How To Eat Gluten-Free in Valencia, Spain: Valencia Gluten Free Restaurant Guide

Over Easter weekend, Matt and I took a quick train trip two hours north to Valencia, Spain! While I’d been to Valencia once before, about seven years ago (!), this was my first time visiting Valencia since being diagnosed as celiac last year.

If you’re looking for tips on how to eat gluten free in Valencia, here’s everything you need to know.

Gluten-Free Map of Valencia

Map Key (Colors)

• Green: Dedicated gluten-free establishment
• Dark pink: Not dedicated gluten-free, but has a 5-heart safety rating on the FindMeGF app
• Light pink: Not dedicated gluten-free, but has a 4 or 4.5-heart safety rating on the FindMeGF app

Map Key (Symbols)

• Cow icon: Spanish food 😉
• Spoon & knife: Other type of food
• Birthday cake: Bakery
• Pizza: Italian food/pizza
• Sushi: Japanese/sushi restaurant
• Noodle bowl: Chinese food
• Plant: Vegan restaurant
• Ice cream cone: Ice cream shop

Notes About the Gluten-Free Map of Valencia

• Anywhere that I personally ate will have my review in the “description” section when you click on it.

• There may be other restaurants in Valencia offering gluten-free options that didn’t meet my “personal” requirements for the above map, such as not having enough reviews. But this should be a good starting point.

The Best Gluten-Free Restaurants in Valencia

Now that I’ve been diagnosed celiac for nearly a year — and living in Spain that whole time — I feel pretty confident eating at non-dedicated gluten-free restaurants in Spain, as long as they’ve got a 4+ safety rating on FindMeGF and plenty of reviews for me to take a deep dive into!

Valencia is hands-down the best city for being gluten-free that I’ve traveled to so far! I had a feeling this would be the case — I’m a member of my local celiac association, for the whole Community of Valencia region, which includes both my home city of Alicante and the city of Valencia. And they are always posting new safe restaurants on Instagram, and I excitedly check the address in the hopes it’s in Alicante. It’s ALWAYS in Valencia.

But it was finally time for me to take advantage of Valencia’s many gluten-free options. (I mean, did you see how many places were on the gluten-free Valencia map above?!) Here were my favorite restaurants!

LALOLA Restaurante: Did you know that paella — yes, the only Spanish food with its own emoji 🥘 — is originally from Valencia? I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to find a good gluten-free Valencian paella, but it turns out there was no need to worry. LALOLA Restaurante to the rescue! They have a 100% gluten-free kitchen, with the exception of bread they bring in from outside. So we were able to order anything from the menu. Just be sure to request your GF bread and double-check it before eating. 

Two tips: 1) Their patatas bravas were like nothing I’d ever experienced before! So don’t miss out on those. 2) You’ll probably want to make a reservation online in advance because it can get pretty busy.

Naked & Sated: This is a fully gluten-free restaurant with a huge menu! I actually forgot what it was like to have so many choices… whether you want a burger, a sandwich, a salad, pizza, pasta, crepes, or something else, you’re sure to find something that sounds good! They also have breakfast, brunch, and an extensive dessert menu. 

CLANN Bar Tapas: Maybe a sleeper pick, but hear me out! We’d originally gone to another nearby restaurant that (for some reason) had a 4.5-heart safety rating… but when we arrived, they told me it would be impossible to avoid cross-contact and it was therefore not safe for celiacs. I appreciated the honesty, but we were hungry and started looking for other places in the area. And that’s how we found CLANN Bar Tapas. While nothing on the menu was marked, the waiters were very knowledgeable — and when I asked them about their safety protocols, he told me: “When we have a celiac customer, we remove everything else from the grill and clean it fully before we cook your food.” They also had gluten free bread, and I felt very taken care of! You’ll find lots of typical Spanish tapas here.

Two Drinks You Must Try in Valencia: Gluten-Free Edition

Besides being famous for paella, Valencia has two famous drinks to its name as well: Horchata and Agua de Valencia.

Horchata — or orxata in Valencia — is a sweet, milky beverage made of tiger nuts. The great news is that it’s typically gluten-free, and it’s usually labeled as such, but you can usually ask the seller if you’re not sure. 

Agua de Valencia, or “Valencian water,” is pretty much a more alcoholic mimosa. Besides fresh Valencian orange juice and cava (Spanish sparkling wine), it also has gin and vodka. None of these ingredients inherently contains gluten. But you may want to be careful with a few things. First, I usually would ask for my Agua de Valencia without a straw (“sin pajita”) because I’m genuinely unsure about whether paper straws contain gluten, so I just avoid them. Also, keep an eye on the tongs they use for putting ice or orange slices in your drink to make sure they aren’t being cross contaminated with other gluten-containing drinks.

