Doug’s dinners

Tex Mex
Tower Road,
Sliema
Tel: 2131 8943

Food: 8/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Let’s start with a little trip down memory lane, shall we, and cast our minds back to 1996.

I wade into the meat like a carnivore who has spent six months trapped in a cupboard full of veg

Does your memory go back that far? Mine certainly doesn’t – everything between the ages of 18 and 28 is pretty much a blur – but that’s where this new fangled internet thingy comes in darned handy.

So what happened 15 years ago?

Well England entirely failed to win Euro 96 despite home advantage and having the best team in decades, ensuring the then 30 years of hurt has now stretchedto 45.

In the political world, BillClinton comfortably won his second term as President of the US and immediately rushed out to stock up on cigars while, across the pond, Boris Yeltsin was also re-elected and probably celebrated the moment by not having a drink.

And, in great news for fans of lamb chops and woolly jumpers, scientists in Scotland successfully duplicated a sheep from a single cell, making ‘Dolly’ the first cloned mammal on the planet.

In Malta, of course, we had one or two memorable moments ourselves in 1996, not least of which was the general election, won, as I’m sure you will remember, by the Labour Party under the stewardship of Alfred Sant.

Oh and our Eurovision entrant, if you are that way inclined, was Gozo’s own Miriam Christine who finished ninth overall with her song In A Woman’s Heart.

All good stuff and fascinating reading of a Sunday morning, I hear you cry, but what’s all that got to do with the price of chips? Well, it’s simple really. Because in the same year all that was going on, a rather unique restaurant was opening its doors in Sliema. And that restaurant was Tex Mex.

Fast forward 15 years and I am running down Sliema seafront, not in some lame bid to look healthy but actually chasing after my daughter who has now discovered that bicycle stabilisers mean speed is safe. As I amble past Fortizza I couldn’t help but notice a banner strung outside Tex Mex announcing its birthday celebrations.

And so an instant decision was made to get there with all due haste to see how the place, one of my favourite restaurants back at its birth, was bearing up now it was entering that awkward teenage phase.

A couple of days later, on a somewhat cold and windswept Tuesday night, we are walking into Tex Mex looking to dine on good memories with a side order ofnostalgia.

The first thing that strikes me is that the place hasn’t really changed much in all this time. Yes, the bar has moved from one side of the place to the other and some decorations are obviously new.

But the general feel and atmosphere is almost exactly the sameas it was back then. And that,for me, is a positive, as this was always a place I felt instantlycomfortable in.

We are met at the door by a waiter who confirms it is a table for two and then guides us all the way to a slot near the back of the restaurant. I had, possibly naively, believed it would be simple to get a table on a cold and wet Tuesday night in November. But the place is nearly full and the table we are given is one of only a couple that aren’t occupied. Impressive. The occupants are a mixture of locals and tourists and there is even a stag night meal in full flow as well.

Menus are dropped off and it’s time to decide what tickles our fancy. Now you don’t need to be a member of Mensa to work out that Tex Mex specialises in food from America and Mexico. And the menu, which appears to have grown considerably over the years, places the vast majority of its attention on these areas.

Although we are ready to order pretty swiftly, it takes a good 20 minutes before anyone gets round to taking it. The chap who eventually taps our order into his little PDA is polite, friendly and helpful. But it would seem they are a little understaffed in terms of waiters, as we hadn’t even been able to order a drink during that period either.

Anyway, to the food, and we order a plate of pizza-style garlic bread and a chicken chimichanga (didn’t he used to play for Spurs?) by way of starters. For mains we go for the Jumbo Meat Feast Platter. From what I can tell from the menu, this basically involves disassembling a cow, cooking it, and putting it back together on the plate. You get sirloin, rib eye, fillet and rump steaks and then they throw in chicken breast, pork fillet and sausage just to make sure the whole farmyard is covered.

The waiter warns us that this platter contains a serious amount of meat but we tell him not to worry because I am a serious meat eater.

