Pet’s Plates

T’Annamari
28, Xatt Is-Sajjieda,
Marsaxlokk
Tel: 2744 6211

Food: 7/10
Location: 7/10
Service: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

T’Annamari offers a cheerful atmosphere with a very sunny interior, bang on the seafront at Marsaxlokk. Although I had walked past it a number of times, I confess to never showing this place much interest, owing to the fact that from the outside it always looked like a tourist trap restaurant. But Rob and I finally wandered in one day. Wine-filled cabinets taking the shape of brightly coloured, typical Maltese windows and balconies line the walls of this restaurant and there is a truly Maltese ambience. The dining area has been fashioned so as to resemble a local village square, complete with holy niche and miniature street light. The resulting decor is slightly kitsch, but charmingly so. The restaurant was packed solid. What struck me was how absolutely spotless the place was.

A big table near us was enjoying their second course and the food looked and smelt wonderful. I couldn’t help smiling. An aroma had reached our noses and it was the scent of savoury and genuine cooking. The Mediterranean is, of course, the home of good food and I grew even more excited when I realised that this was a Sicilian restaurant with a Ragusan-born head chef who has had years of experience working in both Sicily and Malta. This is a man who has travelled from one island to another and from one seaside town to another.

Sicily – a neighbour that it pains me to say outshines us in terms of cuisine and overall level of cooking, much like a better-looking sibling. Sicilian cuisine can tend to be overwhelmingly exuberant. It can be at once rustic or refined, simple or complex. Due to its climate, diverse geography and fertile land, Sicily’s local produce is of excellent quality and, understandably, there is a greater variety than what is available here in Malta. The dairy produce, the wines, the honey, the seafood, meats, the olive oil and the fruit and nuts grown here are all of outstanding quality. Sicilian cookery is a reflection of the sea, the land, the mountains and the constellation islands. It is also a reflection of foreign influences.

Each colonising nation hitting Sicily’s shores brought with it a unique culture and this, for better or for worse, has always had an effect on the colonised nation’s cuisine.

Malta and Sicily do share great similarities as well as specific points in history that actually intersect. We share an overlap as regards our conquered histories, having been occupied by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans.

It really felt like being back in Sicily

After invading Sicily in AD 832, the Arabs moved on to occupy Malta some decades later. Both countries were under Arab rule in the 9th century. It was the same with the Normans who, having triumphed over the Arabs in Sicily, set their sights on Malta as a strategically-located outpost. The Normans brought Malta and Sicily even closer together, unifying them under one single kingdom which would remain in existence until the Maltese islands were ceded to the Order of the Knights of Saint John, and Sicily, to Spanish rule, in the 16th century.

But back to T’Annamari. While we waited for our food, we were served a basket of freshly-baked bread and the surprise addition of a round of warm pastry oozing with melted cheese and flecks of bacon. The dense, spongy dough brought to mind Sicilian street food and those beautiful savoury pastries like scaccia, panelle and glorious arancini. The Sicilians, undoubtedly, understand fish and so we ordered up a seafood-based feast, complemented with a lovely, dry Sicilian white wine. For starters I ordered the Fish Parmigiana – a standard aubergine parmigiana enhanced with pieces of fish.

Aubergine is a stalwart of Sicilian cuisine and a key ingredient in many traditional dishes. This dish of thinly sliced, fried aubergine layered with tomato sauce, grated cheese and basil leaves was lovely. The cheese formed a golden, crisp outer layer and I was delighted to have been served a solid square portion.

The house antipasto misto was composed of a selection of seafood treats: a salmon carpaccio roulade filled with fresh rocket leaves, tender steamed octopus on a bed of spicy lentils, a stuffed squid ring, golden frittatine di neonati (white bait fish cakes) and a small taste of the fish parmigiana.

Although all were delicious, the best item on the plate was the raw, red prawn marinated in an emulsion of lemon juice and olive oil, lying on a bed of soft, creamy stracciatella di bufala mozzarella and topped with grated black truffle. It was heavenly. This first course was possibly the best of all the courses and a means for the chef to show off his abilities, much like a mini degustation menu.

As main course I had ordered the pasta with lobster. It was very reasonably priced and I was served a halved lobster atop a mound of homemade pappardelle. All I needed to do was crack open the claws in the most polite way that table etiquette affords in order to access the tender claw meat.

I tucked in heartily but, sadly, the lobster was overcooked. The succulent, white, firm meat of this prized delicacy had tragically lost its sublime, delicate sweetness. The bisque was not thick and neither was it very flavourful. When serving lobster in a pasta sauce, things must be kept simple without the use of strong flavours so as to best savour the true flavour this crustacean.

My sauce contained chilli and it almost overpowered the dish. Rob had ordered the spaghetti vongole. Pasta with clams is an all-time favourite of mine and the one served up at T’Annamari did not disappoint, but neither did it amaze.

I was far too full for the creamy ricotta and marzipan of the iconic Sicilian cassata. I instead ordered the tiramisu and it was honestly one of the best I’ve ever had. I just wanted more and more. Rob’s millefoglie contained a nice chantilly cream, but the puff pastry layers holding it all together were gummy and the garnishing fruit salad (which seemed to be composed mainly of tinned fruit) was not especially nice.

We lingered at our table, enjoying some Sicilian liqueurs and good espresso. Overall, it had been a positive dining experience. The staff at T’Annamari deserve special mention. They were exceptionally courteous and hospitable throughout our long lunch. It really felt like being back in Sicily.