One of the longest established restaurants, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on May 22, Ta’ Frenċ in Gozo, is nevertheless fearless when it comes to change and innovation.
Dishes will change frequently because the chef never knows from day to day what the fishermen will bring to the kitchen door- Frances Bissell
As the staff and owners are family friends, I offered to assist with the restaurant’s last major rejuvenation a few years ago and worked with Mario Schembri, the executive chef, on developing the menus. I feel particularly proud to have been there at the creation of the now-famous rabbit ravioli.
At the same time, new furniture, china and stemware were introduced to add comfort and elegance to the dining experience.
One of my favourite things that the owners did was to commission delicate glass napkin rings from Gozo Glass. And on a completely different scale, a wine cellar was built underground to house the restaurant’s growing and important wine collection.
Ta’ Frenċ’s current facelift is subtle, and hardly perceptible, as are all good facelifts; not that I speak from personal experience, you understand. Visiting Ta’ Frenċ now, you will still see the lovely herb garden and can enjoy its scents and flavours in the after-dinner infusions and delicate sauces.
You can sip a glass of house champagne in the bar or in the garden as you read the menu or have a few words with the owner, Ino Attard, who is usually there at the weekends to welcome guests and lend a hand.
You might be anticipating a flambé cooked at your table by restaurant manager Joseph Tabone or one of his highly experienced brigade, some of whom have been with the restaurant for 18 years. Or perhaps you are looking forward to some of your favourites on the à la carte menu. So what, you might wonder, is different. Look at the new menu. Fixed price menus have long since ceased to be regarded as ‘down-market’. Le Gavroche in London is famous for its prix fixe lunch as is Le Bristol in Paris. Certainly, our favourite places in Paris only have fixed price menus, lunch and dinner, offering several choices at each course, entrée, plat et dessert.
During the winter period, I worked with the chef, and Joseph Buttigieg, the sous-chef, on the concept of fixed price menus. It proved to be a winner with diners and the plan for the coming season at Ta’ Frenċ is to offer a fixed priced market menu for €30 for three courses and €35 for four courses.
For the first course, you might choose a vegetable soup or a garden salad, charcuterie or marinated fish; next there is a choice of pasta dishes or risotto followed by a main course of local fish or meat, some local, some imported; finally a selection of pastry chef Manuel Rapa’s desserts, from seasonal fruit crumbles to his famous ice-creams and sorbets.
Bread baked by Manuel in-house every day accompanies each meal, as does the newly-bottled house olive oils, one an extra virgin oil from the restaurant’s own olive groves in Gozo and one from Sicily.
Dishes will change frequently because the chef never knows from day to day what the fishermen will bring to the kitchen door.
Sometimes we have been there for an early dinner and seen the fish arrive, line-caught fish landed down the road in Marsalforn.
Growing seasons for certain fruit and vegetables are short in Gozo’s fertile valleys, so you need to be quick off the mark in order to enjoy the asparagus dishes, or the broad beans, and the luscious strawberries which will only be on the menu for a short while.
The restaurant’s ‘facelift’ shows a fresh, modern and sympathetic approach to present-day concerns and financial constraints. With this formula, you know where you are, you know how much the bill will be, you can relax and enjoy the experience instead of wondering how it’s all going to add up.
And knowing you are spending exactly €35 for a four-course menu, you can browse the comprehensive wine list and choose according to your budget. And when I say comprehensive, it genuinely is. You will find affordable Sicilian wines to accompany the kitchen’s Mediterranean-hued dishes.
For the authentic Maltese dishes, you need look no further than the selection of wines from Malta, some of them made from grapes grown in Gozo vineyards.
On the other hand, to partner the classic dishes for which Ta’ Frenċ is famous, the flambéed steak Diane or Chateaubriand for two, the great wines of France are impeccably cellared underground in Ta’ Frenċ’s purpose-built cave with its specially commissioned fresco and long dining table.
Classed growth Bordeaux wines are a particular feature of the restaurant, but we have also had stunn-ing white Burgundy and a fine Hermitage Blanc on a recent visit.
The staff will be happy to show you round this elegant space, which is also perfect for a private dinner party for family or friends.
But Ta’ Frenċ’s most important innovation is the introduction of authentic Maltese dishes, both on the market menu, and as a separate fixed price menu. This is food your grandmother used to cook.
It is not Mario’s, Joseph’s or Manuel’s contemporary interpretation of Maltese specialities, but authentic Maltese food served in the traditional way drawn from the chefs’ family recipes.
This is an exciting development which has been a long time coming, but now feels the right time to celebrate the culinary heritage of the country.
Such a celebration is attractive both for visitors who want to know where they are, a ‘sense of place’ in the food they are eating, and for locals, who no longer have time to cook such dishes, who were never taught them by their mother, and who long for a real taste of authentic Maltese home cooking.
Anyone for stuffat tal-qarnit stil Malti or kannoli mimlija bl-irkotta u konfettura?