Ed eats
As the new year stretches and yawns and prepares itself for whatever it has in store for us, I take my customary look back at the one that has just expired. With more meals than I can count, over 70,000 words written, 250 photos sneakily shot, and a silly number of hours seated behind a keyboard, I hardly know where to start.
Conceited as it may be to quote oneself, I’d like to start by pulling out something I wrote this time last year:
“If I may suggest a gastronomic resolution for the year ahead, I would say: try to broaden your horizons; tread paths you have not previously trodden; within reason, be brave; and eat your way across cultures and places you haven’t yet experienced.”
Now I’m not normally one to suggest resolutions without giving them a shot myself. There is, for instance, the obvious exception of recommending a healthy diet to others – I keep trying that and failing. I did try to broaden my gastronomic horizons though, and hope you had the opportunity to do the same. I find it an inevitably enriching experience, even if not every exploratory journey leads to a pot of truffles at the end of the rainbow. As you can imagine, the year dealt joys and disappointments.
Before I get to the specifics, though, I’ll share some more general observations about a year in dining. Our restaurant variety kept growing this year, making it easier for those keen on considering new culinary avenues. We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of world cuisines represented and even a stab at a Michelin-starred night out. We’re also seeing more restaurants that are designed around the convivial aspect of meals, with the more clever restaurateurs realising that patrons are more likely to return to a restaurant where they enjoyed the overall experience than simply for decent food.
Service remains a slight disappointment virtually across the board, although with noticeable exceptions, but this wasn’t as bad as previous years. I’ve had this overarching sentiment about my year in dining out since I started writing this column a few years ago and I’m finally thinking there might soon be a year that’s defined by a more positive recollection. May this year be that year.
It was also a year to thank the hipster for yet another contribution to the world that is based on the movement’s obsession with nostalgia. Even the Comedy Knights valiantly rode into battle with their hilarious depiction of a couple who have suddenly been made aware of the relevance of an ‘authentic’ każin, their patronage possibly preserving the place for a few more years until it, too, is snapped up by a more commercially-minded owner. We’ve seen too many little gems go the way of gypsum boards and spotlights and pre-packed sandwiches.
One aspect of my dining that I don’t get to share with you is all that I eat while travelling. There is little point in sharing an experience in a newspaper if the restaurant in question isn’t readily accessible.
This was another year in which I was lucky enough to eat around Europe and, with the exception of inner-city restaurants, I’ve always paid a fraction of what I’m accustomed to being charged for meals in Malta. Our raw materials remain relatively inexpensive, yet we’re regularly overcharged when dining out. If exceptions didn’t exist, I’d presume that the costs of running a restaurant in Malta are prohibitive. They’re not, and the market is slowly adjusting to this. Let’s hope this is another observation that fades by the time the year is out.
May you discover new culinary delights and keep broadening those horizons, and above all, may the food you eat and the wine you drink bring you closer to friends and family
When picking restaurants worth a mention, I try to go with memorability as a primary deciding factor. Looking through my list of reviews for the year, I’m surprised at the number of restaurants that I’d totally forgotten about. Some were the TripAdvisor tourist traps that I visit once in a while to keep my restaurant selection as fair and true a representation of the available variety as possible. My memory seems to have wiped out the awful ones, so they’re not getting any more space on this page because they don’t deserve it.
One aspect of the year that was memorable is the flurry of Italian restaurants that have opened their doors and increased the number of regions represented. Zero Sei in Valletta, named after the phone prefix in Rome, Osteria Ve in Vittoriosa, representing cuisine from the Veneto, and La Vecchia Taranta, also in Valletta, does its own bit to introduce pizza from Puglia. They share the ability to serve authentic dishes, remarkable value for money, and plenty of good cheer and humility.
I’ll move further along the list of restaurants that I believe stood out this year in increasing order of the price you’ll probably pay for a meal. This means there is no order of preference for the food or service quality in the list – it is an arbitrary way of sorting the list out.
For an inexpensive meal that’s consistently satisfying and within a very welcoming atmosphere, it is hard to beat Mint in Sliema. I’ve been visiting off and on for years now and have yet to be disappointed.
Also lovely, welcoming, and healthy, with the added twist of an exclusively vegetarian kitchen is Ġugar, in Valletta. The food is consistently great and it is a shining example of how a kitchen we might not be entirely used to can be excellent in its own right.
Just as inexpensive is the oddball in Gżira that goes by the name Good Thaimes. Quite how a German guy and his Thai wife wound up with a Thai restaurant serving Belgian beers in Gżira is a mystery. All I know is that it works and that I can’t seem to get enough of the food, even if it means eating with a decade of football trophies in full view.
For an inexpensive meal in a pleasant environment, Diar il-Bniet in Dingli has turned the tables on Maltese cuisine and wrapped it up in an attractive package and smiling faces. Just as authentic, if a little bizarre in location, is Caruso, which has taken up residence in a band club in San Ġwann. Their kitchen more than makes up for the dining space.
Onwards and upwards we travel, with Scoglitti, Sciatica Grill, and The Harbour Club all raising Valletta’s culinary bar. We’re in a price range that goes beyond what we’d associate with a quick meal on impulse now. Scoglitti offers a wonderful view of Marsamxett harbour right from the water’s edge and takes seafood seriously.
Making up for a lack of seaview with a gorgeous interior, Sciatic Grill is one to look out for when on the lookout for a great steak and 500 whiskies on the same menu, even if when I visited they hadn’t quite worked out what service level matches the pricing.
The Harbour Club faces the Grand Harbour and is probably one of the most meticulously thought-out spaces I’ve eaten in all year. They go beyond design and back this up with quite the accomplished kitchen.
Even if it is no longer around, having the Aziamendi 100 experience was something of a milestone this year. Those who travel and visit Michelin-starred restaurants, at great cost and effort and planning, will understand what the fuss was about. Those who had never immersed themselves in this kind of fine-dining experience were surely transformed by the meal. Perhaps you’re wondering why one would write about a restaurant that doesn’t exist in the same guise any more. Well, judging by the sheer number of people I know who were willing to give it a shot, the market could be ready for our own Michelin star. This might not be a dream for 2015 but I’m not giving up quite yet.
I’ll wrap up with those restaurants that I reviewed in previous years and revisited time and time again. For a proper movie setting, attentive service, and a consistent kitchen, all within a picture postcard, Dolce Vita remains quite the fine dining experience. I’ve been there with a large group of people and even this didn’t unsettle the system. It’s tough at the top and staying here depends on consistency, no matter what.
The same can be said about Ali Baba, with Hany seeming to surpass himself with every visit. The only way is up for the Lebanese wünderkind in Gżira, and this is evident by the number of times friends of mine use the expression: “We’re overdue for a meal at Ali Baba”, like the kitchen there is a drug we can’t afford to allow to escape our systems.
On that note I wish you a year that’s better than the one we’ve just put to bed, no matter how well or poorly it treated you.
You can send e-mails about this column to ed.eatson@gmail.com or follow @edeats on Twitter.