The last day of February in Malta, hits different! The sun is shining, and it is a whopping 18 degrees centigrade, it feels like 20+ in the sun. I mean hellor!!! I guess it is fair to say that the weather is changing and thank Jesus! Because, I don’t know about you lot, but I am OVER the winter blues….
Quick back story (ish), remember how I mentioned that I found out about lockdown 3 after landing in Malta back in December? Well, my 2 – week Christmas break has become a 2-month hiatus and counting lol! It has been an emotional roller coaster to say the least, but we move still! I might do a whole blog about it at some point, talking about life in Malta, considering this will be my new home for the foreseeable future! Since Malta is open for business with more businesses coming out of hibernation, we have been exploring the food scene and what not.
We decided to go to Mdina which is the ancient walled city with a history spanning 4000 years and dating back to 60 A.D. I personally, didn’t know that this is where we were headed but Neal was quite excited about it. It was err interesting? It is a walled city alright and it is quite massive, I mean city, duh? But I think Neal was particularly disappointed because the picture in his head vs reality didn’t quite marry up? Plus, it was getting to lunch time, manz was getting hangry and after the only open restaurant within the city walls was fully booked and the 2 others right outside as well, let’s just say tempers were rising and with the heat? He was not a happy bunny! We decided to look further to see if there were any more restaurants and voila! On the hilly side of the town were 2 restaurants and into Root 81 we went!
As it was such a gorgeous day, the Maltese were out and although we didn’t get a table outside, Neal (the manager) hooked us up with a balcony table and he did us a solid! The view was just gorgeous
We started off with a bottle of chenin blanc wine from South Africa, some bread, olive oil and 2 types of butter – home made and tumeric. One time for the tumeric butter still, it was flavourful and not too overpowering!
The menu had so many good dishes I initially asked for a taster menu, but alas, this was not for lunch time! So, in true garmanvsfood style, we sampled as many of the dishes as we could lol. Our three starters included foie gras which was goose liver, pork and duck with beetroot and homemade brioche. Foie gras can leave a bitter taste on your palate and the use of beetroot by chef added the right amount of sweetness to this dish! It was so good.
The second starter, oh, did you think the foie gras, duck and pork were the three starters? Ha! nope! Second starter was slow cooked octopus in garlic with new potatoes, capers, sundried tomatoes, and olives! the sundried olives and tomatoes? tasted savory and were delish! I liked how colourful this dish was too. The final starter sampled was the oxtail croquette. I have had a few variations of this delight, but I reckon this might just be my favourite one yet. The oxtail filling not only tasted delicious, but it gave the otherwise humble croquette some oomph!
Choosing my main course was a tossup between the duck and rabbit. The rabbit dish was local rabbit saddle wrapped in local pancetta, garlic, potato rosti, bok choy and Jus. What dissuaded me was the potato rosti otherwise, similar to hash brown and the rabbit wrapped in pancetta, made me think pigs and blanket ha!. No, I am not having a go at the dish, far from it! Plus, I do not think my visual interpretation did the course any justice, however, the Duck dish?! Duo of duck, trumpet mushrooms, wild rice, confit duck leg croquette, mustard seed and Jus, come on now! You know it had to be the Duck. I am yet to try a Duck dish that turned out to be naff!
This was not the exception to the rule! It was bloody good! The duck was tender, the wild rice had the right amount of crunch and not overcooked, the croquette? As good, if not better than the oxtail croquette. I loved it. Neal’s main was slow cooked short rib with shallots, beef bonbon, carrot fondant pomme puree and Jus. He was happy! That is all that needs to be said lol! We both shared a side of local vegetables; this was also very colourful. Neal and I reckon these were either pickled or marinated in some beetroot type thingy magig because aside the redness, the veggies were flavourful with the right amount of crunch! Don’t nobody want to eat overcooked veg, I certainly do not!
Pudding came with five options – Vanilla crème brulee, warm lava cake, local home-made date fritter (these, yummy), warm Belgian chocolate and hazelnut brownie, toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream as well as selection of ice-creams and sorbet! As an ice cream person, it was the brownie for me! It was scrumptious, warm, chocolatey with the toffee sauce poured over! And the pudding wine? Extra sweet!
Whilst basking in the afterglow of this meal, soaking up the sun, and the sweetness of our dessert, Julia offers us a choice of two digestifs – limoncello or Frangelico! Opted for the Frangelico because, well, our limoncello experience left us wanting! Now the Frangelico? Jeez… this is a hazel nut liquor and omd! It is sweet and silky! The hazel nut taste lingers on your palate and with ice? Very refreshingly sweet!
Perfect Sunday Lunch!
Cheers
Ndidi
p.s. Julia, sights of Mdina and what not
Your blog is amazing 🙂
OMG! thank you so much @ colorful sisters.
Lovely! beautiful photos.
Hiya Tyty
Thank you, it was a gorgeous day and the food was yum!