Their slogan is "A small place for a big treat.", and that short marketing sentence is not false advertising. On our way the the National Art Museum on South St in Valletta, we passed this very small restaurant. I laughed at the slogan, thinking it was cute, but not taking it seriously. Their dining room was so small it only held about twelve tables and the kitchen was relegated to the basement. The last photo above on the right is that of the dumbwaiter. It was fun to actually see one being used. As I sat waiting for lunch, I finally opened our travel guide and Cocopazzo just happened to be the second restaurant listed. I was very pleased to have ordered the rabbit ravioli, one of the daily specials, when I read that they specialized in seafood and house made pasta dishes.
The plate looked beautiful as it was being served. The glaze on the ceramic bowl was a smoky taupe color and the ravioli were a pale tan, causing me to wonder if the pasta was made with buckwheat flour. As it turned out, the hand made pasta was made from ceci (the Italian word for garbanzo) flour. The texture was perfect with a nice al dente bite to it. The filling was also quite good with cooked rabbit meat, bread crumbs, garlic and perhaps a bit of dried parsley. I suggest that because dried parsley was also sprinkled over the top of a luscious mushroom cream sauce that dressed the ravioli. This was the best food I'd eaten in days. I especially liked the use of caramelized onions that were in the sauce, sliced not diced or minced.
My traveling companion was equally as smitten with his mussels and clams steamed in a white wine and garlic sauce. He sopped up the sauce with the garlic bread left on our table, gratis, no cover charge. It was the best of the trip, since we regularly order mussels when in the Mediterranean.
After lunch I decided to try the Cassata because I only had one in Sicily and was hoping to find more. It was not what I had expected in looks, but it was exactly what I had hoped for in flavor. Instead of being presented in a cake form, the sponge cake was sitting in the bottom of a small glass with candied fruits mixed in. The Marsala wine looked more red than I have ever seen used on a Cassata. The ricotta was also less sweet than I have been used to in Sicily, but it was so much better in this rendition, where it was topping the cake. But what about the marzipan? A small circle of it crowned this little gem of a dessert. Perfetto!
We liked our meal so well, we came back the next day but the kitchen had just closed after the lunch service. Not to be deterred, we decided to hold off on lunch and take an early dinner instead. I started off with their fish soup which consisted of one large prawn in fish broth. it was good but a bit cumbersome. To simplify the process and avoid a real mess, I only removed the shell after I had consumed all the broth. Then I ordered the special and mixed vegetables.
The special was veal with a mushroom mustard sauce. It was fork tender and the mushrooms were a good companion to the mild mustard cream sauce, that benefited from their robust, earthy flavor. The sauce on my ravioli was excellent; the sauce on the veal was even better. The vegetables were simply prepared peas, carrots, and string beans that were bright in color, yet not undercooked. The boiled potatoes needed to be eaten with the sauce, if any pleasure at all was to be extracted from them, so onto the plate they went. The veal, plated on red, looked even better next to the green vegetables.
One look at the mixed seafood pasta and I almost regretted ordering the veal, almost. Thankfully I was offered a taste of the pasta and it was again, as good as any seafood pasta we have eaten in Italy or Sicily. It is so clear, in the cuisine of Malta, to see the Italian and Sicilian influences. The pasta itself was cooked al dente, as it should be, and the tomato sauce tasted "of the sea". Scampi, clams and mussels were responsible for the subtle flavoring. We were so delighted to have found this restaurant, and to have been able to dine there twice.
| South St Between Old Bakery and Old Mint St Valletta Malta |
No comments:
Post a Comment