Peas and Love
Triq l-Imħallef 
Pawlu Debono
Msida
Tel: 7921 2021

Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience: 7/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

I’m not a vegetarian. I suppose I qualify as an omnivore in that I’ll eat almost anything that I know isn’t immediately lethal to humans. Having said that, I’d like to explore the diminishing relevance of diets that fit into neat boxes.

The argument in favour of removing labels is one I make because I think too many of us feel we need to force our diets into one described by someone else. If I decided that my palate and my body are happy to base my diet on walnuts, honey and red wine for as long as I lived I would probably shut up about it. Or call it the ‘magic trifecta’, write a book about it and make some money.

Either way, it’s time more of us made choices we don’t need to label, explain or proselytise about. Of course, labels are still very useful. If, for whatever reason, I want to completely avoid eating anything that was once an animal, I need to know a restaurant offers vegetarian dishes. But for the rest of the while, feel free to tailor-make your diet to your set of flavour and ethical choices.

Of course, I’m leaving out those choices that our own body forces upon us, like allergies and health-related dietary restrictions. But the rest of our choices are just that, choices we make for our own reasons and for Instagram. Because #cleaneating.

Speaking of which, the notion of clean eating is associated with a healthy diet. In a similar way, a vegetarian diet is associated with healthy eating. While they are both conducive to healthy eating, they don’t guarantee it. One can easily eat vegetable tempura, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrot cake to an early grave if one wanted to. Hardly a healthy way to go.

Luckily, most vegetarian restaurants tend to be run by good folk with a solid understanding of what a healthy lifestyle entails, with particular attention to a healthy diet. So a vegetarian restaurant has become something of a guarantee that truly healthy options will be available.

Having a vegetarian restaurant that means business so close to the university is a great thing. Peas and Love is a stone’s throw from the campus gates so tomorrow’s leaders can keep up their nutritional and ethical choices while learning the ropes.

It’s a narrow space, with a juice bar up front and dining area in the back, and has been decorated in a way that’s sparse and tasteful.

The first time I visited, the dining area downstairs was quite busy. We sat and waited for something to happen and the two people who were running the show just went about their business, walking past us. When more time than was reasonable had passed, I asked the man at the bar whether we were meant to place an order at the bar. He said he’d come to the table. He didn’t.

The food’s lovely enough for anyone, regardless of diet choice

So I returned, stole a menu, and took it to the table. In time, he came over to take our orders and was really nice about it. He is actually very good at his job. The time he spent at our table was time he dedicated to seeing what we needed, answering our questions about the food, tidying up our table, and in general being helpful and polite.

By the second time I visited, they’d tightened up the ship and service had taken a huge leap forward. More about that in a moment.

The menus have a handful of items spread across breakfast, brunch and lunch times with smaller dishes that can go with all of them. I like the idea of smaller snacks and sides because one can easily assemble a meal.

We’d decided on the burgers early on but I wanted to tastethe bao buns that are listed with the snacks.

The bao buns were served within a relatively short time. The buns are soft and steamed and give that tactile pleasure that only bao buns know how to give. The filling, mostly pulled aubergine with cauliflower fritters and a bit of cabbage, is hearty and the right combination of soft and crunchy. Ours was mysteriously missing the lime reduction. I really don’t think a kitchen should serve a dish with a missing ingredient. This dish would go from a little flat to exciting with its acid component.

No sooner had we finished, our dishes were cleared, cutlery and all, and our burgers served. More could be done to present a visually enticing burger. The mushroom patty is large and stands proud, with a couple of rucola leaves peeping out from beneath it, and dollops of goat’s cheese within a bouncy bun. There’s some vegan sriracha mayo for a mild kick as well.

When assessing a vegetarian burger I compare it to its ilk. My golden standard for a vegetarian burger was the spicy chickpea burger at Grassy Hopper. It’s gone wherever menu items go when they’re replaced by a newer dish but it retains yardstick status in my books.

In any case, I’m not looking for a meat replacement. I’m after a delicious burger with everything the greengrocer could provide. The experience of eating a burger starts with the bite and is contingent on the burger retaining structural integrity. How many times have you started to enjoy a burger only to have it frustratingly fall apart?

This one holds up. There isn’t a lot of sauce so there’s little liquid to break the bun apart. Happily, the patty is moist enough and the goat’s cheese adds the right amount of creamy goodness. I’d have a little more excitement to the flavour, something zesty for a little vigour, but this burger does the trick. At a tenner including a generous side, it’s also priced to compete with the higher end of fast food so it’s a very enticing option.

My side was an enticingly named ‘truffled pomme puree’ but the puree tasted of the stuff you get in catering bags. The sweet potato fries that the better half had ordered with her burger were most likely of the same provenance but they tasted better. She’d gone with the ‘Broccoli Juicy Lucy’ burger, a concoction of broccoli, sweet potato, vegan cheddar, and chutney that tastes almost as sweet as it sounds. I’m not one for such a sweet burger but she said it worked perfectly so if you don’t like it you have her to blame.

The second time round, I popped in for a quick weekday lunch. This time, our man from the first visit was alone and he was ably managing the front of house. He was with me in minutes to bring food and drinks menus, and back to take my order in a very short time, seeing to other patrons in between. He took the time to see if there was anything else I’d needed, asked about whether I’d liked the food, and in general treated me like I was his only customer. I appreciate that.

This time I scoured the list of snacks on the menu. The tacos, with pico de gallo, sweet potato and avocado sounded interesting. Falafel bites served with tzatziki are always lovely to nibble on. I ordered both, assuming the portion size would combine just as nicely.

The tacos are their own and they’re really on point, with that distinctive hint of corn burned at a high temperature. There’s kimchi and coconut for an exotic twist, the sour cream and the pico de gallo dance a merry tango and avocado and sweet potato carry it all home. They are a real pleasure.

Falafel varies so widely that I just take every instance as it comes. This is the middle of the road in falafel terms. There’s the crunch, sesame seed for pops of flavour and a rather restrained seasoning. Tzatziki is of the variety that’s blitzed and strained so you can no longer see cucumber. But let’s not nitpick. This is a perfectly serviceable way to munch falafel for less than a fiver.

Peas and Love brings fresh greens and tacos full of love to a handful of tables next to the university at a price that’s competing with franchised fast food.

There are more vegan dishes on the menu than there are vegetarian and the food’s lovely enough for anyone, regardless of diet choice. I jumped in so early they still had their training wheels on but they’re a very firm reason to give peas a chance.