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Express's anonymous, unpaid and extremely difficult to please food critic has shared his latest opinions on Casa Paco and its gluten-free 'Paella Valenciana'.
Harry Smiles is on a mission to find the best gluten-free menu choices around the island.
This month, he ventured to Spanish cuisine-filled Casa Paco in the heart of Jersey's Central Market...
We all know how the story goes. You start the year thinking ‘I am going to prep all of my lunches for the working week, so that I can save money, and eat more healthily.’ Then, fast forward to a few weeks later and you can’t think of what to cook anymore, so you revert to your old habits, and go hunting for lunch at midday.
If I had known the grief this would cause, I probably would have dug out my Jamie Oliver cook books and made more of an effort to cook my lunch - but that’s besides the point. I decided to venture down to the Central Market thinking I would find heaps of things to eat there, only to be disappointed by the seriously lacking offering.
Pictured: Casa Paco is located in the Central Market.
Sadly, the majority of the food on offer there is not gluten-free, although that’s not a criticism of the stalls, as one of the owners kindly took the time to explain, the kitchens are too small to guarantee there is no cross-contamination happening.
Luckily, Casa Paco proved to be my lunch hunt’s saving grace. The staff were lovely, the service ultra-speedy, and the food excellent. From the moment I went in, to leaving with my order it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes. After explaining to one of the waitresses I couldn’t eat gluten, she asked if I liked chicken (who doesn’t?) and warmly recommended the ‘Paella Valenciana’.
The paella definitely made a big impression on me – on my back to the office I kept catching whiffs of its delicious smell, which may or may not have made me walk faster.
Aesthetically speaking, do not trust the pictures attached above, they do not do the paella’s rich yellow justice. The rice looked moist, and you could almost taste the chicken’s crispiness – I was hooked even before the first bite.
I have eaten plenty of paellas in my life, although they had always come with seafood. I must say I prefer it with chicken, especially when it is as good as the one Casa Paco dished out. As its exterior suggested, the chicken was crispy on the outside and ‘oh so soft’ on the inside, plus it was full of flavour!
As for the rice, it was perfectly cooked and fragrant, whilst the peppers and other vegetables added nice flavours to the mix.
My portion came with a lemon wedge which I was a bit surprised about – I had never seen paella served with lemons before – but decided to try it and it was life changing. The lemon really brought out a lot of the flavours and gave a delightful tanginess to the paella, I will never look back.
Pictured: Casa Paco's ‘Paella Valenciana' served with a fresh lemon slice.
As delicious as the paella was, I couldn’t possibly finish the whole portion. I had to stop myself halfway through or I would have nursed a food coma through the best part of my afternoon. Fret not, nothing was wasted as I had the rest of it for dinner and it was just as yummy! £7 for two meals - that’s a bargain, right?
If like me, you find yourself in a cooking rut, know that Casa Paco will be there to rescue you. There’s definitely more on their menu that I will want to try in the future. And for those who can eat gluten, their creamy croquetas look to die for!
This article first appeared in Connect Magazine, which you can read in full HERE.
