August was a busy month for us, as apart from the five restaurants that we visited, (one of them twice) in Gozo, between the 15th and 18th of August, we had also visited and favourably reviewed another seven restaurants. Short reviews of these restaurants with photographs have already been published in our Facebook Group, but a concise, full round-up, of these seven restaurants shall be given here as well.

Dinner at Al Molo Restaurant - Portomaso Marina.

Friday, 1st August, 2014.

A wonderful five course degustation menu prepared by Chef Andrew Pace was enjoyed last Friday.

Very select, small portions of flavourful delicacies, masterfully prepared there and then by the chef, who also selected the wine to pair with his creations.

This is the type of food that has to be appreciated for its delicate flavours and preparation, and not for its quantity.

Food served in separate servings:

Aged speck with Roquefort cheese cream and fresh local figs;

Chef’s surprise with a base of avocado, and layers of sheep ricotta and tuna tartare;

home-made sepia ravioli stuffed with scallops and prawn meat in a lobster cream sauce;

Lamb chops with ginger and mint for one person;

and three Aberdeen Angus fillets with pomegranate and anchovy reduction sauce; Desserts:

Fig tart with rosewater sorbet and Glazed Apple sections with apple jelly and crunchy biscuit.

Selected wine ( white and red) were served, together with four bottles of water, espressos and complimentary liqueurs.

Price of the five course degustation menu EUR45 per person, excluding the wine, water and coffees, which are consumed in accordance with diners preferences.

Highly recommended for a special dinner.

Outstanding food; very good service; and good value for a fine dining restaurant, which is at the same time casual and relaxing as is the current trend in “Premiumised Informality” dining.

Al Molo is a WRMC Silver Spoon Restaurant.

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Crave at the Valletta Waterfront - Friday 8th August.

This is without a doubt one of the busiest restaurants at the Valletta Waterfront, appealing to most tastes , (with selections of pasta, pizza, baguette and wraps, some fish, burgers, salads and various platters, grills, ribs, etc., with good portions), and pockets, and very well managed by two experienced managers attending front-of-house.

We picked our own table against the restaurants outside wall, which was a bit quieter and less busy than underneath the al fresco canopy, and thus also avoided to have to bear someone smoking at the next table which is sometimes synonymous with al fresco dining.

Food ordered:

Starter - home made pumpkin ravioli which were home-size (not packet size) with sage butter and drizzled with parmigiano reggiano, and covered with an unnecessary layer of rucola. The ravioli were quite nice.

Main courses: Seared Barbary duck breast with cranberries, marsala and thyme;

and the fresh T-Bone of Dutch milk-fed veal.

The T-Bone was served vertical which was quite a nice serving actually. Both the duck and the veal T-Bone were cooked perfectly medium and were quite enjoyable.

Jacket potato was served with both servings but which were both a bit cool. I like my jacket potato hot just out from the oven.

Dessert: Two scoops of ice-cream - Malaga rum and Amarena; and chocolate fondant with helwa-tat-tork ice-cream. The fondant was not, as such, home-made with the chocolate oozing out when pierced, but was more soft-chocolate muffin style, and at EUR5.70 was a bit on the high side. Nice because it was soft, chocolaty and fresh, but a chocolate fondant is a chocolate fondant.

One bottles of a German Riesling, well chilled at a good temperature, one bottles of water and two espressos. Total cost for two persons EUR77.15 all inclusive with the wine etc., (Eur38.58 per person). Good ambience, good unruffled service, very decent food, casual, and good value.

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Sunday lunch at Pintonino Restaurant at the Valletta waterfront.

Sunday, 3rd August, 2014.

Another visit to Pintonino Restaurant at the Valletta Waterfront, was made for lunch. Although the inside section was quite cool with the air conditioning on, we opted for an outside table, in the shade of the canopy, where a fresh, light breeze was blowing making the al fresco section vey bearable and enjoyable . The Mein Schiff 3 had just berthed, so the view from our table was taken by this massive cruise liner, the hustle and bustle around which, in a way added to the enjoyment of this location.

After a short talk with Chef-Padron Charlie Demanuele, we opted for a seafood platter with a choice from the freshest seafood most of which was fished alive from his aquariums.

Pre-lunch we were served with the usual antipasto of galletti (waterbiscuits) and bigilla dip; the water was brought over, and samples from our chilled wine order was poured. An excellent amuse bouche of Sevruga caviar and a sweet, cherry tomato half, stuffed with rizzi roe was also served.

Once the seafood was cooked two large dishes one containing a selection of the freshest, local, red king prawns, langoustine which were like cream melting in the mouth, fresh tuna steaks cooked in balsamico, and two whole calamari, and the other containing a selection of clams and mussels cooked in broth and wine, were served for two sharing. A fresh crispy salad and boiled potatoes were served on the side.

As is normal, a good bottle of an excellent, chilled, Pinot Grigio was ordered as well as water. Desserts: one lemon sorbet and a small portion of cassatella, with espressos . Complementary Grappa were offered.

With Pintonino there is not much to say really, except that for fresh fish and the freshest of seafood, most of which is fished out alive from the restaurant’s aquariums, this restaurant must be one of the very best establishments anywhere in Malta .

Price overall excluding the wine, came up to EUR115 between two (EUREUR57.5 per person). Another highly recommended restaurant for fish seafood, crabs and lobsters .

Pintonino is a WRMC Blue Riband Restaurant .

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Dinner at Chapter One Restaurant, St. Julian’s.

Friday, 22nd August, 2014.

