Ed eats

Little Argentina
210, Tower Road
Sliema
Tel: 2704 2444

Food: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 6/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

This season is so gastronomically exciting. In the run-up to the mayhem that the next two weeks will most definitely deal with, everyone seems to want to eat more. Food we wouldn’t dream of during the year comes creeping out of recipe books and on to our tables. Even if I can’t claim a sweet tooth, I find myself enjoying desserts at all times of day.

The elves at the office concoct all sorts of scrumptiously sinful delights and just leave them, carefully and thoughtfully labelled, on the kitchen counter for everyone to sample. Friends and family and the occasional nemesis come up with every excuse for yet another meal, each of these cooked with theatre and not sustenance in mind.

Meals become choreographed and scored, for nothing helps with timing as much as a cautiously curated Spotify playlist. “Warm the plates for the main course when you hear the Band Aid song come on. The one from 1984, mind you.”

Eating out becomes a scary prospect, too. I tend to prefer quiet spaces to enjoy a meal, so sitting inside a restaurant packed with revellers isn’t quite up my alley. It is the time of year when I avoid the more popular restaurants for fear of having to put up with excessive noise levels and poor-quality food, a decidedly unpleasant combination.

So when I heard of a relatively new restaurant in Sliema serving Argentinian food I presumed it would be early enough in its lifecycle for it to be nice and quiet, particularly on a weeknight. And in the company of another three incurable carnivores, I set out to try their wares.

The location is great, replacing what used to be an excellent restaurant called The Kitchen, and enjoying Tower Road’s view of the open sea. They’ve gone for quite an informal decor I didn’t quite take a fancy to.

Having said that, while I might have picked a different aesthetic, they’ve done a great job at making the atmosphere welcoming, possibly thanks to the informality.

Board games are available at the entrance and this means more than is instantly apparent. It makes sure you feel you’re welcome to stay for a while and perhaps play a game of chess rather than rushing out to make way for the next round of patrons. This extends to the tables, with table mats cut out of plain, white paper and a little bucket of crayons for everyone to decorate their own. My quibbles with the aesthetic were quickly replaced with admiration for the pleasantly quirky set-up.

We were greeted by a lady who was busy going through the menu with the only other table occupied that evening. She politely excused herself with the table and dashed to welcome us with a big smile.

She offered to help us with the menus and then gave us time to think. Every interaction with her was one that made us feel like we’d been invited home and that they were genuinely happy to have us there.

With such welcoming service and those empanadas firmly lodged in my list of must-eat-again foods, it is just a matter of picking a date

The menus are what I presume is typical Argentinian food. I’ve never been to Argentina so this is little more than a guess. I’m basing my guess on previous encounters with ‘Argentinian’ restaurants that had undergone the homogenising Western treatment and this looked little like them.

If you like grilled meat, you’re in luck here. Starters are all grilled meats and sausage with the addition of three ways to the empanada. The rest includes salads and a section of Milanese-style meats but is chiefly composed of grilled meats in various guises, including the massive Argentinian sandwiches.

I’d just left a social event where I just had to taste the food, mainly out of etiquette and just a little because it tasted really lovely so I thought I’d go easy on the starters. Conveniently they serve a skewer that includes little chunks out of several farm animals and this is priced by the unit so you can effectively stack your starter depending on your appetite. I’d settle for just the one.

The ladies were in a huddle, discussing the merits of the empanadas with grave expressions. The traditional one is filled with beef and onion. The Mediterraneanised (quite possibly a new word) one has mozzarella and basil, and the one for kids has ham and cheese in it. To me the choice was obvious but they thought there were a lot of ins, a lot of outs, and a lot of whathaveyous.

I decided I wouldn’t choose my main course. The lady who had taken care of us so far inspired confidence, so I thought I’d let her choose whatever it is they felt proudest serving. I was with the rib master and the sight of veal ribs had him weak at the knees and strong of resolve. Meanwhile, the ladies had both chosen the fillet.

So I allowed everyone to place their orders and asked our host what she’d recommend. With a smile, she indicated that the rib-eye is the cut to go for. That would be my main course then. We added a bottle of Malbec in an attempt to drink local, something I always try to do. Unless I’m in Wales, of course.

A minute later, our host returned with a little dish of galletti and a couple of dips. Both hummus and aubergine dips turned out to be a perfect way to refresh our palates and get a little food into our systems while we waited for our starters. These were served within a reasonable time and the simplicity of the decor is repeated in the presentation. The skewer was served on a little bit of shredded lettuce, so it looked quite lonely in the middle of the plate. I had mercy on it and ate it. If this was a sign of things to come, we were in for a great main course.

Every piece of meat had been grilled at the perfect temperature for the right amount of time, so it was charred on the outside and juicy on the inside. Dipping this into chimichurri, the traditional dipping sauce, adds a surprisingly zesty layer to the experience. It is touted as a spicy sauce but don’t expect it to trigger the fire alarm. If you can handle even a mild heat, you’ll be perfectly safe with this one.

The star of the starters was the beef empanada. The thin, flaky pastry case cocoons a warm and juicy filling of minced beef and sweet onions and it makes for a very simple and tasty treat. Alas, I’d finished my starter so I had nothing left to barter for a second bite.

Just as spartan and just as great were our main courses. The simple presentation reinforces the home-cooked atmosphere and had us all in a very relaxed mood. And when I’m not feeling like I’m meant to be on my best behaviour, I enjoy a meal more, especially in the company of fellow gourmands.

There’s no awkwardness between us when cutting a choice end of the tenderloin and sticking it on to someone else’s plate while saying: “You’ve just got to taste this.” There’s no shame in asking to taste other people’s food, and it’s sort of OK to pick up a chip with your fingers. Only these weren’t chips. They were skin-on wedges with a dry, crisp exterior, a tender interior, and perfectly salted.

I started with the veal rib and the cooking made up for the shortcomings of this cut. If eating ribs, I prefer those from a more mature animal, mainly because more fat means more flavour. The veal rib is very delicate and the charring had given it added interest. My rib-eye was excellent.

I’d ordered the 250g portion, so it wasn’t too thick and yet the cooking temperature I’d asked for had been respected. Nicely aged, the striploin end had a firm texture and melted marbling gave it a buttery flavour. Further on into the tenderloin, the texture opened up and made for a steak worth eating out for.

Also happy were the fillet eaters. They starting naming their favourite steak purveyors on the islands, a handful of coveted restaurants, and popped Little Argentina straight into the list.

We paid €30 each, a steal for the quantity and quality of food we ate, and immediately decided we’d be back. With such welcoming service and those empanadas firmly lodged in my list of must-eat-again foods, it is just a matter of picking a date.

You can send e-mails about this column to ed.eatson@gmail.com or follow @edeats on Twitter.

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