Our visit to Hammet’s Mestizo was necessary. We both were feeling the post-holiday blues and whilst Malta is relatively warmer than the UK, it ain’t no bados! Winter is very much here and gosh I am over it 🤨 As it was a somewhat lovely day with sunny spells, we thought a walk to St Julian’s bay, have a cock tail or 3 was exactly what was needed to chase the blues we were feeling and it was spot on! The food experience here is very similar to the other hammet’s we had visited last summer. Food was designed to be sharing plates – a selection meso-south American dishes. The menu is split into categories that include rip and dip, raw fresh and cured, grains and roots, corn breads, land and sea as well as asado BBQ. Talk about choice! You know you are in for a treat when there are a variety of dishes because you know the chef is on it, and ON IT he was.
We started with tequenos, pork chicharron and croquetas. First of the tequenos? Is a fried breaded cheese stick, coriander garlic sauce.
It was yum! The pork was bite sized pork jowl in lime and chili salt and of course the beloved croquetas were Octopus croquettes, lime and mango which was a welcomed difference to the usual mushroom filled croquetas, nonetheless, I have to say, the Maltese do croquettes right!
From the raw, fresh and cured section, we sampled the Caribbean tataki – fresh local fish, scallop emulsion, coconut, leche de tigre, mango picadillo.
This course, phew!!!! F R E S H okay? the cream sauce which was combination of scallop and coconut with the mango was creamy and texture all at once. The fish looked like tuna but was not 🤔It was actually grouper 😮👌 it was excellent! Our grains and roots selection was the moros y cristianos – black bean stew, rice, coriander sauce.
From the corn bread category, we sampled the arepa de chicharron; a pork avocado with chilli sauce, corn and Stracciatella cheese. As someone who has never really sampled South American cuisine as such aside from steak (don’t judge), the chef’s take on these dishes were not only pleasing to the eye but scrumptious! The dish was layered and you will assume that it won’t be filling but that would be false! The base of the dish was a hard shell but it was really a soft bake type of pork… ‘wholesome’ is the first thought that came to mind after the first bite!
Asado Negro was our dish to sample from the Land and sea category. Braised beef cheek, citrus, plantain, pearl onions and padrones peppers. Quick disclaimer, I did not go anywhere near the onions 😀 even though they looked pretty on the plate. The plantain formed the base of this course and added a sweetness to the braised beef cheek – yummy!
Pudding was plantain (yep, plantain) tarte tartin! And OMD!!! IT was heavenly!- guava, plantain, cream cheese ice cream. Now I don’t know about you lot, but these ingredients individually are pretty solid but together as a dessert? DELICIOUS! Plantain and cream cheese ice cream who knew? 🤷♂️🥰
What these cats at Hammet’s restaurant have mastered is creating and serving epic small plates 👏🏽
Cheers,
Ndidi
p.s. one time for the gin and tonic too. The bar has some truly unique g&t’s, having sampled 2 of the list. I know where I will be for happy hour as the weather gets warmer.