As we wait for the starters my eyes are drawn to the stag night. I had been worried it would be one of those rowdy affairs that ends up taking over the entire restaurant and making your meal a bit miserable. But absolutely not. In fact I don’t think I have ever seen a more restrained, civilised and polite bachelor party.

If the wait to order had been annoyingly long, the wait for the starters was certainly not and no more than 10 minutes after ordering we are tucking in. The pizza-style garlic bread does exactly what it says on the tin – it is essentially a pizza oozing melted cheese and garlic in equally enticing proportions.

The chimichanga, meanwhile, is top drawer. It is a deep fried tortilla stuffed with shredded chicken and a variety of other ingredients that work delightfully well together.

It is served with melted cheddar, a sour cream and chive dip and a salsa that has just enough spice to make your taste buds sit up and wonder what’s going on. We are meant to be sharing but I repeatedly nudge Sharon in the direction of the garlic pizza leaving the chimichanga to me.

We demolish the lot, a move that could possibly come back to haunt us considering the meat bonanza on its way.

As the plates are cleared we slip outside for a quick smoke. Back inside the cosy warmth and we again don’t have too long to wait for mains. Just enough time, in fact, to catch up on the stag party which is now discussing the pros and cons of various television service providers.

An hour into my stag party and the best man had already passed out. Which probably says more about me and my friends than it does about this bunch of lads.

And here it is – meat heaven. The platter arrives served on one of those sizzling dishes and it is a serious mountain of food. And just to make sure we feel totally overwhelmed, it is accompanied by an equally substantial heap of properly made, crispy, skins-still-in-place chips. And another plate containing large bowls of dips and sauces.

As expected Sharon goes for the smallest piece of steak and starts to nibble like a super model on a crash diet. I, however, wade into the meat like a carnivore who has spent six months trapped in a cupboard full of veg.

Although the different cuts of beef are evident, I am not going to bore you with details of each one.

Suffice to say they are all pretty excellent in their own ways. As is the pork fillet and the chicken breast. With Sharon still pecking at her first piece of steak I am into my fourth and have also fallen in love with one of the dips in particular which is creamy and mushroomy in equal measure.

After 20 minutes of chewing, dipping and wondering why all meals can’t be like this, I unfortunately have to admit defeat.

Despite Sharon’s minimalistic contribution, we had made decent inroads into the platter but there is enough left over to justify a doggy bag.

Earlier on in the meal, Sharon had been eyeing up some desserts that had arrived on the table next to us. One of them in particular looked like a large bowl of chocolate heaven. But even she has to admit it just isn’t going to happen, so we ask for the bill which comes in at just over €75. We pay up, grab our doggy bag and leave for home to make one slightly erraticDalmatian deliriously happy.

Tex Mex may have been open for 15 years but it still retains most, if not all, of its original charm. The ambience is warm and inviting and, unlike some American-style eateries, it doesn’t feel in the slightest bit manufactured.

The service during our visit got off to a stuttering start, but after that opening hurdle it was polite, friendly and helpful throughout.

In terms of value for money, you may be thinking €75 was a bit on the steep side. But considering the meat mountain we ordered was €50 alone, I think you will probably agree with me when I say it is actually good value for money.

Finally, to the food itself. And I don’t have a single complaint on that front. The starters were substantial, tasty and nicely delivered. While the main course was a real meat feast and would have been more than enough for a meal for two, possibly three.

All in all this was a trip down memory lane that didn’t disappoint in the slightest and on this basis I wouldn’t be surprised if Tex Mex was still going strong in 2026.

dougsdinners@timesofmalta.com

The scoring
When reviewing any restaurant I try to be as objective as possible and take into consideration all the different aspects which make for an enjoyable meal. The scores I give cannot be seen as a permanent result for a venue, but merely a reflection on how it performed on the occasion I was there. Also, it is important to note that comparisons between different restaurants’ marks should not be made. I score an establishment on how it performs within its own field, not against competitors in different cater-ing sectors. For example a cheap pizzeria that does what it does well is just as deserving of a high mark as a fine dining establishment would be.