Ed Eats

Taproom 53a,
Old Theatre Street
Valletta
Tel: 2749 1316

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

There’s an expression in Maltese that, directly translated, goes something like ‘it is the eye that eats first’. It is a little lesson in the importance of presentation and aesthetics. If something looks good, we’re more likely to warm up to it.

Interestingly, we chose food to describe the notion. Our traditional dishes are known for their flavour, their practicality, and their suitability to what was a largely agricultural or fishing community and not for their ability to please the eye. A slab of timpana makes a tasty lunch, even when served cold, but it isn’t the stuff that wins Michelin stars for presentation. Our loaf is basically a large lump while the French were careful to bake theirs into a naughty shape. We fought back with cheesecakes.

While we forge ahead with the intent of one day joining civilisation, our consideration for all things visual continue to range from the boring to the abysmal. Luckily, the ramshackle state of whatever’s broken and the oddity of ugly things we construct every day come across as quaintly anachronistic to those who visit our islands on holiday so it somehow works for us. This won’t last for ever.

Then there are tiny pockets of good taste. Valletta seems to be one of these, and the bars and restaurants that are popping up almost weekly tend to be done up pretty nicely. The city does look great for the most part and, while bits of it still smell like they have yet to benefit from drains and running water, it is being restored into a living and breathing reminder of a significantly more glorious past.

I can hardly keep up with the flurry of activity that Valletta’s food and drink options is turning into. Strait Street has had its second heyday and is close to tipping the scales from the intriguing revival it enjoyed over the last few years, turning into a rather crass tourist trap. A little effort can restore the charm.

One restaurant I heard a few positive mentions about is called Taproom and opinions agreed on two counts. The food is good and the place looks lovely. So I dragooned a little group into joining me for a visit, being careful to take Taproom’s two strongest proponents along.

There had been small dips and inconsistencies in the kitchen that had been made up for by some really wonderful dishes

Taproom is found roughly half way between St George’s square and the Manoel theatre, and management has seized this opportunity to offer pre-show platters. The exterior is unassuming and this is the first hint of the good taste with which the little restaurant has been done up. The interior is sumptuous, with extensive use of natural materials, repurposed lights, original tiling, and even a window onto the kitchen that reminded me of an old bakery.

The ‘tap table’ is a long, communal dining space with bar style seating and enjoys the pride of place in the centre of the rather restricted dining area. The bar is quite cleverly arranged along a wall to maximise interior space and it is quite well stocked. It later turned out they need more bitters for post-prandial help with digestion but I’m really nit-picking here.

Service starts from the first point of contact and this used to be the call you made to reserve a table. These calls are rapidly being replaced by Facebook messages and this is the way that the member of our party whom we volunteered should be tasked with securing our table got in touch. The tone was efficient, polite, and welcoming – enough for him to pull out his phone and show us the conversation, citing it as the best way he’d been treated by a restaurant for quite a while.

This persisted throughout our evening. Three members of the team saw to our needs that night. The young lady who took care of most of our service was splendid, while her colleagues did their best, even if one of them was let down by language issues. In every case, however, they were attentive, efficient, and seemed genuinely happy to be there.

The menus aren’t an extensive affair, as one expects of a brasserie, where one expects a few dishes that can be impeccably executed. The menu is largely in the French tradition and has a couple of little twists to it as is often the case with a brasserie chef who’d like to show just enough character. I hadn’t eaten a bite and was alreadywell impressed.

We ordered across the menu, making sure we included a couple of bowls of mussels that had a reputation before we’d walked in. We then added a couple of bottles of wine and settled into our bar stools.

We didn’t wait too long for our starters to be served but it would have been lovely to have something small to nibble on while we did so. Valletta has some excellent bakeries. Just saying. A couple didn’t order starters but they quickly took stabs at the plates of the rest of us who did. The sea bass ceviche was attractively presented and tasted just lovely, with freshly cut herbs creating an aromatic bouquet that enveloped the coarsely chopped fish. The mussels were served with a slice of toasted bread that I immediately dipped in the broth and this turned out to be everything you could hope for. It was well-salted, intense, and just slightly creamy.

The mussels themselves were underwhelming. They’d been slightly overdone, or perhaps not as fresh as they ought to be, because they were a far cry from the plump, juiciness one expects. This was most disappointing to the couple who’d eaten the same dish just a week before and who swore that they’d been the real deal.

Onwards we headed towards our main course. I’d opted for the seared red snapper and it was quite neatly presented. There are clearly aspirations of fine dining plating in the kitchen and this is well on its way there. It tasted as good as it looked, being well on the way to perfect execution. The skin was seared, the flesh just perfect, and the seasoning was delightfully restrained.

On the other end of the spectrum sat a slab of crusted tuna. The fish had been done a little more than rare as had been requested and the lemon pepper crust was an excellent idea that had gone too far. The citrus zest, the white pepper, and the salt formed a formidable trio that made it all but impossible to taste the tuna. I had one bite and I think I’d have enjoyed stopping there because it does remain an interesting notion. I just can’t imagine having to go through the entire steak.

Which brings us rather neatly to the Steak Frites. Their take on the classic includes sweet potato fries that mingle with the ordinary ones in a little basket, the obligatory bowl of Béarnaise, and the steak itself – a generous hunk of beef fillet. The fries are special and the steak, a pretty decent cut, had been done to the right temperature. It could benefit from an even higher exterior temperature but once again, I’m being picky. The fillet reappeared in a plate of paccheri with fillet and this was probably the star of the show. The steak fared even better this time around and the pasta had been cooked just al dente, with an unctuous sauce clinging to it and forming a cocoon of savoury goodness.

We had somewhere else to dash to so we reluctantly skipped desserts and settled the bill for €40 each. As I walked out I tried to wrap my head about the outcome. I’d entered with high expectations and these had been raised significantly when I realised how stylish the whole setup actually is. There had been small dips and inconsistencies in the kitchen that had been made up for by some really wonderful dishes. The place oozes style though, and I put the niggles down to a kitchen that’s new and young and enthusiastic, so I made up my mind. I’ll be back for more as soon as the opportunity presents itself.