Bar Pilar: Valencia, España

Bar Pilar: The restaurant that changed my mind about mayonnaise.

To say that I was excited to go to Valencia would be the understatement of the century. Not only does it have a humongous white beach, Valencia is the “birthplace” of paella. I was looking forward to eating seafood paella for just about every meal, but I had a rude awakening when on the first night we took a stab in the dark at where to eat and ended up dining by the port, right by the sea. Sounds lovely, right? Not only was the paella really bad – undercooked rice, very little seafood to speak of – we ended up paying about 25 Euros each. No bueno.

The next night I decided to take control of the situation and referred to my handy list of restaurants, which my fellow food bloggers and twitter friends sent over. With only two evenings left in Valencia, I was not going to leave any meals to chance.

We decided we were not impressed with paella in general and wanted to give some tapas a shot, so thanks to a recommendation by Mr. Hugh Wright, we headed toward an authentic tapas bar called Bar Pilar.

barpilavalencia

I cannot recommend Bar Pilar enough to those of you looking for a restaurant that ticks the all-important boxes: atmosphere, location, price, service and food. We arrived for dinner during a slightly awkward time for the Spanish – 7 pm. I admit, a rookie mistake it was, but we were starving. Luckily, it was open (and empty) and the bartender was extremely friendly. We ordered dos cervezas and a selection of delicious tapas. The grilled squid and Spanish tortilla melted in our mouths. We also shared an order of chorizo, a pretty big plate of steamed mussels and an impressive selection of grilled vegetables.

Next came the infamous ‘patatas bravas’ or potato wedges covered in spicy, chunky tomato sauce with, in theory, a dollop of mayonnaise. When the waiter set them down I was horrified – they were smothered in garlic mayo. Enough mayonnaise to feed a small country. The only thing more shocking than the amount of lard which sat atop my fried potatoes was that I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. It must have been down to the amount of garlic but let me tell you, these were hands down the best patatas bravas I have ever had. I’m still thinking about the mayonnaise.

mussels When we finished our meal we sat with a couple more beers, listened to music and spoke Spanglish to the bartender. When our bill came we were pleasantly surprised – about 35 Euros for two people, including a few drinks.

Bar Pilar was so fantastic we went again the next night, and the second time we went at the proper Spanish dinner time of about 11 pm. The whole bar was filled with people and had a fantastic vibe. I will continue to recommend Bar Pilar to anyone heading to Valencia as it is one of the best restaurants for overall fabulousness that I have been to in quite a while.

Another helpful tip – most of the restaurants on the small streets surrounding Bar Pilar looked like the only place to go for a quality, inexpensive meal. If you choose to eat at the port or in large plazas, you will probably leave feeling robbed.

Bar Pilar

Calle del Moro Zeit

Valencia, España