A night out fit for nobility

Though the restaurant is quite easy to find on the main road in Rabat leading towards Mdina, we got lost in the back streets of Rabat, which was really quite interesting. The narrow, winding roads, with niches at almost every corner, are every bit as worth getting lost in as the ones in Rabat’s sister city Mdina. 

After a bit of a windy walk we settled down for a pre-dinner drink in the warmth of their front room to admire the renovations of the beautiful 17th century palazzo. 

The Palazzo was originally constructed for an aristocratic family, the Theuma-Castelletti family, who built a residence consisting of several interconnected rooms in-keeping with the stately architectural style of that period, with high vaulted rooms and ubiquitous use of arches. The function of the rooms has changed throughout the years – from housing nobility to being used as a school and shelter for children during World War II as well as briefly being the residence of a holy woman, the venerable Adeodata Pisani. 

Renovations for this grand palazzo took 10 years to complete, with major delays occurring when ancient Roman remains were found underneath the Palazzo. 

After painstaking renovations, these are now open to the public. 

However, the reason we came to this restaurant wasn’t the history, though it is certainly worth a visit just for this, and we soon settled at a table at their San Andrea restaurant, one of the two establishments housed by Palazzo Castelletti. 

Fine dining is to be expected in the spectacular environs of the palazzo, however they have moved away from the fine dining concepts of expensive yet small portions without compromising on the skill and art involved in food preparation. 

The menu kept us going for more than a few minutes, trying to decide on what to choose from. The Mediterranean cuisine on offer is influenced by the French and uses the best of Maltese produce in a creative and innovative way. In the end we went for a twice baked peppered goat’served with tomato compote, wild rocket, aged balsamic vinegar and a toasted pine nut vinaigrette and a terrine of duck and foie-gras, green tomato and apple chutney, sprinkled with Gozo sea salt and served with brioche grissini. However the choice was not an easy one as there were many other dishes we were not keen on leaving behind, like a pig’s head croquette and a smoked prawn quiche. 

Whenever there is duck on the menu, I find it very difficult to order anything else, so I went for the duck breast served with an interesting hash brown that was mixed with duck confit and served with savoy cabbage, Buma Saimeji mushrooms, winter spiced carrots and cherry caramel. The other main was a tender and juicy Black Angus rib-eye served with a Bearnaise sauce, with slow roasted thyme infused tomato, garlic saut仔d flat mushrooms, Provencal vegetable brochette, onion crisps and goose fat Pomme Fondant cylinders. 

Our selection of food was heavily meat based, however if you are staying away from meat there are some vegetarian dishes that are interesting enough to tempt even the meat eaters at the table. 

Vegetarian food gets a bad rap for being healthy and boring but really can be equally indulgent. If the pithivier – which is a round pie made from puff pastry – of mixed mushrooms, Camembert and sage served with gratin Dauphinois and honey and sesame roasted vegetables in a red currant and red wine glaze doesn’t make your mouth water then I don’t know what does! 

The rich foods called for a full-bodied red wine and though the wine list is extensive, with wines out of the old world and new, we went for a trusty St Emilion which accentuated the flavours of the meal perfectly. 

Leave room for desserts which you may feel guilty about tucking into. And the guilt will not come from the added calories at the end of the meal. By this time we had already thrown caution to the wind and just enjoyed every morsel of food. The guilt comes from destroying such beautiful works of art, however you soon get over this as the first mouthful hits your palate. We had a tiramisu that was served in tubes of chocolate with white chocolate mousse in espresso macaroon, warm marzipan cappuccino froth that made them look like mushrooms, not nearly the dangerous kind, just delicious. 

With full stomachs we finished off the wine in the beautiful surroundings until we called it a night and headed back to the car. 

If you haven’t tried San Andrea Restaurant at Palazzo Castelletti yet, make the most of this weekend and pay them visit. Whether you are celebrating a special occasion or just want to enjoy the company of friends, family or lovers, this is definitely the place to be.