Ed eats

Charles Grech
Bistro 59, Dingli Street
Sliema
Tel 2132 0926

Food: 4/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 9/10
Value: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

There are restaurants that open to a rather high set of expectations, mainly because of the story that’s created around them. If a Michelin starred chef sets up a food truck that serves toast with ham and cheese, you can be certain there’ll be a queue of punters on the opening day that stretches around a block.

Then, there are restaurants that open their doors with little more than an announcement and wait for their patrons to spread the word. Both cases pose a challenge. The former has a story to live up to while the latter has one to create and neither situation is an easy one.

I’ve been lucky to have experienced a great deal of both along the years. I’ve been underwhelmed at two star restaurants and impressed by the most humble of diners. So I’ve learned to enter most places with as limited a set of expectations as possible.

That’s not to say I’m prepared to ignore the promise that every restaurateur makes to their patrons. If a pastizzeria has row upon row of fresh pastizzi on display, I expect to part with a modest sum of money for crisp pastry and fresh, cheesy innards, all served in a paper bag. And if everything lines up properly, they can have me entirely delighted.

The fictional Michelin starred toast-maker I made up earlier would have to deliver on whatever promise is being made, too. I’m either paying the typical price for toast or else I’m expecting a delightful twist on the formula. That, or an exceptionally accomplished sandwich.

I heard stories about Charles Grech Bistro a while ago. Formerly Vino Veritas, the restaurant enjoys a rather privileged location. Ever since the bar of old changed hands it hadn’t quite risen to the level of renown it enjoyed in its heyday. This was a chance to turn it into something remarkable and, back when the new bistro opened its doors to the public, it made quite the stir.

I usually allow a restaurant to settle down a little before giving it a shot. This gives the team the time to find their feet and iron out any teething niggles. And Charles Grech Bistro has remained high on my list of restaurants to visit since its early days.

I have little to say of the kitchen

I, finally, got round to giving it a shot and turned up a little later than I’d normally have dinner but well within the realms of decency, especially for a weekend night. There were just two tables available and I claimed one before heading back out to hunt for a parking spot. This isn’t the easiest of tasks here and, by the time we were back, our table was laid and there was a ‘reserved’ sign there to keep our seats unoccupied.

It felt like I’d crashed a girls’ night because, other than the service team, the dining area was entirely patronised by the fairer sex. I decided not to dwell on this. Any attempts at interpreting the situation would be somehow sexist and, proud of my sense of self-preservation, I just put it all down to coincidence.

We were served by two men in a way that was efficient, functional and almost entirely impersonal. They seem to have a script to follow and I wasn’t about to upset this by being too inquisitive about the menus. The food menu is greatly overshadowed by the one bearing drinks. There is, as one would expect, an impressive variety of wonderful liquids to sample here. The food menu, on the other hand, is something of an oddity.

I was expecting a bistro menu because, well, the name sort of gives that impression. Instead there is a section of ‘bar bites’, four pasta dishes, a handful of main courses that include the likes of chicken breast and veal Milanese and a small section with a couple of steaks and a couple of burgers. I expect daily specialities of a bistro but this didn’t seem to be the case.

The ‘bar bites’ sounded exciting though. It is quite an evocative list of small portions that went from halloumi with plum chutney to foie gras with passion fruit. I would be much happier to sample a number of dishes that promised excitement than put up with one of the main courses that, quite frankly, spelled tedium.

So we picked five, presuming this to be the right number for two people to feast upon, and ordered them, adding a bottle of Chianti riserva to the mix for good measure. The pricing is a little odd. You pay as much for foie gras as you do for duck spring rolls but I wasn’t about to think of this before I experienced the quality that these prices were tagged onto.

We waited for quite a while for our food to be served but the place is quite lovely, as was the wine, so there really is no issue with timing. The restaurant has been done up with an old-world sense of style and taste, with proper wood panelling and upholstery. I’m so bored of vast swathes of white plaster and receded power-savers that this interior was actually soothing. The music level was just about audible so it was never intrusive. Whoever created the dining experience was leaving nothing to chance.

Then, our food was served and I prepared to line them up in the order I’d like to taste them. I hadn’t quite ordered complementary items, going for a spread that I believed would provide me with a fair assessment of the menu. I started with the fresh burrata, deciding to go in a roughly increasing order of complexity and intensity.

The burrata was a far cry from the milky, creamy, velvety goodness that the word conjures up. I’ve had burrata that had me on the verge of tears and this was just about edible. Perhaps it is the kind of dish that should make it to the list of daily specialities if there was one, relegated to those days when your cheesemaker has just delivered them.

Next I tried the calamari fritti. The little rings of breaded squid were just about decent but the fry was quite soggy. The ginger salsa was more like a lemon curd with a heady ginger finish and its acerbic sweetness helped the dish remain on the right side of edible.

At this point I was a little taken aback. I’d expected much more of both dishes and this was being echoed across the table. The better half whispered that she hoped they hadn’t messed up the braised pork cheeks.

We tried them and were relieved that they’d been treated to much more kindness than what we’d eaten so far. They were as tender as this underrated delicacy ought to be and served in a pleasantly seasoned reduction, leaving little to fault the dish for.

Next up was the foie gras. For the price I’d expected pâté but these were actual slices out of the liver. As with the burrata, perhaps I’ve been spoiled when eating fresh foie gras so I enter this dish with relatively high expectations. This, however, was nothing like I’d ever sampled before and it had been overcooked. It’s best not to offer this beauty if your patrons aren’t prepared to pay for the real deal. The passion fruit sauce was quite lovely but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the foie gras.

The duck spring rolls were at par with the pork cheeks so we sort of scored the result as two hits and three misses.

Unfortunately, the hits and the misses are poles apart so I couldn’t bring myself to order more food or even a dessert by the end of it. We paid just shy of €90 for the meal, out of which a third went to the wine. I’d have been delighted to pay that had the food lived up to the description but alas, it hadn’t.

I could have hit the bar really and made up the rest of the meal in liquid form, but I resisted the temptation even if the flesh was as willing as the spirits that surrounded it. Had I done so I’d have had a tale to tell about that night at the bar but instead I have little to say of the kitchen that supports it.

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