Ed eats
Fresco’s
Tower Road
Sliema
Tel: 2734 4763
Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 6/10
Value: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
This is another Sunday that fills me with confidence that the restaurant review, quietly hidden within a section about travel and food, will be the last item on people’s reading list. Once again, I’m tempted to sabotage the page and write a treatise on something unrelated, since any misgivings will go unnoticed. Once again, however, I will exercise restraint and respond to the call of duty.
They’ve got the whole atmosphere worked out so well that this can’t be the result of haphazard putting together of components
By the end of today, we’ll know the result of the elections. At this point, everything that has been said and done is irrelevant – the votes have been cast – so there is little to do but wait until the popular verdict emerges.
So you might as well stop worrying and start thinking about food. There is nothing you can do (unless you’re counting the votes, in which case please put down the newspaper and get back to work) about the result so how about planning your next meal?
I’d suggest something light and very tasty. Whether you’re happy with the result or not, you’re better suited to face either outcome on a stomach that is only lightly burdened. And a happy palate makes joy more enjoyable and sweetens any unpleasantness, so that’s a wise choice any day.
I’ve had a campaign of my own to face for quite a while. My darling better half has suggested the same restaurant every week for what feels like half a century. I haven’t known her that long, and can never admit that it feels like half a century, can I?
She has turned this suggestion into something of a campaign. She is relentless, consistent and articulate about what she wants – traits that I suppose befit any campaign worth its salt. And every time, mostly because the situation conspires against her wishes, we go to a different restaurant.
Lately my ignoring of her suggestion was becoming something of a habit and, were I not the model partner that I am, she would have suspected that I’m acting out of contrariness. And to show what a model partner I am, I gave in after only 81 mentions (before she lost count). So off to Fresco’s we headed, dinner on her mind and putting paid to the campaign on mine.
I’d been to Fresco’s before and enjoyed every visit. It is just that I’d never been there in her company and that puts every one of my visits into the ‘doesn’t count’ box. We all know that box is bottomless and thus everything chucked inside rendered irretrievable.
So there we were, driving around Sliema on the impossible mission of finding a parking spot and I remembered the original reason for my reluctance. I eventually found a spot that I thought bordered on the illegal. A parking ticket on my windscreen confirmed this a couple of hours later.
The restaurant used to be a humble kiosk until a few years ago. It has since been converted in a lovely little place, with a cosily covered and heated terrace adding extra dining space. As the weather warms up, the tables on the outdoor terrace gain deserved popularity. The restaurant enjoys splendid views of the bay and of open sea so there is a lot to recommend it.
We were greeted by a man who was evidently running the show that evening. He is smart and efficient, filling us with confidence that we’d be in very capable hands that evening. A young lady, just as pleasant and efficient, turned up with menus and gave us a while to have a look at them.
Then our host popped by again to let us know that they were serving fresh sea bass and sea bream in addition to the menu items.
I glanced at the choppy seas outside and asked how fresh the fish was. He was quite frank. It was fresh, he vouched, but could not guarantee that it was not farmed. They bought both farmed and wild fish, he explained. While we tend to prefer the wild fish, there is nothing wrong with the occasional farmed ones.
The meat tends to be fattier and, at the risk of sounding blasphemous, this adds flavour as all fats do. We eat farmed animals all the time, so perhaps it is time we start to put the prejudice about farmed fish into some form of perspective.
We ordered the fritto misto to share as starters and would have one fish each for main course. To this we added an inexpensive bottle of Italian white. I thought I’d ordered a bottle of water as well but I think I might not have because I asked for one a little later and it turned up in a jiffy.
My darling better half pointed out that I hadn’t ordered one the first time around and our host replied with a jocular little, “The ladies are always right.” No wonder she’s been suggesting the place.
Our starter was served quite quickly and I was pleased we’d only ordered one portion because it was really quite generous. The batter is thin and based on semolina rather than flour so there is a lovely texture to it.
The fry could have been a little drier, with a few of the items verging on oily. Having said that, the prawns, squid and whitebait were highly enjoyable and a couple of minutes were all it took for the mountain of fried fish to vanish.
The restaurant is a really pleasant place to be. They’ve got the whole atmosphere worked out so well that this can’t be the result of haphazard putting together of components. Ample use of timber, warm lighting and an earthy palette conspire to quite deliberately add warmth and tranquillity without going over the top.
The result is a space that never feels over-designed and yet contributed to a lovely evening. Even the choice of music, mainly electro-bossa remixes of well-known tunes, recedes pleasantly into the background and creates a cushion to render other people’s conversations inaudible.
Our fish was delivered within a very respectable time. Both had been grilled quite thoroughly, a treatment that the sea bream stood up to better than the sea bass. Our host half-heartedly offered to fillet them but seemed quite reluctant. I fillet my own anyway so I took pity and said we’d be fine. I wound up filleting two fish.
While not up at the top of my personal fish podium, both of these were very enjoyable. Seasoning is restrained and complemented the charred exterior, while the interior had retained most of its moisture, with the sea bream winning this category quite clearly. Our sides came in the form of respectable baked potatoes and some excellent steamed veg.
We hadn’t overeaten but I wasn’t up for dessert, so we settled for a couple of bitters and settled the bill for just over €70. Our host asked about our experience and was quite keen to know we’d enjoyed our food and our stay.
Well, we had. Despite its location and views, Fresco’s has managed to remain unpretentious, wholesome and extremely welcoming.
I imagine the place to be quite hectic during the weekends, but it has gained a spot on my circuit of quiet weeknight restaurant for a quick and pleasantly enjoyable meal.
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