Ed eats

Grazie Mille
10, Għarb Road,
Għarb, Gozo
Tel: 2155 3855

Food: 7/10
Location: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

A quick look at the number of new restaurants that open in Malta and Gozo reveals a rather dramatic proportion of them to serve Italian cuisine. More specifically, it tends to be Sicilian. I’m pretty sure that there are Maltese restaurateurs who are up in arms about this but, as a diner, I’m not complaining. We’re lucky to be in a market that’s mostly a level playing field and is largely self-regulated. If you’ve got all the stamps and certificates you need, then you’re in the clear and can serve food to a paying public.

The public then puts food in its mouth and hands in its wallets, deciding which restaurant should stay and which should go. So anyone complaining about an influx of non-Maltese food ought to take a good look at the food they’re serving and the prices they’re charging. I heard a Sicilian restaurateur complain about the issue, standing on the high ground of having been here before the exodus from Sicily. Once again, he ought to look at his own fare and decide whether it is fit for the market or not before raising both arms in protest.

The extent of this migration is roughly proportional to the dismal state of the economy of the largest island in the Mediterranean. We’ve somehow built up a reputation for being the pot of gold at the end of the economic rainbow in comparison. If you’re in Sicily, able to run a restaurant, and want a paying audience, all you have to do is hop on the ferry, travel 60 miles South, and start looking for a spot to occupy.

So the seafronts of Sliema and St Julian’s, those in Marsascala and Buġibba, and eventually back alleys and tiny squares have seen their fair share of green, white, and red. It’s not just restaurants. It’s cafes and ice cream shops and even food trucks that have popped up. I’ve given up on trying to remember the names of my favourite coffee places. They all seem to have the word ‘Sicilia’ in them in some configuration or another.

The other day I was driving through Sliema and noticed an odd, spherical, red structure – a little like an Easter egg on wheels. The front of the structure faced the sea so there was nothing on the back to indicate what it was. Only someone had helpfully spray-painted ‘Arancini, pane, panelle’ on the back in a quick scrawl. I stopped as soon as it was almost legal and walked up to the place, leaving with half-decent arancina and an excellent ‘pane con panelle’. This made it clear they were from Palermo so I asked about the possibility of ‘pani ca meusa’, the divine speciality of Palermo that’s basically a spleen sandwich.

It tastes much better than it sounds but the lovely couple running the truck (for want of a better word) said they had their doubts about springing this oddity on an unsuspecting Maltese public. If you’re going to visit us for a good long while, I thought, please bring more specialities with you.

I visited Gozo over the long weekend and, as I always do, got hopelessly lost. It is my way of getting around the island. I figure that if I were to pay too much attention to my whereabouts I’d wind up sticking to the same couple of places I like. So I wilfully drive around without a particular direction and just stop wherever I think I’m likely to be fed.

This doesn’t always work out. I was quite disconcerted on one evening to see teenagers wearing hoods that covered their faces in a ritual that involved them walking around barefoot and dragging chains from their ankles. Apparently, these boys and girls have sins to atone for and this is the method of choice. I wondered what tourists were thinking, especially the ones who looked evidently disturbed. And there was precious little to eat because that, too, would be sinful. So I waited for the next day and got lost in Għarb.

We’d definitely visit again next time we’re in Gћarb

There isn’t much of Għarb to get lost in and yet, in this one-horse-town, there is a restaurant called Grazie Mille. There’s a hint of their provenance in the form of a huge Italian flag. Who would escape Sicily to wind up in Gharb, I thought? If you’re on the hunt for limitless passing-by trade there are better spots you could opt for.

Curious and hungry, I walked in. There were a couple of occupied tables so the restaurant has already started making reputational in-roads. We were greeted by a very polite lady who spoke to us in English and took our orders for drinks. We stuck to a couple of glasses of wine and a bottle of water and looked through the menu. It is a pretty standard Sicilian menu with an emphasis on fish dishes. There were also a trio of daily specialities on a menu board to choose from.

We decided to share a starter and then go our own way with the main course. I was keen on the lamb. I’d asked about it and it our host described it as a low-temperature slow-cook. That was all I needed to seal the deal and could now turn my attention to a starter that made sense sharing. The ‘impepata di cozze’, fresh mussels cooked in white wine with garlic and pepper, makes for a fun dish to share.

While we waited we were treated to a variety of fresh bread, a cheese dip, black olive tapenade and black olives. There was also a bottle of excellent olive oil at table. It’s the same oil they have available for sale at the back of the restaurant, sharing shelves with jars of preserved delicacies, pasta and other Sicilian foods and condiments.

The steaming bowl of mussels was large enough for me to be thankful we’d only ordered one starter between us. The mussels were fresh and plump and cooked to just the right temperature so they retained all of their juices, practically bursting to the bite.

The broth was a proper impepata, with no attempt to curb the lively zest of black pepper. When prepared with such love and simplicity, this dish just has to deliver on its promise of understated comfort and thorough enjoyment. And never mind what manners dictate – you’d be remiss not to dip bread in the broth when you’re done with the mussels.

Our main courses were served quite soon after we’d finished our starters. For all the homely simplicity of the restaurant, the presentation of my dish was quite the surprise. Three, rather large, lamb chops were served on a square slab of slate. Next to the lamb was a perfectly round mould of polenta that concealed a tiny treasure of melted cheeses inside. Fresh flowers were strategically laid to add colour to the dish and a mound of smoked salt was there to allow me to salt my meat at will.

The lamb had been slow roasted, a nugget of information that has so far been hidden from me, and this rendered the meat tender on the inside with a browned exterior for crunch and flavour. The lamb was hard to fault and had been very lightly seasoned, allowing the flavour to stem from the melted fat, deep within the meat structure itself.

Between our plates was a small plate with aubergine and courgette that had been cooked to allow the texture of the vegetable to hold its own and get by with very gentle seasoning. The weakest dish was the ‘fritto misto’ that the better half seemed to be enjoying. The battered and fried squid was slightly tough and the batter itself a little too oily for my liking. I did quite enjoy the tiny fried shrimp though so they saved the dish from being altogether a disappointment.

We had coffees and the liqueur offered by our hosts and paid just over €50 for the lot. We’d definitely visit again next time we’re in Għarb, only I have no idea when that could be. And on our way back to the ferry we stopped for another coffee in the centre of Victoria at a very pretty new café called Capitan Spriss, where I took being greeted in Italian as the order of the day.

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