3 New Michelin-Starred Restaurants in Spain’s Region of Valencia

Today I want to tell you about three newly-awarded Michelin-starred restaurants in the Region of Valencia in Spain. Simposio, Rubén Miralles, and Llavor have each been given a star in the MICHELIN Guide Spain & Andorra 2026. In this advertising feature in partnership with the Region of Valencia, I’m going to show you why they’re worth a special trip.

1. Simposio

Located in San Antonio de Benagéber, Simposio is a space dedicated to cuisine and gastronomy. The restaurant’s market-fresh cooking uses seasonal local produce, and Chef Roger Julián and his team work closely with local suppliers.

Simposio’s raw materials arrive straight from the produce market, the vegetable garden, and the fish market. Approximately 85% of the restaurant’s cuisine is made from products that come directly from producers in the Region of Valencia. The wine list is based on wines that are 100% from the community as well.

Simposio is Roger Julian’s dream. Just 20 kilometers from Valencia in an off-the-beaten-path town, this gastronomic restaurant has just 5 tables that seat up to 20 guests. There’s an open kitchen integrated into the dining room, which allows the team to come up with creative concepts that work with seasonal produce without masking it.

Chef Roger Julián creates his own unique dishes. Ingredients are thoughtfully assembled, resulting in elegant and balanced cuisine. The island-style kitchen in the middle of the dining room invites diners to see, smell, and hear what is being cooked. Diners can approach, take a look, and ask what’s happening at any given moment. This offers a unique, warm, and intimate experience.

According to the Michelin Guide, Simposio ‘is one of those restaurants that justify our selection, as it has a little culinary gem’. It also highlighted the restaurant’s ‘cozy, contemporary space, shared by the dining room and the kitchen,’ where diners can observe the entire creative process and even chat with the chef himself.

Speaking of whom, Roger Julián is a chef by vocation. With more than 18 years of experience, he began his training in 2001 at the Valencia School of Hospitality. Since then, he has added to his experience by working in places like La Sucursal (1 Michelin star in 2005), the gastronomic restaurant Apicius, renowned chef Santi Santamaría’s Evo (1 Michelin star), and major hotel chains such as Hesperia, Westin, and Las Arenas.

Simposio offers a gourmet restaurant service from Thursday lunchtime to Sunday. It offers two tasting menus with 10 and 12 courses (85€ and 105€ respectively). On Thursday and Friday lunchtimes, it also has a 7-course tasting menu (68€). Additionally, Simposio offers cooking courses when the restaurant is not open for service.

2. Rubén Miralles

The work that Rubén Miralles leads in his restaurant in Vinaroz in the province of Castellón is a celebration of origins and roots. Located on a small street in the old town, the cuisine showcases local, seasonal produce, featuring emblematic ingredients such as Vinaròs prawns and Benicarló artichokes. These roots provide a solid foundation for creative dishes that re-evolve market cuisine with new ways of doing things that surprise diners along the way.

In 2018, at just 26 years old, Miralles launched Restaurante Rubén Miralles as his own project in his hometown. Since then, it has continued to evolve, seeking new forms, new dishes, and new experiences for diners.

In 2022, this effort was recognized with a Sol in the Repsol Guide. A year later, the guide reaffirmed this recognition and the restaurant also entered the Michelin Guide as a Bib Gourmand.

Michelin awarded the restaurant its first star in the 2026 edition. According to the red guide, Rubén Miralles’ restaurant stands out for its ‘contemporary cuisine with a creative touch, which travels the world from the nearest territory’.

The restaurant’s origins go back a long way. Rubén Miralles’ love for cooking was forged alongside his grandmother (whom he honors with the dish callos iaia Erotis, a recipe he learned from her).

After early experiences in front-of-house roles, he decided that his place was behind the stove and, after finishing his studies as a chef in Benicarló, he worked as head chef in several restaurants across Castellón.

Unlike many Michelin-starred chefs, Miralles did not complete his training in large restaurants alongside renowned chefs, but in traditional eateries. The first was Sancho Panza in Alcossebre, then a restaurant in Peñíscola, where for eight years he fed hundreds of diners every day. In his spare time, he read cookbooks and often went out to eat. At only 33 years old, he earned his first Michelin star.

The restaurant currently offers four menus: Ruben Miralles menu (104€), Terreta menu (78€), Producte menu (49€), and Vegan menu (56€).

3. Llavor

In the quiet town of Oropesa del Mar on the Castellón coast, a culinary superpower has emerged that has quickly grown in popularity and earned a spot in the Michelin Guide. Under the name Llavor—which means ‘seed’ in Valencian—it has been awarded a Michelin star in the 2026 edition. Such an accolade places it on the national map of haute cuisine.

Run by young chefs Jorge Lengua and Adrián Peralta, Llavor is a project derived from the roots of the region. The culinary offering is characterized by a creativity that creates a dialogue between Mediterranean tradition and a deep respect for local products. Their cuisine explores the flavors of Castellón’s land, sea, and mountains, transforming them with refined techniques and contemporary sensibility.

Llavor is housed in a modern space with a large terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Jorge Lengua’s approach reflects a cuisine that seeks to enhance the product without unnecessary artifice.

This balance between local culinary heritage and technical exploration has made Llavor one of the province’s main gastronomic draws. The distinction comes after 18 months of operation. It’s also a boost for Castellón’s cuisine, which continues to gain visibility both nationally and internationally with innovative offerings that are derived from the territory but display creative ambition that goes beyond its borders.

Llavor is not just a new Michelin-starred restaurant, but a statement of purpose: to cultivate cuisine from its origins with produce, landscape, and technique as inseparable ingredients of a unique gastronomic experience on the Costa de Azahar.

The chefs’ backgrounds contribute to this. Jorge Lengua was born in 1995 in Castellón’s Artana. Trained in some of Spain’s finest kitchens and with several gastronomic projects under his belt, Llavor is his most personal endeavor.

Lengua trained at GASMA Castellón, an institution linked to CEU Cardenal Herrera. There he studied gastronomy and began to build his technical and conceptual foundation. His training included internships with prestigious chefs like Miguel Barrera at Cal Paradís (1 Michelin star). They allowed him to refine his style and learn about high-level professional cuisine.

Lengua’s official career began with his own projects, which began to demonstrate his culinary personality. In 2020, he opened his first restaurant, La Suculenta, in Benicàssim, Castellón. From its early years, it gained recognition from important publications like the Repsol Guide and the Michelin Guide. This established Lengua as a young chef with his own voice.

During this period, he accumulated a number of important awards: he was named Revelation Chef of the Region of Valencia 2021 and Best Chef of the province of Castellón in 2023. These accolades reflect both his talent and his capacity for evolution and leadership within the local culinary scene.

Following these initial successes, Lengua launched Llavor in Oropesa del Mar, together with his friend and fellow chef Adrián Peralta. With Llavor, Jorge has achieved one of the most important milestones of his career: his first Michelin star in the 2026 edition of the Michelin Guide. Coming just 18 months after the restaurant opened, this is an achievement that places him among the most relevant talents in national gastronomy today.

Lengua combines his work at the helm of Llavor with his desire to grow. He has expressed interest in developing projects linked to his hometown, Artana, and continuing to contribute to the gastronomic development of the Region of Valencia.

Llavor offers two tasting menus, the “Recuerdo efímero” menu (69€) and the “Gran experiencia” menu (89€).

New Michelin-Starred Restaurants in Valencia

I hope this blog post has inspired you to travel to the Region of Valencia and try one or more of these restaurants yourself. Given how promising their chefs are, I’m sure it won’t be long until they all have their second (and third!) stars.

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