Sunday Lunch at Brown’s Kitchen at the Valletta Waterfront - Sunday, 30th December, 2012.

Enjoyed a stupendous lunch at Brown’s Kitchen at the Valletta Waterfront. Sandro and Diane Mamo formerly of Step-In Restaurant at Wied Iz-Zurrieq, have taken over ownership and operations of Brown’s Kitchen by Oswald and the adjacent Brown’s & More Restaurant some three weeks ago. Brown’s Kitchen as it is now known, is being run as a fine dining restaurant; and Brown’s & More shall be known as Brown’s Dine & Dance and shall be run as a fully fledged casual and family restaurant. Jonathan Mamo former Chef at Step-In shall be joining the group shortly so that the team will be set-up in the best possible way to face the competition at this location. Menus offered at Brown’s Kitchen are at the moment the same as those that were offered before the take-over but are being totally revamped to reflect the new branding and cuisine ideas of the new team.
Our reservation was made at the fine dining Brown’s Kitchen section, and were seated in the outside area, on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Starters/antipasto:

Food selections were for a sharing platter of their beautiful fish and seafood antipasto, which consisted of fresh local prawns, deep fried calamari, the most tender portion of octopus, a bowl of mixed mussels and seashells in broth, langoustini and marinated eel. This platter combined with a chilled Sancerre was fabulous.

Main Course:

Main courses were a choice of two fresh Scorpion fish (cippullazz) from the fresh fish display, cooked al cartoccio, which were also very well, executed.

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Dessert:

For dessert which are all home-made, we ordered a white chocolate cheesecake and chocolate fondant with ice-cream, but were served a sharing dessert platter of these two selections plus their exquisite pannacotta. Very nice indeed, but bang went my weight watching.

Wine List: Good selection of local and imported wines at a decent mark-up.

Value for money: Total price excluding the wine, but including a bottle of water and espressos Eur87.8 (Eur43.9 per person) which for the food ordered is very reasonable.

Service, food quality and ambience very good, and it is my opinion that both these establishments although catering for different patrons, but served from the same kitchen, shall be two of the much better establishments in their respective categories, at the Valletta Waterfront. Time will tell, but going by the management’s experience and enthusiasm, and a bit of hard work and dedication, by this young team, the new Brown’s should be a success.

Reviewers’ Impressions:

Ambience and atmosphere: Very Good.

Cuisine Quality: Very Good.

Preparation and presentation: Very Good and nicely executed.

Harmony of menu: Very Good.

Service: Very Good.

Wine list and mark up: Good choice at a reasonable mark-up.

Overall rating: 8.5/10 Fine dining in a casual dining atmosphere.

Recommended.