This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
- Joined: Jun 1st, 2010
- Posts: 2
Review of Niajo
I grew up in Spain and this is not paella. Paella is supposed to be made with arborio rice which when cooks is creamy yet al dente. Niajo uses lower quality regular rice for paella. Paella is not supposed to be dry like the bottom of a rice cooker after all the rice has been scooped out. The paella served at niajo is more like 锅 巴 , guōbā or rice crust.
Our party of four ordered two paella's, one seafood and one meat. Both were equally disappointing. My review of niajo is as follows:
1. Paella is supposed to be moist (not dependent on the lemon or aioli to add moisture), smooth, creamy, and al dente at the sametime . Also the rice and other ingredients are supposed to come up to the sides of the pan, think cooking rice in a deep dish versus a crispy rice pancake.
2. Paella is supposed to have saffron as a flavaoring and colorant, niajo uses lesser annato oil for coloring and not a hint of saffron flavor.
3. Paella is supposed to be cooked with arborio rice not lesser medium grain rice. Medium grain rice is 1000 times cheaper than arborio.
4. Paella is supposed to use chorizo for flavor not cheap sh*t locally made sausages that have no flavor and fall apart.
5. Seafood paella is supposed to have very fresh scallops, mussels, clams, etc not prepackaged frozen seafood from god knows where.
6. No Balsamic Vinegar just cheapo red wine viengar! What kinda of b.s. restaurant is this?
7. The olive oil was of low quality based on the taste and color. The bottle said light olive oil, more than likely a olive oil blend, to make matters worse it was rancid.
8. The salads were warm and served on room temperature plates. Salads should be served cold and on chilled plates.
9. The lamb chops they claimed were imported from Australia, based on the taste/texture/size they are locally produced lamb chops not the better imported ones.
10. Nothing good at niajo, we left greatly disappointed since I can do much better at home without the over inflated prices.
In the future, I know to only go out to eat if I want cheaply made, gouge and f**k the customer type food that is definitely made and designed for stupid local chinese. If you eat here you are "250".
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calzone
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
Paella in Spain is never done with Arborio rice, is done by Bomba rice or Calasparra rice, what is a rice who gives a perfect balance of starch and then your paella comes more smooth.I have been at many Spanish restaurants in Beijing and the ones owned by Spanish are using "ALL" arborio rice. Only because they can´t get the ones used in Spain.
1. There is many kinds of paellas in Spain.More dry,more juicy,more all dente, more soft...... That´s why the Paella Valenciana, have to come with the rice a bit crispy on top (touch done by the oven) and a bit softer or all dente on the bottom. The paellas from Valencia, can not be served as a cake because from the paella (pan used to do this rice) to the top of the rice have to be max 2cm cooked rice.
2. The Paella Valenciana is made with saffron in the let´s say 20% of the restaurants in Spain and even there they help with colorant to give the saffron color ( as Spanish saffron cost 350 Rmb 3 gr).
3. The best rice to cook paella in Beijing is Arborio as is more close to the medium grain rice used in Spain (Calasparra and Bomba).Or one rice from Dong Bei but is a little bit more glutinous and not much more cheap than arborio.Let´s say Arborio 35rmb/kg and Dong Bei 32rmb/kg).
4. Spanish paella " NEVER " comes with chorizo, the problem is that many people eats a rice with chorizo (in South America) and after they call that paella.Very strange that somebody who says that is a food critic in her profile write this kind of nonsense.
5. Seafood paella comes ...... with seafood. Squid, Cuttlefish, Mussels,Clams,Shrimps,Prawns,Lobster,Scallops.............. of course you will never find a paella with all this seafood, but always at least 3-4 of them.
6. I love sherry vinegar that´s what normally are using all the Spanish restaurants.Balsamic ?? Is like if you go to Italian restaurant and ask for Chinese vinegar. If you go to Spain you will find balsamic vinegar in the 15% of the restaurants who serves Paella.
