Melbourne's not only the most liveable city in the world - it's also home to the the tastiest paella, outside of Spain.

Simply Spanish, which has a restaurant in Melbourne CBD and stalls at South Melbourne and Queen Victoria markets, represented Australia at the world Paella championships – the "Concurso Internacional de Paella" –in the Spanish city of Valencia at the weekend.

At 2.30am on Monday, restaurant owner John Kyzintas, who had remained in Melbourne to look after the restaurants, said he received an "unbelievable" phone call.

"I got goosebumps," he said.