We arrived in Valencia late in the evening, and even though it wasn’t midnight yet, by the time we got picked up at the airport, checked into our hotel, and prepared for dinner, it was getting pretty close to that hour. Our previous visits to Spain had taught us to expect late dinners, so we relaxed with a bottle of wine as part of our pre-dinner routine.
Once ready, we headed out to Casa Montana, a culinary gem in Valencia. This place, established in 1836, is popular among everyone from Prime Ministers and celebrities to local residents. Locals often bring their bottles here for refilling with vermouth and wine, a tradition nearly a century old. The owners source ingredients themselves directly from farms across Europe, ensuring high quality. Their dedication is evident in their efforts to personally check the origins of ingredients, like making sure olive oil meets their standards.
Casa Montana also boasts an impressive wine collection, with some bottles priced as high as £5,000. This is also where I discovered the extraordinary taste of ham. After trying the ham here, particularly the Iberian variety from acorn-fed pigs, I’ve never looked at ham platters the same way again. Freshly shaved ham melts in your mouth, unlike the stringy store-bought versions.
Before dinner, we enjoyed an insightful wine tasting session. Unlike my past experiences where I left tipsy and clueless, this session was different. Even though the instructor only spoke Spanish and my Spanish is terrible, he managed to convey the essentials of wine tasting in a straightforward way, showing us how to appreciate wine properly.
After wine tasting, we were in high spirits and ready for dinner at Casa Montana, which was a feast of delightful Spanish tapas. The steak, beans, and patatas bravas were especially noteworthy. The meticulous attention to every ingredient certainly made dinner here exceptional.
We ended the evening sipping on delicious wines and indulging in dessert, my favorite part of the night. As we left, the streets were quiet, and our bellies were happily full. This was just the start of our time in Valencia!