7. Probably the only thing with what i´m agree with Michelle.I don´t like rancid oil.
8. Chilled plates for salad?? When outside on the street is minus 7 degree....... such a food critic.
9. I never try it there.
10. Totally agree. Stay at home but don´t write more nonsense kind of reviews as a food critic, otherwise you will lose your reputation. Just prepare a chorizo paella,sorry chorizo rice (ha ha) for yourself.
Well ..... the restaurant is owned and designed by Alejandro and he is Spanish.
I just want to be clear. I´m not the owner ,but i´m somebody who often visit the Spanish restaurants in Beijing.
Good luck in your next one !!
eurotrash
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
Thanks for the detailed and informative review. I'll be sure never to set foot in that place.
pepechen
Reply to Michelle on Niajo
For someone that claims to have lived in Spain and even calls itself a Food Critic it is quiet extraordinary that in your Niajo review you got everything so consistently wrong.
This from a 'real' spaniard:
The authentic paella is not the one you were fed with while on vacation on Spain, nor even the one your grandma might have cooked for you with caring love.
Every region in Spain makes its own style of Paella, but the real one, the orthodoxy of Paella, comes from Valencia, which is the one served at Niajo, and such a Paella describes itself quiet precisely in the terms you actually dismiss.
You obviously dont know what is 'socarrat', a valencian word which describes when the bottom of the rice becomes crusty and sticks to the pan.
'Socarrat' is the ultimate proof of a Paella well done, you ignoramus !!!!
Any spaniard can tell you that from the top of the hat but you obviously don't have a clue.
¿rice and ingredients up to the side of the pan? ¿chorizo?
¿balsamic vianger on a spanish restaurant? ¿sausages?
Laughable !!!!!
You obviously belong in the 'chiringuito', that's Paella for you..
¿Food Critic?
Get a life.....
cm87
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
I agree with the last comment... if you think real paella valenciana is made with arborio rice it shows that you know nothing! You call yourself a food critic? Well I have to say you are the most unprofessional, ignorant and rude food critic... if you don't like something you can criticize without the f**k, b.s. and sh*t ...you're just making a fool of yourself.
I know for a fact they use saffron because my mom is allergic to it and they made a special one for her... It didn't taste the same but still is was good.
Balsamic is italian! Are you really asking for balsamic in a spanish restaurant?? Really? Food critic??
The only thing that I agree is the seafood paella... not because its frozen seafood (because you don't really know that) but because it doesn't seem to have much. This is my number 1 place for paella valenciana in Beijing. I don't mine criticism, I know the service is not great and they have flaws but your review was just out of place.
claudiav
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
well obviously the paella in CHina is NEVER going to be like the paella is Spain, the same way the dumplings and noodles are never going be as good in spain.. You are NOT in Spain, and u want to eat paella?
And call the chinese stupid ?? why don't you go home then?
why such arrogance? When in China eat chinese. I guess you are the sort of foreigner that likes to eat at Mc Donnalds and Starbucks wherever you go.. shame.
And by the way, I am not chinese. I just wish people were less narrow minded
agata
Great paella at Niajo's
Niajo has fantastic, tasty, beautiful paella! Ms. Garcia: if you want to be a food critic, start by being constructive and meaningful. Your piece is just ugly and useless.
AmandaUCSC
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
This was my favorite line:
"I grew up in Spain and this is not paella."
If you truly grew up "in Spain" then wouldn't you also realize that regionalism and regional differences there make for very different food experiences as well? My husband is from the Basque country, and I can tell you that the first time we visited Madrid and Barcelona after spending several weeks with his family in Bilbao, I was truly surprised how much of a variety existed -- not only paella, but tapas (or maybe I should say pintxos?) and other "Spanish" food actually refers more to STYLES of cuisine found in on the Iberian peninsula (anywhere) rather than the food itself, which varies a lot. In Bilbao, for example, seafood dominates. My husband's father, who's originally from central Spain, eats a lot more ham and chorizo than most people in Bilbao. As a food critic you really have not done your research.
vicentlabrie
Re: This is not Paella! Niajo is horrible!
omg!