Authentic Valencian Paella Cooking Class

Was such a wonderful day and learnt a lot about Paella making and the etiquette ;-) Rafa and Maria were professional, funny and so welcoming. This comes highly recommended, wow wow wow!

We had a wonderful time. Rafa and his team were friendly informative and very entertaining.

This was one of the highlights of our month in Valencia! We attended with some friends and were joined by two couples from Holland. From the beginning, Rafa communicated clearly with us about pickup from our apartment. We had a pleasant drive with Maria out to a lovely traditional farmhouse south of Valencia. The farmhouse was surrounded with orange trees and gardens. Rafa immediately made us feel at home, offering all kinds of beverages, including wine and beer. Maria did translation for Rafa and they were a delightful pair, warm, engaging and funny! Both were steeped in both the traditions of paella and the techniques for making true Valencian paella. We divided into teams of four, with each team making a pan of paella. As we worked, Rafa coached us and both he and Maria shared the traditions of cooking and eating paella. While our paella was cooking, we were served DELICIOUS and beautiful tapas and Valencian wine on the patio. Finally, after the mandatory 17-minute cooking time, we got to eat our fabulous paella. Although we weren't sure we could eat another bite, out came a plate of freshly sliced oranges and a traditional Valencian pudding. Rafa and Maria were kind enough to take pictures of us throughout the day and sent us home with recipes for the food we had cooked, including the amazing Spanish tortilla tapa prepared by their colleague. I couldn't recommend this experience more highly! It is worth every penny!

The class was one of our most anticipated activities in Spain, which was proven a great one!! The class started by being greeted by Rafa the chef and his super friendly team mate Maria at the hotel pickup point. Unlike other cooking classes held in the city centre of Valencia with a big group of students doing one big paella only, we learned the paella making in a farmhouse about 30 mins away from the city in three small groups. Each group did its own paella, meaning that we really tasted what we did by our own hands - we reckon that it was a much better experience with fun. The 3 pans of paella made by the 3 small groups tasted slightly different but were equally good!! The amusing Rafa and team were a big plus of this cooking class: from the origin of paella to the cooking skills, we learned much from them with a lot of laughter - we still remember a real paella should have no seafood with a thin layer of rice. The one in Barcelona or Madrid with a thick layer of rice is faked! It's interesting to know that we were the first group from Hong Kong joining Rafa's class. The class gave us great memory, making our trip to Valencia very worthwhile. Thanks Rafa, Maria and the team!!

we were picked up on time at the dock and driven about 45 minutes to the countryside to a farmhouse by maria, who would serve as driver/translator/assistant. there we were greeted by master paella chef, raffa. the two worked well together providing tips on the preparation and cooking of the paella as well as the history of the dish. while the paella was cooking we all went outside and enjoyed plates of olives, meats and cheeses, bread and peanuts as well as a delicious frittata. of course, wine was also flowing.we all enjoyed the class, the great sense of humor of raffa and maria, and of course the knowledge of how to prepare true vallencian paella.