Chapter One Restaurant situated near the Millenium Chapel in Paceville, St. Julian’s, is a smallish but pleasant restaurant, operated by Chef-Patron Hiram Cassar. The menu is not a vast affair but an endeavour is made to create replica, fine dining food using local ingredients.

We opted for a tasting menu for starters and were served four courses as shown in the following photo album.

The four oysters served is a sharing serving, one oyster each for four persons.

Main courses were fillets from a fresh John Dory and Rock fish both of which were shown to us whole by the Chef .

The fish was cooked perfectly especially the rockfish which was also served with a side serving of its own extracted soup.

Desserts: one serving of Madagascar creme’ brulee’ one serving of carrot cake and one serving of cheese. The cheese serving left a bit to be desired as these were not gourmet cheeses and at Eur8.5 were a bit on the high side as were the desserts at EUR6 each.

A bottle of chilled Chablis, two bottles of water and espressos complemented the dinner as well as a glass of dessert wine with the desserts.

Instead of the usual complementary liqueurs, we were also offered a bottle of Dolce Vita dessert wine complementary.

Price between four excluding the wine: EUR187 (EUR46.75 per person). Cost of the wine EUR31.5 for the bottle.

Chapter One Restaurant is a WRMC Blue Riband Restaurant.

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Dinner at La Favorita in Marsascala.

Tuesday, 26th August, 2014.

Seafood meze’ to share between four persons. some four bottles of water; one very good, chilled Chablis;

Desserts: Tiramisu, sorbets, semi-freddo and ice-cream; espressos.

Serving of spaghetti rizzi for my granddaughter.

Total price all inclusive less the wine: EUR121 (Eur30 per person);

A very good wine list with very reasonable mark-ups of just about 30% on the retail price. Our 2012 Chablis was priced at EUR21.

Very good, fresh food, family run service and good value. La Favorita has just been given a face-lift which enhanced its ambience 100%.

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Dinner at T’AnnaMari Restaurant in Marsaxlokk.

Friday, 29th August, 2014.

The Italians are coming, or let’s say they are already here mate! Some of these places are giving our best, locally operated restaurants a run for their money, in cuisine quality and sheer dedicated service. I am saying “some” and not “all” so do not quote me wrong.

Such a place is the newly refurbished, T’AnnaMari Restaurant in Marsaxlokk which has recently changed operators and concept and which is run exclusively by a team of Chefs and service staff from this neighbouring country.

Good menu with good selections of antipasti, salads, pasta, grills and fresh fish. Prices ranging from Eur8 to Eur12, pasta and soups from Eur6.80 to Eur12.50, fish at Eur5.5/100gm weight, and Eur14.7 to Eur29, and homemade desserts at Eur4.5. Wine mark-up average 40/55% on the retail price.

Food choices:

Starter- antipasto del chef, one order shared between two:

Main course - a 1kg wild spnotta (sea bass), grilled to perfection.

Dessert - home-made cannolo freshly stuffed with sweet ricotta. One bottle of water, one bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon blanc, espressos and complementary liqueurs. served on the side a selection of home-baked Italian bread rolls and Maltese bread slices; Crispy chips and tomato and rucola salad.

Price excludig the wine : EUR74.5 (Eur37.25 per person); Wine price for the NZ Sauvignon Blanc EUR24. Very good food: outstanding, unfettered and un-obtrusive service exactly as I like it; reasonable value for money, depending on food choices. Worth a try.

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Dinner at Ristorante La Vela - Pieta Gardens/Pieta Yacht Marina.

Saturday, 30th August, 2014.

Ristorante la Vela is another of our favourite restaurants in Malta, which is also very consistent in its cuisine quality, service and value.

Run and operated hands-on, by Michelle Muscat, the establishment runs like clockwork and is an example of efficiency on which others should be run.

We have already published a full review some time ago on our website - Wines and Restaurants of Malta.Com, sp we will restrict this review to the specifics. We were seated at a good table on the recently refurbished terrace, overlooking the yacht marina , with the Msida church all lighted up across Msida Creek, providing an enjoyable and pleasant ambience for Summer dining. Although pleasantly casual, this restaurant falls squarely under the new category of “premium informality” restaurants - offering very good cuisine, service and with a set-up more related to fine dining. Well trained, local and Italian servers, in ample numbers, supervised by the front-of-house manageress , attentive and efficient.

Food ordered: Summer in Malta is commensurate with fresh fish and seafood, and as this restaurant specialises in Italian and Mediterranean food, we had no option but to select fresh fish from the display and to order their specialities as starters. No, no, it’s not another degustation or tasting menu, so we settled on orders for:

- A splendid fishermen soup, which was more akin to a top class Cacciucco, extremely rich in seafood and seashells;

- A serving of the whitebaite neonati- fritters;

- Prawn carpaccio;

- and a very nice serving of the lampuki stuffed crepes’ in a rich tomato sauce.

Main courses: We selected three dentici (dentex), two as single servings and a larger one to be shared between two persons. The fish chosen were promptly removed from the display and taken to the kitchen to be cooked in the acqua pazza method, with herbs and cherry tomatoes.

Dessert: Two lemon sorbets, and one cannolo fracassato with fresh ricotta to share.

Wine: One bottle of Greco di Tufo; two bottles of water; espressos; and complementary liqueurs complemented this somewhat outstanding dinner.

Value: The price of the above food less the wine came up to EUR147.25 (EUR36.8 per person); Wine cost was EUR23. Fish price is Eur4.5/100gm. Excellent value for money.

Ristorante La Vela is a WRMC Blue Riband Restaurant.

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