Valencia, Spain
Valencia’s 5 best restaurants (and must-try dishes)
The guide to Valencia’s best restaurants
Valencia’s food scene goes way beyond the paella clichés. Sure, rice still plays a starring role in this city in Spain – but dig a little deeper and you’ll find innovative, ingredient-led cooking shaped by the region’s farmland, coastal waters and centuries-old trade routes. In this guide, we’re diving into the restaurants that really capture the spirit of contemporary Valencian dining. Think fire-driven kitchens, hyperlocal produce, family legacies and chefs who aren’t afraid to riff on tradition. Whether you’re after smoky grilled eel, a reimagined fideuà or seasonal vegetables that taste like sunshine, these are the places where Valencia’s past and present meet – on the plate.
Top photography courtesy of Saiti
01
Karak
Inside the One Shot Mercat Hotel, Karak is less restaurant, more sensory experience. Chef Rakel Cernicharo, who won Top Chef España in 2017, doesn’t do traditional. There’s no printed menu and no predictable pacing. Instead, you choose between a seven-, nine- or 11-course tasting menu, then hand yourself over to her moody, theatrical kitchen. Cernicharo’s style leans Mediterranean at the core, but she doesn’t shy away from Asian influences, especially Japanese umami. One moment, you might be served an earthy, savoury broth. Next, her reimagined devilled egg appears – a creamy spoonful of tuna-stuffed nostalgia, smoky and delicate, like something from a childhood dream. It’s one of the few dishes that surfaces again and again.
Karak
Carrer del Músic Peydró 9
Ciutat Vella
Valencia
Spain
Photography courtesy of Karak
02
El Poblet
El Poblet sits behind an unassuming glass door near Valencia’s town hall. The name honours the village where Quique Dacosta’s career began, but it’s Chef Luis Valls who leads the kitchen now, holding two Michelin stars and two Repsol Suns. His approach is diligent, deeply local and unusually focused – nearly every dish is laced with citrus. That obsession started after a 2020 visit to the Todolí Citrus Fundació – a sprawling orchard home to over 500 varieties. Since then, Valls has built an entire culinary language around citrus. Zests, peels, flowers, salts and oils show up in ways you don’t expect. One dish not to miss? Cañas y Barro – a double take on local eel, cooked in ash and papillote. It’s earthy, elemental and rooted in the fishing traditions of the Albufera.
El Poblet
C/ de Correus 8
Ciutat Vella
Valencia
Spain
Photography courtesy of El Poblet
03
La Salita
Set inside a 19th-century Ruzafa townhouse, La Salita is what happens when a chef cooks exactly how she wants. Begoña Rodrigo opened the space in 2005 and over time, it’s become one of Valencia’s most respected kitchens, with a Michelin star and three Repsol Suns to her name. Rodrigo started as an engineer, then switched to cooking, won the first Spanish Top Chef in 2013 and now is a recognised voice in Mediterranean plant-based food. The space is warm and understated, with a small backyard and tidy presentation. The menu shifts with the seasons and isn’t shy about punchy elements – vinegars, ferments, citrus and even vegetarian charcuterie. Expect dishes like parsnip carbonara with kimchi, Dénia red prawns and eel served in different formats – not just to show technique, but to reflect local ingredients and flavour pathways.
La Salita
C/ de Pere III el Gran 11
L'Eixample
Valencia
Spain
Photography courtesy of La Salita
04
Llisa Negra
Llisa Negra is Quique Dacosta’s more casual, product-first restaurant in Valencia. There’s something primal about Llisa Negra. The open kitchen dominates the room, flames flickering from the charcoal grills and wood-burning ovens. The smell hits you first – orange wood smoke, caramelised fat, grilled shellfish. Here it’s about fire and timing. Sea bass, red prawns, lamb chops, whole chickens – everything passes through the flame. The must-order? The Albufera-style rice with smoked eel and free-range chicken. It’s cooked slowly over orange wood, smoky and aromatic, with a depth that lingers. One pan, three elements – fire, land, water. Pure Valencia.
Llisa Negra
C/ de Pascual i Genís 10
Ciutat Vella
Valencia
Spain
Photography courtesy of Llisa Negra
05
Saiti
If you stroll through Valencia’s Eixample, you might easily miss Saiti — and that’s part of its charm. Saiti is chef Vicente Patiño’s neighbourhood-style restaurant. Patiño trained in Gandia and spent time with chefs like Nacho Manzano and José Carlos García before launching Saiti in 2014. His name comes from Xàtiva, the town where he was born and he describes the place as feeling like a living room to share with friends. Inside, it’s all clean lines, smooth wood and neutral tones, the kind of space that fades away so the food can speak louder. You have to try his version of all i pebre (eel and potato stew) made with white prawns and cacao. If you are feeling adventurous, also give the celery meringue a try.
Saiti
Carrer de la Reina Na Germana 4
L'Eixample
Valencia
Spain
Photography courtesy of Saiti
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