Restaurants of Malta 2: Tal-Familja Restaurant, Marsascala.

Tal-Familja Restaurant is one of the established restaurants in the seaside resort of Marsascala, located in the South of Malta. The restaurant is family owned and run, and headed by the owner Mr. Charles Preca, who is very ably assisted by all members of his family who all have different roles to play. These include of-course his daughters Roberta and Ramona who are the executive chefs. The restaurant offers a vast menu  which includes a good selection of Mediterranean, Maltese and Italian cuisine, but specializing mainly in fish and seafood and a well appointed wine list offering good wines both local as well as imported brands. Mark-up on the wine prices is quite reasonable and acceptable .

We have been frequenting this restaurant on-and-off for a number of years, and on Saturday (1st Oct) we decided to book a table for seven persons, first to carry out a current review and second as one of our party was also celebrating her birthday. If one is to review a restaurant properly, this is to be done on a busy day of the week, as it is here that both management and staff are challenged to show their mettle and abilities. Last Saturday was such a busy evening for this venue with the place fully booked for the 8/8.30pm peak. The venue has been lately enlarged with the addition of an enclosed section which formerly was the surrounding al fresco/smoking area.

Bruschetta with fresh tomatos
and ruckola.

On arrival we were promptly shown to and seated around our table by the Owner, and were presented with the menus and wine list. The al-a-carte menu offers the list of the day's specialities for both starters, as well as main courses, and also an additional vast list of dishes from the normal menu.

Pre-dinner nibbles.

Bruschetta servings and a platter containing a selection of broad beans galletti, snails, and bigilla (broad bean paste with garlic) were brought over for us to nibble whilst deciding on our orders.

The fresh raw oysters. 

In the meantime we ordered our water and two bottles of Alsace Hugel Riesling and six fresh, raw oysters which were delicious with just a touch of lemon squeezed on them.

After some deliberation and an inspection of the fresh fish from the trolley we decided on both starters and main courses and the following were ordered:

Pulpetti tal-Gambli.
Prawn pancakes.

For starters the selection fell on one octopus in garlic, one fresh fish soup, and four servings of "pulpetti tal-gambli" prawn pancakes. The starters arrived after a few minutes, very well presented and flavourful as expected.

Octopus in garlic.

For main courses four shellfish platters were ordered, and two portion servings of fresh, baby grouper. The main courses took some time to arrive as the groupers which were selected from the trolley by us had to be delicately baked as were the crustaceans for the shellfish platters. These selections proved to be delicious with the groupers' milky white fillets sublime, once filletd by myself.
Potatoes both baked and chips, onion rings and veg were served as accompaniments.

Shellfish platter.

Baked Grouper.

An excellent wine to pair
with fish and shellfish.

The food was washed down with the chilled Riesling and some four bottles of still and sparkling water.

The semi-freddo
A bit on the commercial side.

For dessert we pre-ordered a semi-freddo with a birthday message which was served whole on the table and then cut in portions. This, I think was the only minor set-back as far as the cuisine was concerned. Normally dessert offerings at this restaurant are home made and exquisite. For some reason, the semi-freddo was sourced from an outside caterer, who although very well known, I'm afraid the semi-freddo he produced was not up to the standard expected. I'm not saying that it was bad, but we've had much better even in this same restaurant.

Coffees and liquors completed the dinner.

All told the final bill came up to some Eur257.60 approximately Eur43 per person.
In this bill are included the oysters as well as the two bottles of Alsace Hugel Riesling and water.

Reviewers ratings:
Ambience: Welcoming and appealing;
Cuisine quality: Very good;
Preparation and presentation: Very good.
Service and general staff attitude: Good.
Value for money: Reasonable for the type of cuisine and wine chosen.

RATING: 8/10 - Category: Fish and seafood.

Recommended.

Contact details: Tal-Familja Restaurant,
                          Triq Il- Gardiel,
                           Marsascala.
                          Tel: 2163 2161; 9947 3081.