Restaurants of Malta No. 8: Barracuda Restaurant.

21st January, 2012.

An interior view.

Barracuda Restaurant.







The Barracuda Restaurant of St. Julians, has been established and in operation since 1978, and has, ever since, projected itself as one of the leading fine dining restaurants in Malta. Situated right on the water's edge at Balluta Bay, the venue offers picturesque views of the bay and surrounding areas from its terraces which would be excellent for summer dining. Alas for a cold and chilly winter's evening as it was yesterday, Friday the 20th of January, one would opt for a cosy table on the inside part of the restaurant. It goes without saying that the terraces were closed.

We had reserved our table from the day before, but nevertheless, the restaurant was only about half full throughout the evening. On arrival we were greeted by the restaurant manager who showed us to our table which was situated in the glass enclosed terrace overlooking the bastions and the bay. For some reason most patrons were being seated in this darkened area, rather than in the more cosy, well lit, inside atmosphere of the main drawing room, which incidentally, once formed part of this 18th century house of character in which the Barracuda Restaurant is situated.

Bigilla and olive.

Our drinks order for one Prosecco, one Malibu Pineapple and two Johnny Walker Black Label on the rocks, was taken, menus and wine list were presented, and within minutes our pre-dinner drinks, basket of fresh bread and a small bowl of bigilla (Maltese bean dip) were placed on the table. A complementary small bowl of soup was also served.




The Barracuda Restaurant prides itself as a fish and seafood restaurant, and the fresh fish display was quite appealing in the chiller, but being the evening that it was, cold and chilly, rather than selecting fish and seafood, and naturally a chilled bottle or two of white wine, we went for a more wholesome pasta and meat selection complemented by a full-bodied red wine.

Our orders were for:

The Calamari and caramelised
onion Ravioli with Saffron.

Starters: One Asparagus Soup with fresh Maltese cheeselets and mint leaves; one Tagliatelle with smoked duck, mandarine, ginger and veal jus; Brie and Roasted Bell Pepper Open Lasagne with wilted rucola, olive and chilli dressing and one Calamari and Caramelised Onion Ravioli with saffron and mango beurre blanc.

Braised Cheek of Local Pork.

Main Courses: One Braised Cheek of Local Pork with caramelised pear and apple and celeriac puree; and three Grilled Angus tenderloin with sauted wild mushrooms, green asparagus and rosti potatoes.








Dessert: Four individual helpings of crepe suzettes prepared with Grand Marnier at our table, for which a charge of Eur44 was made on the bill.

Menu Remarks:
The meat section of the menu contained just five choices viz: the braised cheek of local ;pork; marinated duck breast, the grilled Angus Tenderloin, Lamb loin and Ossobuco.
For persons who cannot eat red meat, this left a bit to be desired as thy would have only been left with the braised cheek of local pork to choose by default. A further addition of some prime pork and chicken selections would be in order.

The fish selections included grilled swordfish; pan fried seabass; grilled giant prawns; cumin crusted prawns, whole fresh lobster, the seafood platter descibed as the Daily Catch platter for two persons; and selection of fresh fish from the trolley at approxemately Eur25 for each 400grams fish weight.

A choice of starters, pasta and soups are also available on the menu.

Vegetables and potatoes are listed in the "Sides" order list, and and are charged for extra, as ordered.

Back to our selections:

The Lasagne that never was.

The Asparagus soup was considered to be average; the Calamari and Caramelised onion ravioli were reported to be very nice, which seems to be the only good dish served to us this evening; the Tagliatelle were average and seemed to be stuck together, meaning that they might not have been freshly cooked; and my Brie and Roasted bell pepper Open Lasagne with wilted rucola was a disaster. In my opinion this last item should have long been removed from this menu.

The Asparagus Soup-
Starry nights.

The Tagliatelle with smoked duck.
Must have been an off-day for pasta.

The braised Cheek of Local pork was nicely presented in red wine reduction and was reported to be very nice. Photo shown above. Same reduction sauce as for the Angus has been used.

Tenderloin sectioned in half.
Is this medium or medium well?
The outside well done crust was too
much for my knife. The texture is also a
bit on the stringy side for an
Angus fillet.

The three grilled Angus Tenderloin were orderd one medium well, and two medium. As expected my medium fillet was given to my wife, and I ended with the medium well. Nevertheless, all three tenderloin fillets were rather chewy and a bit hard on the knives. We've had better Angus fillets in less pretenious restaurants believe me. If anything these tenderloin filletes were anything but tender.
Angus cattle produce consistently high-quality beef with, exceptional tenderness, smooth texture and superior, delicious taste. In this regard, this establishment would do well to take a hard look at what they have in stock, as the tenderloin served left a lot to be desired. Very disappointing, and the servings' consistency was not standard. see photos below.

Angus tenderloin presentation 1.

Angus tenderloin presentation 2.

Angus tenderloin presentation 3.

Cooking the crepe' suzettes.

The dessert was served in two parts. First the ladies servings were prepared and then some ten minutes later we men were served with our portions.

A good wine on the list.
Our selection.

The wine list has a very good selection of both local and foreign wines. Nevertheless one can find several wines that are ordinary everyday, quafing wines, found in supermarkets, on this list. A good scrutiny of the wine list by a wine specialist is required. On the plus side there are also various good quality wines with a decent mark-up.








Value: One maybe cannot do justice to any retaurant if the cost per person of the meal is calculated on our own personal order as we tend to go a bit over the top with drinks and wine.
So taking out and deleting our drinks order from the final bill, and including just one bottle of medium priced wine which is normal, the bill for the above would have come to:  Eur61 (drinks) for one bottle of wine, two bottles of water, and espressos; and Eur178.80 for the food.
Making a total of Eur240 or Eur60 per person, excluding gratuites which according to the menu is expected to be Eur16 minimum service charge. The price of Eur60 per person, is considered to be well over the top for the cuisine quality that was served in this instance.

All photos illustrating cuisine, and published here have all been taken by myself of each presenataion as served.

Once again our 20 Knights Restaurant Discount card was accepted for a Friday booking, which is a plus for this venue and which gave us a discount of Eur89.40 on the food bill. Pity, that the cuisine served was not up to the expected standard.
A plus point for this venue is that it provides free parking at the Meridien Hotel's parking facilities.

Reviewers Impressions:

Ambience: Very Good.
Cuisine quality: Average.
Presentaion and preparation:  Average..
Service, attention to clients requiremnets, staff demeanour and attitude: Very good.
Wine service is to be commended.
Value for money: Overrated.

Overall RATING: 6.5/10 Average.

Contact Details:
Barracuda Restaurant,
194/195 Main Street,
St. Julians SLM 05.
Malta.
Tel: 21 331 817.