Ed eats

Truffle & Truffles
4, Dragonara Road
St Julian’s
Tel: 2713 3254

Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10

Having visited at least 50 different restaurants every year for a number of years now, I’m often stuck for ideas when dining out with the intention of reviewing a restaurant.

Some specific locations help me out though. They change guise every so often so I find myself walking through the same doors into a different restaurant altogether.

Tuna bellyTuna belly

Sometimes this is a good thing, especially if the restaurant that has been replaced was a poor one to begin with. This is not always the case though. There are many different reasons that can cause a restaurant to vanish, even if popular and profitable. My first heartbreak of the sort happened when Oliver’s closed their doors, just when I was turning into a fan of their kitchen.

Luckily, I can think of many more instances where the change was a good thing, so I suppose we’re all gradually evolving higher gastronomic expectations.

There’s this restaurant in St Julian’s that I’ve been to quite a few times and I don’t think it was ever in the same costume. It was Italian, it was Swedish and now it is ‘international’, whatever that may mean.

I don’t pass by very often so I was under the impression that the lovely Swedish place was still alive and kicking. Then I was reliably informed that it had changed hands and adopted the new name of Truffle & Truffles.

I presumed the reference was to both the confectionery and the pricey mushroom. And under this presumption I just had to visit.

I’m not big on the sweet variety of truffle because I often consider them to be rather contrived as a sweet, with too much effort going into a tiny praline that could have done with simplicity as a calling card.

I am, on the other hand, rather partial to the truffle that’s sniffed out by clever pigs. So at the first possible opportunity I paid Truffle and Truffles a visit. I’d left the office rather late so just dashed straight to dinner, hungry and a little weary. Luckily, there’s a car park right next door and this is already a factor to recommend the restaurant.

You’re also quite far from the madness that the centre of Paceville is, so once inside it is easy to forget the location you’re in. The restaurant has three dining areas – a lounge area with high stools and bistro tables, a proper dining area on the ground floor and another on the first floor. The view from up there must be quite pretty during the day but I didn’t consider the dark of night attractive enough for me to head up that way and we picked a table all the way inside.

The man who greeted us had a script similar to the one you get at little tourist shops. He explained that they combined mixology with dining and, after telling us how happy he was to have us there, wished us a pleasant experience. He smiled and beamed and bowed and, finally, retreated.

Our waiting time was perfectly acceptable

One of his colleagues turned up to bring menus and take drinks orders but she didn’t quite know what was going on. After a few referrals to the man who’d greeted us and who was evidently running the front of house, she simply passed on the baton. With a menu that depends on the inclusion of daily specialities for its bistro dimension, one simply can’t afford such little food knowledge.

I was at a loss. I had high expectations because of the name. The menu sounded really interesting, as did the daily specialities. The service was trying far too hard though. If one is confident of the abilities of one’s kitchen, one doesn’t need to oversell. Quiet confidence is quite enough.

For starters we were having the day’s soup, a mushroom soup with Parmesan, and a duo of scallop and squid. We’d follow this up with tuna belly and a French rack of veal. This caused no end of confusion. There’s a rack of lamb on the menu and I had to be quite specific to make sure I didn’t get the wrong thing.

The amuse-bouche arrived in the form of a little tomato and cheese arancina. It was simple and understated and actually quite a clever way of preparing one’s palate for what’s next. Also at our table by now were a bowl of excellent bread and a tiny bowl of commercial olive oil.

The girl who actually delivered our starters had nothing to do with her colleagues. She was quiet, efficient, polite and knew exactly what she was doing without finding the need to explain herself. Later on she visited our table to replace our cutlery and pour wine, once again keeping the intrusion to a minimum. I secretly hoped we’d be seeing more of her.

The restaurant itself isn’t remarkable. It is neat and tidy and unimposing, with dim lighting and pleasant background music at a comfortable volume. The tables are neatly laid as well, consistent with the food style that the menu seems to prepare diners for. Paper napkins though? This was another factor that had me confused about what to expect.

Our waiting time was perfectly acceptable. My scallop and squid consisted of battered squid and flat-fried scallop. These were served with a sweet beetroot compote underneath and the lovely sting of capers.

The squid batter was lively and zesty and could have done with a slightly drier fry, the scallops were hard to fault and the combination was clever and indulgent.

The mushroom and Parmesan soup was also highly enjoyable. There was a little too much of the fat base so the result was a rather oily soup but the mature cheese and the fresh mushroom worked very well together.

The main courses took a little while but the starters have been generous and we had an inexpensive bottle of wine to keep us company so we hardly noticed the wait. The tuna belly had been grilled all the way to medium, even if we’d asked for rare, but it hadn’t been ruined.

A plum, ginger and soy sauce made for a lively and almost Eastern dish. Little mounds of delicious truffled potato purée, on the other hand, brought the whole thing home. Had I been the one who’d ordered this, I think I’d have polished off the potato and left the outer bits of the fish that had been cooked through.

I’d ordered the veal. It was also served a little beyond medium-rare but hadn’t suffered much as a result. This had been served with a sauce that it could have done without and with a bowl of truffle butter. This was as good as truffle butter can get – a poor man’s substitute for the real thing. The steak was served on a slice of tree trunk that belongs in the 80s. And on the side we had lovely potatoes that did really well when dipped in the truffle butter, so this is what I did, demoting etiquette in favour of flavour.

The desserts were described in a way that made me want to try all of them but I was too full of food, having overeaten potatoes and truffle butter, so I decided I’d give dessert a miss. Also helping my decision was the fact that I was sitting in full view of a fridge full of cakes, some of which looked as tired as I was.

I relayed this to our man who decided he’d treat us to a single chocolate truffle to taste while we finished our wine and settled the bill. It was really quite lovely and I almost found myself ordering more. While I waited for the bill, our man was at the bar mixing a cocktail and it was now that I could see him in his element. I should have forgotten about the wine and drank what seems to be his true passion. It was almost like watching a bird that walks around a little awkwardly then takes to flight and transforms into a much more graceful version of itself.

The change from €100 came in the form of a small coin. To charge these prices, Truffle and Truffles needs more than an innovative selection of dishes.

More confidence in the front of house and proper attention of execution in the kitchen can really pull this place up a notch and help it match the promise that the name inevitably commits to.

Maybe the lounge-style dining and a cocktail from the enticing list would have been a better idea. There’s only one way to find out and, despite the bumbling service, I’m determined to follow through.

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

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