There are several highly regarded Great Tapas Houses in Valencia.
One of them is Bar Mistela.
Bar Mistela is not one of the ancient Founding Fathers of Tapas.
It is a relative newcomer to the Valencia Food Scene.
It is in Torrefiel, a grungy lower middle class neighborhood in the Northwest of Town.
Ugly institutional apartment buildings abound.
There are few reasons to go to Torrefiel unless you know someone there -
Or you need a cheap apartment.
But Bar Mistela is an absolute culinary jewel.
Just get out of the Old City and go.
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In order to get to the good stuff - you will have to fight Bar Mistela's godawful phone menu.
Bar Mistela has many many many many things on its menu.
Plus it has one whole range of foods for breakfast.
(Bar Mistela is considered by some food writers in Valencia as having the best breakfast in the city.)
They do an entire other menu for lunch.
They have a huge list of tapa offerings for nightfall.
The place opens early, closes late and takes no time off in the middle.
But as a result of this the menu is very very very very long.
Long with half of the items not being available due to time of day issues.
Thumbing through this on your phone is like thumbing through an alphabetical list of every high school in the U.S.
Worse - there are web instability issues that make parts of the menu appear and disappear.
The actual dishes you want to order are somewhat like Brigadoon in the musical.
The magical castle with the dishes you want rises up out of the mists and then disappears just as mysteriously.
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BUT
If you can get through the Magic Castle challenges of ordering,
You are in for an absolute treat.
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Among the stars of the show
1) A Valencian liqueur, fittingly named Mistela. Bland, almost like a liqueur made of pure sugar, but not even remotely cloying. Served with a dusting of grated orange rind that makes all the difference in the world. In this case, the bitter part of the orange rind, cuts into the simple sugar taste and provides the dramatic tension. The drink - like most liqueurs and vermouths in Spain, is served on ice.
Wonderful. I would have that again and again.
I have not seen that Valencian liqueur in any liquor store, in the Central Mercat or in any other restaurant I have been to yet.
I do NOT think it is of house fabrication.
2) One of the greatest plates of grilled vegetables I have ever had.
(Ok - except for Albania - which serves some of the greatest grilled veggies in the world.)
My vegetarian wife and I went nuts over her veggies including asparagus stalks and tomatoes halves that were die-and-go-to-heaven-good.
3) A fantastic house pinxto comprised of first rate anchovies, first rate light olives and one neutral ingredient I don't remember. The whole concoction is drenched in light Spanish olive oil.
It is as wonderful as it sounds.
4) A respectable potatoes brava.
5) Really really really good Spanish bread to mop up all the olive oil and the juices from the other dishes.
6) Nougat ice cream for dessert.
It was the best nougat ice cream I have had in my life.
It was the worst nougat ice cream I have had in my life and
It was about average for the nougat ice creams I have had in my life.
You get the idea.
It is the only nougat ice cream I have ever had in my life.
But I would not mind having that again!
* * *
Would I walk past all those ugly apartment blocks for a repeat evening at Bar Mistela?
Mmmm ... maybe next time I take a cab.
But then next time I go for breakfast.
And the time after that I go for lunch.
Remember the menu is massive with three different configurations for the different times of the day.
* * *
Seriously consider getting up early one morning and going to Bar Mistela.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. read more
