Where to try paella in Spain and recommendations for more iconic dishes you can't get (or get as good) anywhere other than the local source.
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Liguria’s beloved equivalent of the French socca is a thin, pizza-like pancake made from chickpea flour, served hot from the oven and typically adorned with hunks of gorgonzola or Stracchino cheese. Find the best at the family-run trattoria Sa’ Pesta, deep in the centro storico. $$
This quaint fishing village is justly celebrated for cao làu soup, whose thick noodles must be cooked in water from one of five local wells. So insists Vy Trinh Diem, whose restaurant Morning Glory serves a stellar version: a tangy broth laced with juicy strips of pork and chewy rice noodles. $$
NYC chef and Malaysian food expert Zak Pelaccio swears by this savory-sweet tangle of egg noodles charred in a wok with crisp bits of lard, pork, shrimp, fish cake, and cockles. Seek it out at Aik Yuen Restaurant, in the K.L. suburb of Setapak. Jalan Sarikei, Setapak. $
Al Baraka may be the best gas station you’ll ever eat at. Head to the tagine window for a whole-chicken stew, pungent with preserved lemons and olives. RP 24 Commune Annakhil, Sidi Yousef Ben Ali. $
In the fishing port of Vallon des Auffes, the idyllic L’Épuisette serves a proper Provençal bouillabaisse that’s oceans away from all others—brash and intense, rich with saffron and garlic and tasting unmistakably of the sea. $$$
Think of Brigtsen’s as fine dining stripped of all pretension. The signature dish—sesame-crusted, shallow-fried rabbit served with mustard sauce—is a masterful blend of Cajun ingredients and Creole technique. $$$
In a sleepy hamlet 35 miles west of Alicante, the chef at Paco Gandía layers rice in a pan the size of a bicycle tire, along with rabbit, tomatoes, saffron, and snails that feed on wild herbs. Licked by flames from an open fire, the paella is not just good—it’s near-mythical. $$$
At bite-size bakery Flour & Stone, these quintessentially Aussie squares of vanilla sponge cake, slathered in chocolate icing and dusted in coconut, come stuffed with panna cotta and berry compote. $$
Restaurant Pricing Key
$ Less than $25
$$ $25 to $75
$$$ $75 to $150
$$$$ More than $150
