tastes his creations. The restaurant itself is a kind of post-modern twist to the traditional restaurant. Walking in, one sees the kitchen right in front, and on the way to your table, you can hear Dacosta yelling at his staff. You are then greeted by none other than Quique Dacosta himself, who loves to talk about his food. From the way to slice mushrooms, to new ways of carmelizing rice, his enthusiasm for his life’s work shows in his speech, as well as the food. Diners are not only in for one of the most exquisite meals in the world, they are also able to witness an artist at the peak of his creative power.
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