C O M M A N D O Restaurant! Oh how I adore thee!!! Yes, I am attempting to sing / quote a sonnet? Poem? Lyric? Whatever you decide to call it about this gem of a place. Why? The food up in this here restaurant will have you singing PERIODT! Located in the village of Mellieha, residing in a 300 year old building with it’s culinary history as far back as the 1930’s… let’s just say these lot have kept that cooking passion alive and it is THRIVING!
We arrived for din dins just as the sun was beginning to set and becoming cooler, a welcome reprieve from the heat ha! Alas, we were informed that a tasting menu was not available but when did that ever stop us from making ours 🤔? Starting with an aperol spritz and a Bellini , home-made ciabatta bread served with yummy butter, we ready!
I live for carpaccio; beef, fish, venison, veal, salmon ( I am THERE) and the carpaccio of beef in this here Commando restaurant streets, lissstteeenn! Thinly sliced beef served with castelmagno cheese, summer truffle and thyme short bread… like how sway? First off, I have never had carpaccio with this kind of cheese or with short bread? I have had Carpaccio with burrata with a kind of citrusy / vinaigrette dressing yes, but not this! The TEXTURE 😱! It was crunch, creaminess; an assault to your palate! My goodness it was LUSH!
In hindsight this should have been our cue on what the rest of the food was going to be like but we didn’t have a scooby whatsoever 🤷♂️Ha! we were in for the most ‘texturising’ food adventure yet!
The beetroot & roasted pumpkin as it is named was three elements – baby gem lettuce, honey roasted walnuts and whipped goat’s cheese. Simple and yet, epic! The baby gem lettuce was ‘crunchy’ ALLELUIA! I am sure you are wondering why is this such a big deal?.. well in the nine months and counting of being on the island, this is the first time I have had any crunchy leaf (salad) .. yep! You read right! I have been here winter, spring, summer and the salad, the leaves especially, have always been a miss🙄! But this here baby gem lettuce, fresh and crunchy? Made me well happy! Combined with the walnuts, warm peach cubes and cream cheese, it was again, layers of flavour, texture and bite! Ouuu my palate was in jubilation for real!
Unlike their wine, the Maltese are better at cheese making, in particular, the Gozo cheese. This cheeselet is either from goat or sheep’s milk, rennet and salt. Depending on where you are dining, it can come as plain, peppered, with other types of cheese, or covered in herbs. We tried the breaded Gozo cheeslets with onion & tomato marmalade and walnut dressing. The breaded cheese did look a lot like arancini 🤔 Not going to lie, I was worried about the marmalade because of the onions, but it turned out good – more like chutney 😋… It was sweet and savoury and perfect with the cheeselets.
The ravioli was DIVINE! Ravioli pasta stuffed with veal ragout filling, had aged parmesan butter, pine nuts and peppered with saffron. It was a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth type ish!
Then came the risotto; asparagus and local prawn with pumpkin seeds, watercress leaves.. OMD! The texture… ohhh the texture!!! It was crunchy, creamy and fresh, like peas from the garden fresh! Lovvvveeed it! Having the veal with truffle mash potatoes
was the right way to bring end this food adventure to a close or was it? Err pudding? how we going to have all the texture goodness and not see what the pudding is saying 🧐? I mean tis a must! 😀
Ricotta cheese cake with poached pears, lemon crisp and citrus caramel. The lemon crisp was a leaf like pastry, I mean talk about savoury pudding that doubles up as a palate cleanser eh? It was sooo yummy
and enjoyed with a glass of Maltese Muscat!
Yes, commando! Texture and flavour is your thing! 😋😀🥰
Cheers
Ndidi
Addendum: pudding signals the end of your meal, and your girl should have just allowed it, but, the beef of carpaccio be calling..🙄…. s/o to the team for indulging me 😎
