Description: Two very different places stand cheek-by-jowl tucked round the back of the
Grand Master’s Palace. The first is an old-style boozer simply called
The Pub. These days it has become a shrine to the notorious hell-raising actor Oliver Reed as it was here that the old rascal downed his last pint while filming
Gladiator on the island (a lot of his contribution to that film had to be digitally edited in following his death). Now people from across the world gravitate here to have a drink in his memory.
A quite different atmsophere is served up next door. The restaurant
Ambrosia is a pricey – if slightly quirky – addition to the Valletta dining scene. The food served here is all organic Slow Food. There is no printed menu; instead there is a board on the wall that specifies that day’s dishes. As such the fare is dependent upon what is in season and what is fresh – and presumably helps to liven up the chef’s imagination.
We actually only managed to get a table in Ambrosia at the second time of trying. The previous night we had been rebuffed because we didn’t have a reservation. However the following night we, apart from a couple of Americans, were the only ones in the restaurant until we were joined by a French family. The places was, according to the patron, unusually empty. I would therefore recommend making a reservation should you wish to dine here.
The food wasn’t your normal run-of-the-mill fare. My starter was
grilled asparagus, but served on a bed of leaves and orange, dusted with pecorino (€9). The cheese and orange combination really shouldn’t have worked, yet somehow it did, though it had a rather unusual mouth-feel! Rebecca had leek and parsnip soup (€6). My main was
pheasant, again with leeks, in a scrummy red wine and pepper jus (€20), while Rebecca had succulent quails (€18). In both cases separating the meat from the bones was of the difficult side. We had a half-bottle of Maltese Nexus merlot to go with it (€14), which was quite drinkable, though not in the same class as the previous day’s Gozitan chardonnay. I finished off with vanilla panna cotta (€6), which came served with berries and an inner-sole-sized wafer.
The food at Ambrosia was great quality, fresh and imaginative. Perhaps because of that it was pretty pricey – our meal for two cost €80. Still it is certainly somewhere that I would recommend to people looking for a touch of fine dining in Valletta.
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