Ed Eats departs from his usual review formula to give us a Christmassy round-up of the highs and lows of dining out throughout these past 12 months.

When I realised that the publication date for this column was December 25 I paused for a moment to worry about the implications. Would I need to be uncharacteristically jolly? Would the Stilton in the fridge be more acerbic than I for once?

Then I figured I really wouldn’t have to worry about it. You’ve woken up to Christmas. It’s happened to you since the beginning of December. There are more than a 100 pages before this one in the newspaper that have no doubt done a better job of describing the piety, the festivity, and the general good cheer that the day represents. This frees me up so, bar a teeny bit at the end, Christmas is suspended until the end of this column.

‘Tis a good time to reminisce however. A tidy bookmark to the year of eating and drinking and writing and pausing the whole affair to pictures of food I really want to eat without delay. When I started out, taking pictures was a dodgy affair. Carrying a camera inside a restaurant was restricted to the Russian mafia, the secret service, and other unsavoury types. I’d pull all kinds of stunts to conceal my activity and was at the receiving end of querying looks and actual questions.

But today we share our lives with the planet and this is done, mainly, by taking pictures. So, now I’m often the one with the smallest camera in the place and my moving around to get the better angle is only met by the knowing groan of the ever-suffering Instagram husband within range of my pursuit. If you’re not familiar with the Instagram husband, search the interwebz for the symptoms.

I realise that, to look back at a year of darting from restaurant to restaurant I ought to place it within the context of quite a few years of dining out. The level of the overall offering had been steadily increasing, particularly during the last five years, but this increase was a gentle simmer. This last year, however, turned up the heat under the skillet.

I’ll start with what was perhaps the farthest departure from the cuisine we’re used to. The Eritrean cuisine at One Love was a revelation

This is encouraging because any market is defined by its audience to a certain degree so the upturn in quality and variety indicates a savvier and more demanding group of diners. This is a sort of trend that doesn’t easily reverse so there’s more in store for those bored with the typical offering.

Let’s face it, there remains plenty of boring. Think of the number of faceless and forgettable restaurants that base their core fare on ribeye steak, salmon fillet, and chicken breast. You’ve probably had a little nap just trying to remember one of them. I’m sure the poor chefs condemned to cooking a variation on these three ingredients have more imagination and more tricks up their white sleeves. It’s the unimaginative diner that perpetuates this sameness.

I know one such diner. I spend too much time in his presence. He eats to subsist, without a care for excitement or nutritional value. And, he represents a vast swathe of diners just like him, those who are happy to eat out for the social and practical value of it, free from the need to worry about the food itself. He often refers to me as a ‘foodie’. I find this term divisive. It separates the obsessive eater who is vocal about every meal from those who just eat and get on with life.

There is no obligation to rant about food, to know your seasonal truffles, to post a photo of your scrambled egg atop which you’ve grated the said truffle and to point out the largely invisible clarified butter. Food is more democratic than this. Those who have worked through their week, sat down to a steak, ordered it well done, and added a splash of lemonade to their Portuguese Rosè, have made a conscious choice to make this their moment of indulgence. And it would be pretty arrogant of the connoisseur to decide that every bit of that meal is not as it should be.

Having established my desire for food to be discussed a little more democratically, I’ll get back to that hot skillet and this year’s dining experiences. I’ve often tried to summarise my year in a couple of words, just to provide the most concise wrap-up of my experience. I remember using the words ‘poor service’ to sum up one year.

Like many an insidious disease, poor service remains but a cure is being found. It is basically the bitter spoonful of realisation that once you treat customers badly while operating within a fiercely competitive market they won’t bother to return.

At worst, this year could be considered ‘mostly harmless’ if I am to steal words from Douglas Adams. At best it was ‘interesting times’, this time robbing Terry Pratchett. So while nothing went terribly awry while eating out, there were interesting highlights. I’m not going to stick to the places I reviewed during 2016 because that would be a very skewed look at my year of eating. I probably eat out more than the frequency of these reviews would have you believe.

I’ll start with what was perhaps the farthest departure from the cuisine we’re used to. The Eritrean cuisine at One Love was a revelation. Apart from the fantastically prepared food, it provides insight into a much more communal way of eating. And by eating I also mean the physical process of consuming the meal. I encourage those who consider themselves up for an unusual culinary experience to pay a visit.

Just up the road was one of my more pleasant surprises this year. Stanjata, buried in the most unlikely of places in Valley Road, proved to be very consistent in delivering a heartily cooked and very inspired lunch. I’ve returned as often as I could and ate pretty much everything on the menu, enjoying it every time. In time I also realised the value of booking a table. The place is no longer the secret haven it once was.

Like many an insidious disease, poor service remains, but a cure is being found

Another win for consistency goes to Kuya Pub in St Julian’s. I pop by for dinner often, knowing that they’ve never slipped an inch. They keep their menu interesting, their prices decent, and they’ve added a whole flurry of beers to their ever-growing list.

For charm, pretty interiors and food that’s made with a burning pride, there are two spots that spring to mind. One is Frida, a proper Mexican place that emphasises a properly faithful approach to what has become an overly Westernised kitchen. The other is an eatery I didn’t get to write about but I did manage to experience. Emma’s Kitchen in San Ġwann has a carefully curated menu that collects a handful of dishes with far-flung inspiration and adds an obsessive attention to authenticity.

Sciantusi in Sliema was a recent discovery that gave us a little more variation on the Italian restaurant theme that is by far the fastest growing category. This category has outpaced even the foodtrucks with the speed at which new ones are popping up. I never mention the host of Sicilian cafes I visit often for proper coffee and an unhealthily broad selection of warm snacks and desserts. There are so many to choose from that I now know which to visit for the best arancina, which makes the perfect Cassatella, and which serves the most consistent espresso.

Pushed to mention the restaurants that simply top the charts for all-round accomplishment I allow myself to stray into the fine dining territory. Once again, Zen has proved to have a level of technical competence that is unimpeachable and they back this with superb service. You pay for getting all that, but you really are coming close to the real deal without having to leave the country. The two other spots that I’ve been to again for a more traditional table are Barracuda and Dolce Vita. They’d both gone through what I considered a period during which they rested on their hard-earned laurels. And they’ve both gone through a renaissance of late, one that has blossomed many an exceptional meal for me.

I could go on but I’ll let you get back to your Christmas. I told you I’d give it another mention. Since it’s Christmas, at whatever time you’re reading this there’s a meal ahead so I wish you bon appétit and a really merry Christmas!

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