The silent revolution

Ed eats

Gochi
148, St George’s Road,
St Julian’s
Tel: 2138 2411

Food: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Gochi has been a source of quick-and-easy dining for me ever since they occupied a tiny space inside the wall of the formidable Palazzo Spinola.

There is something about sushi that I don’t get tired of in the same way as I never get tired of sandwiches or a ftira biż-żejt. Even though I won’t eat any of these every single day, they are satisfying, simple, tasty and ridiculously easy to acquire or prepare.

Those who think a sushi roll is hard to make have never made a sandwich. Probably the first time you spread Marmite onto a single slice of toast, you made a big mess and your mum cleaned up after you.

Then you learned how to walk and talk and play Tetris and all other skills somehow fell into place.

The same applies to a maki roll. At its simplest, the nori (seaweed) sheet goes onto the rolling mat. Rice is spread evenly on the sheet, leaving a rice-free strip at one end. Ingredients are added in a thin strip at the other end. Roll, slice, and eat.

I am being intentionally simplistic. I can easily describe a sandwich in the same dumb way. And to both descriptions the reaction should be, “Ah, but making a really good sandwich/maki roll takes time, patience, practice and exceedingly good quality ingredients.” Doesn’t this apply universally though?

At Gochi I have always found the balance between price and quality worked. Then there’s the added convenience of food I like available in take-away format. After all, Gochi is primarily a take-away spot.

I usually park in that ever-so-dodgy spot just outside, pick up my assortment of maki and nigiri (finger sushi), and speed off (within legal limits, of course) to the comfort of my cave.

They used to provide soy sauce and pickled ginger in little plastic tubs, wasabi (Japanese horseradish) alongside the sushi itself, and as many pairs of chopsticks as you need, all at no extra cost.

Now they supply the chopsticks and wasabi but charge for soy sauce and pickled ginger. Perhaps they thought I was working on a masterplan that involved an acre of retail space dedicated to flogging the soy sauce and ginger that I didn’t consume after my belly was full of their sushi.

Some time after their success at take-away sushi was established, the lovely people at Gochi decided to open a little dining area in the back.

True to their Japanese origin, they designed the place to suit what we in the West presume a Japanese restaurant should look like, and I have to say I love the simple and effective décor.

Grey pebbles on the floor as you walk in are interspersed with little islands in a dark grey slate. This would cause havoc underneath tables and chairs, so neat wooden decking takes care of the rest of the restaurant.

A few tables and chairs occupy the centre of the open-air space. The rest of the area is interestingly furnished in an array of shin-height tables, Lilliputian stools and assorted cushions.

If you haven’t tried eating when sitting so close to the floor I would recommend you do so. There is something quite relaxing about it.

Perhaps it is the knowledge that if you overdo the warm sake, there is little distance left to fall. Whatever it is, I enjoy the experience, even if my ageing knees protest on the way up.

Regardless of where you decide to sit, inside here it is quite idyllic. Japanese art on the walls, the materials chosen, simply designed furniture and pleasingly matched colour schemes contribute to a Zen-encouraging harmony and the subconscious desire to peaceful introspection.

This is the kind of mood that I definitely don’t want wrecked by insanely loud and totally uncalled-for noises. And that is exactly what the fireworks from the festa in Balluta did.

I might be putting my life on the line here, but I have to declare an unqualified hatred for the loud bangs. I am also quite positive that everyone on the island, with the exception of the fireworks aficionados who actually produce them, share my dislike – albeit with different degrees of intensity.

There can be no joy to be had in producing ridiculously loud noises that spoil whatever it is people are doing within a 10-mile radius.

So every impolite form of dismissal at my disposal is aimed directly at you who condoned, sanctioned, paid for, or produced the confounded petards. My e-mail address below is available for your rebuttal. In the words of Mr Churchill, do your worst.

On the evening in question I parked quite close to Gochi in a proper white box, so I figured a quick meal inside their lovely little spot would be appropriate. We were lucky that a table was vacated as we walked in and placed our orders, with both of the girls taking care of the dining area.

I am not one to speak up so my rapid-fire order took a bit of repeating. Always polite, always smiling, the girls were unfazed by my mumbling and asked me to repeat until they had taken down all of my order.

The menu isn’t broad by sushi restaurant standards. It is restricted to the take-away fare on the outside, so I asked whether they would prepare sashimi. This was not a problem and they let me know that they had fresh tuna and salmon available on that day.

They also had a wakame salad among other things that hadn’t made it to the menu and this seemed to be just what my rice-avoiding companion had been waiting for.

We each ordered a portion of both forms of sashimi and I went for my typical broadside shot at the menu. Three ways with nigiri and two different rolls.

I also ordered their warm sake despite the summer heat. I always prefer my sake warm and the variety stocked by Gochi is, within my limited exposure to the thousands of ‘ordinary sake’ varieties available, quite to my liking. It is served very hot, so test the innocent-looking pitcher before making a grab for it.

Our food is served within 10 minutes and careful consideration has been made for the aesthetics of the dish.

The sashimi is plentiful and cut rather thinly, almost like the strip of fish atop the nigiri sushi. This cut exposes more of the flavour of the fish than the texture as would be the case with a thicker cut.

I had picked scallop, squid and tuna nigiri, each of which was fresh and quite expertly prepared. The Zen roll is interesting, with a hefty cube of cucumber inside the rice roll and, quite unusually, presenting smoked eel as a topping rather than a filling.

The perennial salmon and avocado is just as it always is, with very ripe avocado adding a sweet and mushy aspect to the fatty fish.

The sushi is not the best on the planet but it is consistently well-prepared and fresh and, in this case, cost €25 per person. I’d have easily spent twice that much at a ‘proper’ sushi restaurant but would not have had an experience that is twice as good as Gochi.

And so I will be back to Gochi again and again, provided the fireworks people don’t get to me first and blow me to smithereens.

If you never see this column again, you’ll know their retribution has been swift. And I hope you consider it martyrdom for a silently noble cause.

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