Great paella starts long before the pan is hot. It starts at the market, at the fishmonger, and in the careful relationships we've built with the people who grow and supply the best produce in Melbourne.
In Madrid, the quality of a paella is judged before a single grain of rice hits the pan. It is judged at the market — in the saffron you choose, the stock you make, the seafood you select that morning. Ignacio grew up understanding this. It is the standard Tapas Madriz holds itself to at every single event.
We source every ingredient with the same care we'd apply cooking for our own family. That means real saffron — not the powder. Genuine Spanish Bomba rice — not a substitute. Fresh Australian seafood sourced as close to your event date as possible. House-made stock. Proper Spanish chorizo. No frozen shortcuts, no compromise on what goes in the pan.
This is not a marketing line. It is the reason our paella tastes the way it does.
"The secret to a good paella is not the recipe. It is the respect you show the ingredients."
A principle Ignacio learned growing up in Madrid, watching his family cook for hours over a weekend — and one that guides every Tapas Madriz event today.
We use genuine saffron threads — never powder, never a substitute. Real saffron from La Mancha is what gives a proper paella its golden colour and its distinctly floral, earthy depth. It is the most expensive spice in the world for a reason, and we've never once considered skipping it.
Bomba rice is the only rice we use. Grown in the wetlands of Valencia — the birthplace of paella — it absorbs three times its volume in stock without turning mushy, and holds its texture long after cooking. Using a substitute would be like making risotto with long-grain rice. We simply don't do it.
Our prawns, mussels, calamari and fish are sourced fresh from Melbourne's markets as close to your event as possible — never from frozen. Australian seafood is world-class, and when it's prepared simply with good stock and saffron, it speaks for itself. We let it.
A great paella is built on great stock. We make ours from scratch for every event — seafood stock for mariscos, chicken stock for montañesa, vegetable stock for verduras. There is no paella stock powder in our kitchen. The base of the dish deserves the same care as everything else.
Pimentón de la Vera — cold-smoked over oak in Extremadura — is what gives the sofrito its depth and the socarrat its colour. It is a completely different ingredient to generic paprika, and it is non-negotiable in our sofrito. The smoke it carries is irreplaceable.
The sofrito — a slow-cooked base of tomato, onion, garlic, and paprika — is the soul of the paella. We cook ours from fresh vegetables at every event, never from a jar. It takes time to do it properly. That time is always worth it.
For our chicken and montañesa paellas, we use quality free-range chicken, sourced locally. It is marinated, browned properly in olive oil, and cooked into the rice — never pre-cooked, never added at the end. Every piece carries the flavour of the sofrito it was seared in.
Not all chorizo is created equal. We source cured Spanish chorizo — the real thing, made with pimentón and aged correctly. When it hits the hot pan, the fat renders and turns an extraordinary shade of deep red, infusing the oil that everything else is cooked in. That flavour is irreplaceable.
Every paella starts with a generous pour of good olive oil. It is not a cooking medium — it is an ingredient. The quality of the oil affects everything that follows: the sofrito, the sear on the chicken, the flavour of the finished dish. We don't use cheap oil.
The non-negotiables — Bomba rice, saffron threads, pimentón de la Vera, and Spanish chorizo — are sourced from specialist Spanish food importers and kept at the highest quality. These are the ingredients that cannot be substituted, so we plan around them.
Seafood, vegetables, fresh herbs, and chicken are sourced in the 24–48 hours before your event. Freshness is not a bonus — it is the point. A prawn that was swimming yesterday tastes completely different to one that has been in a freezer for a month.
Stock is prepared fresh for your event — not opened from a carton. We reduce proper bones and shells with aromatics into a rich, flavourful base. This is the single biggest difference between a memorable paella and a forgettable one.
We arrive with everything prepped, portioned, and ready to cook live in front of your guests. Nothing is pre-cooked at home and reheated on-site. The cooking you see is the cooking that produces the dish — and the socarrat at the bottom of the pan proves it.
Turmeric or artificial colouring might look similar. The flavour is worlds apart. We use real saffron threads, always.
Jasmine or basmati rice cannot absorb stock the way Bomba does. The texture of the finished paella would be entirely different.
The base of the paella carries everything. We make ours from scratch, every time, for every event.
Protein cooked separately and added at the end loses the flavour exchange that happens inside the pan. Everything cooks together, in the pan, on the day.
When every ingredient is chosen with care and cooked with intention, the result speaks for itself. We'd love to bring that experience to your next event.
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