Mdina restaurant voted Malta’s best

De Mondion Restaurant in Mdina won the top overall award and scored the highest for food, service and ambience in the annual survey conducted by the Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants.

Over 1,300 regular diners took part in the survey, the largest response to-date, voting for their favourite restaurants on the islands. As respondents ate out at least twice a week on average, this was the equivalent of over 135,200 individual dining experiences, a spokesman for the promoters said.

The survey results were announced on Monday when the CEO of the Malta Tourism Authority, Josef Formosa Gauci, presented awards produced by Villeroy & Boch at the Guide’s gala dinner at the Ballroom Radisson, in St Julians.

Lisa Grech, managing director, said both the guide and the portal www.restaurantsmalta.com listed the 150 most highly rated of Malta’s 1,000-plus dining venues based on food, service and ambience, the number of satisfied customers responding and their comments.

The 2011 edition sees 14 new restaurants entering the guide.

Ms Grech said the new portal, designed by Media Consulta, rated number one on search engines and had 22 search options including restaurants by location, food type and price range together with many other facilities.

The guide is supported by the MTA, HSBC and Marsovin.

Award winners

Forty restaurants received awards based on food, service, ambience. They were (in order of rating

De Mondion; Gazebo; Grill 3301; Patrick’s Tmun ; Quadro; The Edge; Taste; Palazzo Parisio & Gardens – the Luna Collection; The Blue Elephant; Oceana

The Arches; Sa Re Ga Ma; Rebekah’s; The Medina; Bottego del Vino; Hibiki; Al Molo; Zeri’s; Villa Brasserie; Terrazza

Tarragon; Fra Martino; Nuvo Art & Dine; The Terrace; Zest; Il-Ħorża; Ta’ Frenċ; Can Thai; Shiva’s; The Lord Nelson

TemptAsian; L’Ortolan; Maji Wine & Dine; Ta’ Cassia Salina; Essence; Parapett; Zeus; Kon Tiki; Giuseppi’s and Phoenix.

Additional awards were made to:

Best Maltese Food – Ta’ Marija; Best Value for Money – Mamma Mia; Best Business Entertainment – Tarragon; Most Romantic Restaurant – The Blue Elephant; Best Children-Friendly – Mamma Mia; Most Healthy Menu – Salini; Best Restrooms – The Blue Elephant.

Patrick’s Tmun wine list was rated for three awards including The People’s Choice wine list rated from the survey, best Presentation & Accessibility wine list and best Overall wine list.

Ta’ Frenċ wine list was voted best for fine wines and Ta’ Marija had the best list of Maltese wines.

Two new awards – The Best Ambience Award and The Best Service Award – were won by Palazzo Parisio & Gardens – The Luna Collection and Grill 3301 respectively.