Pet’s Plates

Pepe Nero
Valletta Waterfront,
Vault 18, Valletta.
Tel: 2122 2220

Food: 7/10
Location: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Together with some friends, I decided to go out to lunch and, whether we were escaping from the office or from wailing kids, on one thing we were unanimous – we all seemed to be in desperate need of a carb-loaded meal. All I wanted was a good, uncomplicated lunch.

Pepe Nero at Valletta Waterfront received the most votes and became the choice of the day for our undisputed carb refuelling. I usually like to sit outside whenever I’m eating at Valletta Waterfront, but that day a cruise liner entirely blocked any view of the Three Cities.

The promenade was packed solid with tourists... we quickly decided to sit away from all the commotion and swooped inside. As with the rest of the colourful wharf buildings, the vault housing Pepe Nero has been beautifully restored. This restaurant has been converted into a space that could easily be mistaken for a medieval banqueting hall, complete with a lwood-fired stone oven. Reflecting on the positive effects such an oven must have on pizza making, we were handed a separate menu card comprised solely of a seemingly endless list of pizzas.

This menu contains a lovely variety of standard classic pizzas, pizze bianche, calzoni and some focaccie. There’s also a list of enticing house specials in which ingredients rather alien to the traditional pizza, like truffle cream and wild boar, are used.

With a second restaurant at Jessie’s Bar in Ta’ l-Ibraġġ, Pepe Nero is primarily known for its pizza but they also do pasta, meat and fish dishes, salads and burgers.

In Malta we are practically starved of any sense of wildlife, except for, perhaps, a surplus of pigeons and the odd wandering goat. Stray cats certainly don’t count. But at Pepe Nero they have taken it upon themselves to educate the Maltese public and broaden our horizons.

The pizza deserves high praise and it definitely seems to be their strong suit

Once you’ve studied the pizza and pasta lists, the menu takes on the form of a picture book of sorts. Each separate menu section for meat, fish and poultry is accompanied by enlightening photos illustrating the various livestock or seafood that you can sample at Pepe Nero – just in case you may have forgotten what a cow, a duck, a king prawn or a Maltese pig actually look like.  We were still enjoying a good giggle when some complimentary warm focaccia arrived. It was served plain and was delicious, dipped in some olive oil with a splash of balsamic vinegar. If the dough could taste this good without requiring any topping whatsoever, I had high hopes for the pizza. Although I had ordered the risotto cinghiale, by this point I was desperately wishing I hadn’t. I was ready for a very hearty meal but, sadly, the dish had suffered a few mishaps.

In the first instance, although arborio rice had been used, this was not a risotto and had not been cooked to the creamy, oozy consistency we all know and love. There was no beautiful texture to be had. The dominant flavours were solely of red wine and rosemary. The unique, rich flavour of wild boar was lost and the wild boar sausage could have been composed of pork. The dish should have been incredibly tasty but, unfortunately, missed the mark.

Let’s move on to the pizzas. Thankfully, everyone else was eager to share a little of their pizza with me. An old favourite, the Diavola Calabrese, was spicy, topped with good quality spiced salami, blue cheese and a hot calabrese dressing. Most importantly, the dough had been baked to perfection with a pizza base that was thin and crispy. And what is a pizza without the perfect pizza base? The Da’na Scatola pizza was equally as good. Topped with canned tuna, salty anchovies and onions it was tasty and moreish. Being a pizza bianca, the Artigianale pizza was served without any tomato sauce but was garnished with generous helpings of speck, cherry tomatoes, gorgonzola, rocket leaves and walnuts. Biting into this pizza felt almost like enjoying a delicious salad accompanied by the loveliest of flatbreads to soak up all the juices. All three pizzas were mouth-wateringly good.

We asked to see the dessert menu. The waiter did not turn up with a physical list or an invisible list that he could prattle off by heart. Instead, he presented us with a tray of desserts that looked several days old and so artificial that one had the distinct impression they could have been fashioned out of styrofoam.  Off-putting to say the least and such a pet hate of mine!

How restaurants can think this method of displaying desserts is somehow appetizing to the diner is a mystery to me. It is one thing to find yourself in a fine dining restaurant with a selection of exquisite desserts wheeled up to your table and another thing entirely to have a tray of stale offerings put before you.

The waiter informed us what was what and asked us to choose. As with the case of the picture book menu, the staff at Pepe Nero seemed keen to ensure that we clearly understood from beforehand exactly what dessert we’d be ordering. Anyone who had enjoyed a pizza was still so full and content that they just opted for coffees. I, on the other hand, was still unsatisfied and craved a sweet taste in my mouth. I soldiered on and chose the banoffee pie with much trepidation.

A carbon copy of what I had just witnessed on the dessert tray was presented to me within seconds. I had, thankfully, spied the waiter opening a fridge and getting my portion out, as otherwise I might have thought I was being served the actual display dessert. As expected, my ‘cup’ of banoffee was hardly good – fresh, but hardly good.

Despite there being no shortage of pizzerie on our tiny island, it is not as easy as it may seem to find amazing pizza in Malta. And, at Pepe Nero, the pizza deserves high praise. It definitely seems to be their strong suit, although I have yet to taste their meat and fish dishes. My risotto was mediocre but, as disappointed as I was with it, I shall definitely be returning for more pizza.