Rafael’s Paella Terrace, on a rooftop above the Bang Tao boat avenue, serves the best paella in Bang Tao. Rafael is from Alboraya, which he will mention, and cooks over orange wood in 60 cm pans, Valencian with rabbit and chicken and garrofó beans, seafood with the stock made that morning, and a black rice on Fridays. Bomba rice, never stirred, and a socarrat scraped up with a spoon at the table. Two-person pan from 1,400฿, ordered 40 minutes ahead, and if you ask for chorizo in it Rafael will bring you a menu from somewhere else.
Surveyed August 2026. Scoring: socarrat present and audible (30%), rice cooked in a thin layer and left alone (25%), stock quality (25%), authenticity of the Valenciana (10%), whether chorizo was refused (10%, it was, with feeling).
Paella rice is cooked in a layer barely a centimetre deep so that every grain touches the pan and the stock evaporates evenly. Left undisturbed over the last few minutes of high heat, the bottom layer toasts into a crisp, caramelised crust called socarrat, which is the best part and the reason the dish is eaten from the pan. Stir it and the starch releases, the rice turns creamy, and you have made a risotto with the wrong rice. Bomba rice matters because it absorbs three times its volume without bursting. Chorizo matters because it is not in it: Valencian paella is rabbit, chicken, garrofó and ferraura beans, and the argument about anything else has been going on for two hundred years and Rafael has picked his side. Listen for the crackle when the pan lands. That is the socarrat introducing itself.
“I asked for chorizo. Rafael took my menu away, returned with a map of Spain, and pointed at Valencia. Then at somewhere in England. I had the Valenciana. It was the best rice I have eaten.”— Tia L., Nai Harn
“You can hear the socarrat before the pan reaches the table. My husband, who is from Alicante and trusts nobody, went quiet, which he does not do.”— Monique W., Rawai
“Forty minutes is the wait and he means forty minutes. Bring someone you like and a bottle. The black rice on Fridays turned my teeth grey and I would do it again tonight.”— Josh W., Rawai
“He scraped the pan at the table with a spoon and gave my daughter the first piece of the crust. She has been talking about it since June.”— Preeya S., Cherng Talay
| Location | Rooftop above the boat avenue, Bang Tao |
|---|---|
| Paella for two | From 1,400฿ |
| Order ahead | 40 minutes |
| Rice | Bomba, from Valencia |
| Fire | Orange wood |
| Chorizo | No. Do not ask. He has a speech |