Learning About Paella in Castelldefels, Spain

We spent two years RVing through Europe with our two kid-foodies, culinary worldschooling them along the way. Our curriculum was heavily focused on learning about the different cuisines in Europe, and when we go to Spain we were in culinary heaven. Read this post to learn about the different kinds of paella, and where we found the best seafood and paella in Castelldefels, Catalonia, Spain.

Known as Spain’s national dish, Paella comes in a variety of styles and flavors. We learned this while speaking to locals in Castelldefels, a beach village in Catalonia where we stayed for 2 weeks during our RV adventure in Europe.

Here are a few recommendations on things to do when you’re in the Castelldefels/ Costa Brava region of Catalonia:

Trying Paella in Castelldefels

According to the locals we talked to, Valencia is the birthplace of many things…flamenco, oranges, and our favorite, paella. While we were greatly encouraged to stop in Valencia, a kid-friendly city, while RVing our way north towards Madrid, we decided we couldn’t wait to try paella.

So we drove down to the beachside with kids in tow and stopped by a popular local seafood restaurant called Marisqueria Rangel.

The menu was simple, but full of seafood delicacies which were hard to ignore. It seemed like every local dining there had a plate of some seafood delight…and they succeeded in tempting us to try some!

At first the kids only wanted to eat paella because they missed eating rice so much.

Visiting Spain with kids? Here’s 10 kid-friendly foods to try in Spain

But after watching all of the locals order the fresh seafood fished from the sea earlier in the morning, we couldn’t help but add more dishes on to our order.

Little did we know that the town of Castelldefels would have such wonderful seafood!

Paella Variations

As we scanned the menu, we noticed they served 3 types of paella:

1 – Paella Valenciana

Made with either chicken or rabbit, snails, beans, saffron, rosemary, green vegetables and sometimes lemon.

2 – Paella De Marisco

This is a seafood paella. It is the most popular paella ordered by tourists in Spain and usually includes prawns, calamari, mussels, fish and calms.

3 – Paella Mixta

This paella is a combination of both chicken or meat and seafood with vegetables and sometimes beans.

We had our hearts set on trying the Paella Valenciana, but our waiter kindly advised that we must try their Paella De Marisco since we were after all near the sea. So we went along with his recommendation along with Sangria (for Mom and Dad), a plate of deep fried sardines, and fresh calamari.

Within 10 minutes of our meal we were stuffed! The paella was incredible and the kids loved it so much – they scraped the burnt rice from the bottom of the paella pan and then had the nerve to ask for more! We probably would have ordered another one, but since paella is made fresh – that would take another 25-30 minutes.

Paella truly is a kid-friendly dish and a must try when visiting Spain. If your children don’t eat seafood (read about how we got our children to love seafood from a young age!), ask your waiter to make a vegetarian version or just a chicken version. We found that most restaurants in Spain are very accommodating when it comes to children and their food choices.

Have you tried Paella in Spain? Let us know in the comments below what’s your favorite paella variation!

Wondering where to stay in Catalonia? Check out some of the best kid-friendly properties.

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