Let's start at the very beginning...

...a very good place to start.

I  now live in La Drova, a hamlet just outside of Barx, which is a mountain village about 20 minutes from Gandia, which is a small city about an hour south of Valencia. Gandia also has a beach resort, Gandia Playa, which is one of the biggest Spanish beach resorts in Spain. The region is generally known as La Safor 

I have lived here for a year and while I have always enjoyed Spanish food, I had no idea how good and what good value, Spanish restaurants and bars can be.

Having been here a year, I have eaten in a fair few in Gandia, in Barx and around and in Valencia. I now have a lunch buddy, Nigel and he has persuaded me to start a food blog so at least once a month we will try out a different restaurant in Gandia and report back to you. I will of course also do a retrospective, which will take some time! and mention other places where I happen to eat out.

I'm not a food connoisseur, but  do like my food and enjoy good food, whether that is a menu del dia in the village or Restaurante Riff, a Michelin starred restaurant in Valencia, of which more later.

Spain is a land where food is very important to the people. The Valencian paella is much revered and argued over, and Gandia is home to Fidua, a seafood version of paella made with noodles instead of rice and served all over Valencia region. Every holiday or fiesta is marked with food. The Spaniards enjoy their beer and wine, but food is the main event and never would drink so much that it ruins their enjoyment of their meal. Tapas vary by area and sometimes by town and although basically Spanish food is the same all over Spain, the number of regional variations, or produce and dishes special to specific towns means it is also quite varied!

So enough of the introduction and I will start to cover some of the places I have eaten so far.