What To Do at Restaurants If You’re Celiac or Gluten-Free in Valencia

Here are the steps I take when I go to a restaurant in Spain that isn’t dedicated gluten-free.

1. Sit down at the table. I usually try to sit near where I think the waiter is going to be standing, because we’re probably going to be talking to each other a lot and it makes me feel more comfortable to do it quietly rather than shouting over everyone else.
2. Ask for the “carta de alérgenos,” which is the allergy menu. The allergy menus in Spain are generally very extensive and usually have a wheat symbol in a little orange circle to indicate the presence of gluten. Sometimes these menus are posted outside, so you can take a look before you go in! However, sometimes there isn’t an allergy menu so you will have to talk to the waiter more about your options.
3. After the waiter takes our drink orders, and is ready to take our food orders, I usually try to let everyone else go first. Then, when it gets to me, I tell the waiter: “Soy celíaca,” which obviously means “I’m celiac.” (Change it to celíaco if you identify as male.) So far, pretty much every waiter I’ve dealt with has known what that means.
4. Here’s where it gets tricky. Just because something is listed as gluten-free on the menu, it doesn’t mean it’s free from cross-contact with gluten. Which means that once I’ve selected what I want to order, I have to start asking questions.

Common Questions To Ask: Gluten Free in Valencia / Gluten Free in Spain

If the dish has potatoes: Are the potatoes fried separately from other things? Las patatas tienen su propio aceite y freidora? So far, I don’t think I’ve had even one place tell me that the potatoes aren’t fried separately, so that’s great 🙂

If the dish has gluten-free bread that is toasted: Is the bread toasted separately? El pan tiene su propia tostadora? Normally, in my experience, gluten-free bread most often comes pre-packaged and just warmed up, not toasted.

If the dish has other fried elements such as egg, ham, peppers, etc: Will the grill be clean? Está limpia la parrilla?

If there’s anything that I’m not sure about, before or after my food comes out: Esta ___(insert item here) ___ lleva gluten? Does this have gluten?

Sometimes I try to just overexplain when I’m ordering: I can’t have gluten. I can’t have anything that has touched gluten or is touched by anyone who was touching gluten. My food needs to be prepared separately from everything else.

If you’re not comfortable with Spanish, I recommend downloading this free Spanish gluten-free translation card! I’ve picked up a few in different languages that I used during my trip to Asia, which helped a bit but not too much because gluten isn’t well-understood there. Luckily, there’s a lot more awareness in Spain!

Other Things to Know: Gluten Free in Valencia

Just a few more random thoughts on things you might want to know before you visit Spain/Valencia as a gluten-free traveler.

• “Sin Gluten” means gluten-free, and you can find it on lots of labels in grocery stores.

• Even if something doesn’t say it’s gluten free, you can look for the allergy statement on the back of the label. Any potential allergens will be labeled in bold on the list. You should be looking for harina, trigo, centena, cebada, or avena. (I usually only see harina, trigo, and avena, which are flour, wheat, and oats.) Some things also say “May contain traces of ____.” (Puede contener trazas de…) 

• Fries/potatoes/chips, rice, seafood, and burgers/sandwiches with gluten-free buns/bread are some of the most common gluten-free foods you can get in restaurants here. Just don’t forget your follow-up questions!

• If you want to ask a bartender if they have gluten-free beer, just ask: “Tienes cerveza sin gluten?”  While everyone has their own level of comfort with gluten-free beer, I’ve personally decided to trust it because it is “certified” here in Spain and is considered safe by the Spanish celiac association. Since I live in Spain and was diagnosed in Spain, I’ve decided to follow their guidelines. Not every GF beer in Spain has the crossed grain symbol, which is what I personally trust, but most places will likely have one of GF Mahou, Estrella Galicia, or Cruzcampo — and those all DO have the symbol.

• In Valencia, if you go to a bar and only order drinks, they may give you a little snack with each round of drinks. These are usually olives, snack mix, potato chips, or gummy candy. I pretty much stay away from it all now because it’s usually not worth the effort (in my mind) to start interrogating the waiter about a little free snack, lol. 

• If you want a coffee at a non-dedicated GF place, don’t forget to ask if their oat milk contains gluten. If you go to a random little cafe/bar for coffee that looks like no one there speaks English and like they’d laugh at you if you asked for non-dairy milk, you probably don’t need to worry about the milk steamer. 😜

 

Let me know what other questions you have about being gluten free in Valencia or Spain! I will happily do my best to answer — and feel free to connect with me on FindMeGF as well. 🙂

-Cathy

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