Dinner at Ristorante La Vela, Pieta/Msida, on Friday, 13th December, 2013.

Ristorante La Vela, situated as it is in the Pieta Yacht Marina garden, is a hidden gem of a restaurant, specializing in Italian cuisine, naturally prepared and cooked by a young Italian chef. The restaurant is a typical Italian style, small restaurant, seating about thirty diners at any one time, so table reservations are essential as this establishment has a very good following of discerning clientele. Parking is no problem, in the yacht marina garden , with the location quiet and peaceful, especially for dinner.

The restaurant offers excellent choices of fresh fish sourced in daily, seafood, and prime meats, with menu selections listed under: Antipasti; I Primi; I Secondi; I dolici della Casa.

Food Selections:

Our food selections had to center around a selection of the seafood antipasti, fish and beef steaks; and our selections from the main menu were as follows:

Antipasto misto di pesce crudo e cotto - a variety of fish based antipasti to share between four persons. This was an eight course fish degustation menu with the freshest fish cuts marinated to perfection, octopus in garlic, mussels in a rich broth without a trace of saltiness and which prompted us to consume the broth with a spoon without any repercusions associated with salty food; white bait fritters, prawn fritters, marinated salmon and swordfish. This course was paired with an excellent chilled bottle of a good Corvo Superiore.

Main Courses:

Costata di manzo alla griglia - charcoal-grilled fresh Aberdeen Angus ribe-eye steak;

Scaloppe di filetto saltato con crema e porcini

Charcoal-grilled Aberdeen Angus beef fillet in cream and mushroom sauce.

Both the rib-eye as well as the fillet were pan-fried medium-rare to perfection.

A 1kg fresh John Dory (Pesce di San Pietro), cooked acqua pazza for two persons to share.

Roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables were served on the side, as well as a basket of very fresh bread.

Desserts:

Home-made dark chocolate fondant with ice-cream;

Crushed, ricotta, filled cannolo;

Tortino di mela e cannella su crema pasticcera - warm apple and cinamon cake served with ice-cream;

Selection of small cupcakes.

Wines: A bottle of Corvo Riserva eas paired with the seafood degustation and fish dishes, and a bottle of Salice Salentino Riserva was paired with the beef steaks.

Two bottles of water, espressos and complementary Avernas finished of the meal.

Service: Very good attentive service, by the restaurant manager assisted by a number of well trained servers, helped to complete a very good dining experience.

Value for money: Starters start at around EUR9.50 depending on selections, with the degustation antipasto at EUR17.50 per person; Fish is priced at EUR4.5 per 100gm which is very reasonable; Rib-eye and the Aberdeen Angus fillet at Eur21.50 and Eur26.50 respectively; Desserts at EUr4.5 each. Total price of our dinner, excluding the two bottles of wine, but including water and espressos came up to EUR192.2 or EUR48 per person.

Reviewers’ Impressions:

Ambience: Very Good;

Cuisine Quality: Very Good;

Preparation and Presentation: very Good:

Harmony of Menu: The menu is not a large affair, just selected antipasti, starters and main courses, complemented by a choice of about four freshly made desserts, commensurate with the up-scale concept of the restaurant.

Wine list and mark-ups: A very good selection of local and Italian wines. Reasonable mark-ups.

Service: Very Good.

RATING: 8.5/10

Recommended.