Dining Room
Valencia, Venezuela
Increasingly hailed as one to watch, Dining Room isn’t in Caracas: it’s in the city of Valencia, a few hours’ drive away. It’s a detour worth making thanks to chef Frank Parada’s clear-eyed, ambitious cooking, which calls on Venezuela’s remarkable larder and multi-layered culinary heritage. Even the bread is extraordinary: a just-baked, faintly floral sourdough roll made with purple mapuey flour, paired with sweet garlic butter. The rest of the tasting menu lives up to that promise, with dishes that reflect Parada’s culinary chops (he’s worked in some of Peru’s finest kitchens), but also the food he ate as a child, growing up in the Venezuelan Andes. There might be his signature cauliflower steak with a rich, dark demi-glace; slow-cooked, yielding beef cheek with plantain and pickled papaya; or roasted octopus with cassava purée and lemon ants from the Amazon. For dessert, try the celery mousse – on the menu since day one – or a clever, textural take on Venezuelan rice pudding.
Key Information
- Average price per person $32
- Lunch and dinner: Mon – Sun
- Visit Dining Room's Website
Location
Avenida Cuatricentenaria, Guataparo, Valencia, Carabobo, 2001
