Last week, I was invited to try out the newly launched menu at Zest Restaurant in St Julians, one of my all-time favourite restaurants in Malta. I do have a sentimental attachment to this place because it is the very first restaurant where my husband took me out on our first official date and we tend to celebrate quite a few occasions here. So when George and Erika Rouvelas invited us to taste the new menu to share with you my blog followers, I was super excited and curious to see what Zest’s new Executive Chef Noel Azzopardi had come up with.
We invited Daniela and Catalin, friends of ours, to join us for the experience and they gladly accepted. We all arrived punctually at the restaurant at 8 pm, enjoyed a welcome Prosecco cocktail with a dash of peach juice and took our seats at a beautifully laid table. I immediately noticed that the physical menu has been changed to reflect the décor of the place. Love it! Here’s a photo of it!
We opened it to find that the layout is different and whereas previously you would have the foods by food type, now they are presented into four sections – starters, mains and desserts with the set menus at the end. It is easier to select things this way. We ordered a selection of starters to share including their signature assorted sushi platters, aromatic crispy duck rolls followed by the mains which were all new to us. Between the four of us, we tried these dishes:
• Grilled and steamed grouper with green curry velouté, cauliflower miso purée and jasmine rice
• Slow roasted pork belly and croquettes with compressed peach, fermented soya bean and Japanese fried rice
• Short rib of beef with a black bean emulsion, coconut purée, tomato and spring onion concasse and jasmine rice
• Yellow prawn curry and ragout with lardo di Colonnata and jasmine rice
• Chicken Terriyaki on a bed of bean sprouts and stir fried vegetables, with Japanese fried rice
The tastes and textures of some dishes we sampled are too difficult to describe. They were extraordinary in their own way. They transport you to another dimension and destination – the land of Zest magic!
My favourite main was the fish while the other guests preferred the beef or the chicken which proves that the menu will satisfy a wide range of people’s culinary preferences.
Other new items on this new menu include:
• Lobster Phad Thai
• Angus beef fillet tartare marinated in an Indonesian dressing with puffed rice and egg yolk snow
• Mushroom carpaccio with soya and wild mushroom puree, crispy quiona and 24-month parmigiano reggiano
• Homemade braised chicken tortellini served with Singaporean Laksa and coconut veloute
A sweet affair
As a person who loves sweets, I’d like to put a spotlight on the new dessert menu. All of us who tried it, agreed unanimously that it is fantastic and we scraped each plate till there was not one tiny bite left. It was around 10 pm that we ordered one of each of these items to share – We were having a lovely time catching up with friends and sampling all these creations!
• Dark chocolate lime fondant with chocolate and caramel ice cream
• Mango cremeux with melon sorbet, compressed melon and white chocolate crisps
• Lemon tart with caramelised pistachio, dried prune and pistachio cake and vanilla parfait
• Milk chocolate and praline pannacotta with salted popcorn, milk chocolate crumbs, coconut sorbet and warm chocolate sauce
• Homemade ice cream and sorbet
Oh my goodness gracious me! You just have to book yourselves a table to try all these divine creations. Compliments to The Chef for everything and thank you to George and Erika for your warm welcome!
Hope you enjoyed our experience and all these beautiful pictures taken by Catalin of BlackBookPhoto. I also have faith that we have excited your taste buds and enticed you to pay this beautiful restaurant a visit too some time soon!
Zest Restaurant, 25 St George’s Street, St Julians Tel 2138 7600
Xxx
Grazielle
Stay tuned to www.graziellecamilleri.com/blog for more outings in Malta and beyond!
I was wearing:
Dress: BBY
Bag: Michael Kors at Rebelli
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman at Rebelli
All photos are courtesy of Catalin Bindiu of BlackBookPhoto
