Alka Restaurant
1/3, Congreve Street, Il-Qrendi
7742 4680

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

Perched on the roof of a typical Maltese townhouse in the charming Wied iż-Żurrieq, I stumbled across this culinary gem, sitting atop one of our favourite restaurants. Climbing the steep staircase to the third floor left me wondering about the accessibility of the rooftop restaurant for those less fortunate than myself.

Viking-sized steak

The first floor boasts a smart dining room and a bar area, with the tables neatly decked in white linen and the warm sun streaming through the windows overlooking the solitary island of Filfla. However, onwards and upwards to the roof terrace where tables are laid out, making the most of the open sea views.

The day we went for lunch was a blustery one, with the wind gusts causing significant annoyance. We asked whether we could eat in the cosy dining area downstairs but, due to the lack of staff and the layout of the restaurant, we were told this was not possible. However, we were promptly mollified by being provided with blankets.

After a cursory glance through the wine list, I picked a Greek white wine that had lots of promise to start off with.   However, it had a somewhat powdery finish. Never mind we can’t get all the wine choices right. Browsing the menu, nothing leaped out immediately so I waited for the maître d’, an extremely helpful lady, to explain the specials.

Suddenly, the menu erupted into an exciting set of options including smoked swordfish and local king prawn wellington, ravioli of dentici, crab roll and some unpronounceable pasta (I believe the correct term is eliche, which are basically giant fusilli) with bottarga.

Needless to say, I wanted to try everything, so after careful negotiation with my co-conspirator, we managed to try all the ones we wanted. Each one was spectacular, I’d like to be able to criticise and I live in the hope of dining at a rubbish restaurant some time soon, if only to vary the complimentary nature of my reviews so far, but Alka is not the place to start.

I’d like to be able to criticise ... but Alka is not the place to start

The bottarga was excellent, I’m always wary of bottarga dishes as most restaurants tend to skimp on the delicious roe. It was not the case here, generous portions of bottarga and a lovely broth soaked the pasta to perfection, such that each morsel was a pleasure to behold. I was soon regretting not having it as a main course!!

Delicious raisin mqaret

My partner went for the dentici ravioli, colourfully striped like the angelfish I used to keep in an aquarium as a child. As with fresh pasta, they needed to be cooked carefully and these may have been slightly undercooked in my opinion but this did nothing to detract from the delicate fish flavours that were carefully balanced with the sauce they were served in.

Often, when I go to restaurants, I seem to prefer the starters to the main courses and sometimes choose three starters rather than a starter and a main. I find this exposes me to a broader range of the kitchen’s talents.

On this occasion, I was happy we chose the main courses; I chose a succulent piece of beef, whereas my partner-in-dine went for the swordfish wellington. The beef was cooked superbly, that chargrilled flavour shining through with just the right shade of pink on the inside, with a wonderfully-smoked bone marrow. It was coupled with several green and red things that I politely pushed to the side of the plate. This was a Viking-sized slab of meat – ‘no country for old vegetables’.

Smoked swordfish and prawn wellington

The swordfish and prawn wellington came neatly packaged in a shortcrust pastry parcel, producing an exquisite combination of textures. The creamy, fishy, crabby sauce complemented the light, fluffy, crispy pastry to perfection.

Cast your mind back to those terrible vol-au-vents filled with creamy things you were given at Holy Communion and Confirmation parties and now think of what they would actually taste like if people put in the effort to get the filling and pastry combination right! Such was the delight of this fish wellington. Onto the desserts…

If you have been following this column, you may have noticed that imqaret feature frequently as they seem to be offered by many a restaurant. Alka’s take on these traditional Maltese sweets featured raisins rather than dates. I am not a big fan of messing with traditional, well-tested recipes but the taste of the raisins coupled with the ice cream and the pastry worked very well.

I’m not sure I’m ready to give up on the original recipe of imqaret, especially those I remember being sold just outside City Gate in Valletta, but I could imagine returning to Alka and ordering these again.

The bill was accompanied by a generous offer of the usual digestivi and was very reasonable given the feast we had just consumed. So impressed was I with Alka that we booked to return the following month.