Fernandõ Gastrotheque — Restaurant in Sliema

This experience was disappointing during my holidays in Malta, so I feel the need to express my sentiment and review. I've been to one star Michelin restaurants in NYC, LA, and Miami. So when I saw this restaurant in the Michelin Guide I was very excited to dine and have my first Michelin European experience.

We did the a la carte menu on a Thursday evening. The canapés and the sweet potato scarpinoce was delicious, the dessert goat cheesecake was okay and the dessert cookie and doughnut had just the right amount of sweetness.

The main issue, and the reason I am writing this review is for the main course. In our party, two of us ordered the quail and the other the local fish. Apart from the dish fish having a piece of hair, (it looked like a short beard hair?) which as soon as the waiter set the plate down, he had to pick it right back up because we noticed it instantaneously. The two stars for the food category are not for the hair however, because that was not my dish and I did not try it- the two stars are for the quail dish. It was seriously unappetizing. The presentation looked like a parody of what fine dining is and the taste of the quail, did not redeem the appearance of the dish. It just tasted like bland, iron-like meat. The skin wasn't crispy just chewy. Two nubs of dates and two slices of turnip accompanied the plate, and foie gras gravy was holding for dear life trying to save the taste of the dish. Literally, neither one of us who ordered the quail, could even finish it. The female server noticed and asked us if we would like to have another main, but we politely declined, because at that point we weren't hungry anymore for a main dish. The server insisted on their cheese course and we obliged, it was comped and that was kind of her. They also gave us a comped digestif to end our meal due to the strand of hair on the fish. I'll give the service 3 stars because despite the troubles the staff was still kind, however a few seemed fumbly and inexperienced (didn't wipe bread crumbs until 3 courses later, I asked a help on making choice of what to order-he literally said "it just depends if you want meat or fish..." And i'm like-ok? Obviously? Meat and fish are my only two options on the menu. To be honest, we had 3 different servers throughout the night, so it doesn't apply to the blonde female serving us. Furthermore, we noticed some tables receiving more descriptive details on their courses rather than us, we had to ask clarification for some plates.

The atmosphere was nice, downstairs is more aesthetically pleasing than upstairs, but I personally enjoyed their music playlist and the decor of the restaurant.

I'm not sure if this is how Michelin restaurants are in Europe compared to the states, but since I now live in Italy- i'll make sure to try another place out and compare my experiences before I come to a verdict.

Overall, I wouldn't go back and I wouldn't recommend. Apparently there are 6 Michelin one star restaurants in Malta, so if fine dining is what you want to experience luckily you will have other options to...

Expected an excellent dinner out at the Michelin star restaurant during our holiday, took my 12 y.o. kid as well to introduce her fine dining. First of all - sommelier has appeared to recommend the wine. Well, good start, asked about our preferences, no wine list was offered though, came back with just 3 bottles of French red, no budget suggestion. Ok, didn’t mind to pay for the good one. But few minutes after the choice was made he came back to let us know that the price for the bottle we’ve chosen was increased by 25%. Never happened to me in any restaurants before. Also every time the wine was being poured into the glasses the bottle was taking away from the table to the bar (?) while the bottle of wine ordered by next table was left on that table. Anyway, the wine was very good as well as food followed by. But what I noticed that we haven’t finished the bottle before our empty glasses were taking away. I thought maybe I was wrong but my friend who was with me confirmed my suspicion and she was surprised as well that the sommelier hasn’t poured the rest of the wine during his last approach as the amount left in the bottle was quite small to leave. That fact was mentioned to the staff member, the sommelier turned out very quickly to tell us in a very protective manner that our bottle is empty, we have finished it and assured that the staff don’t finish customers drinks. Very unprofessional, total disappointment, haven’t left tips for the first...

If I were to redo it, I'd go for the cheese board and the wine rather the dinner. The wine part is really fun (the presentation and the variety are unbeatable), and you can never go wrong with cheese.

But as it were, we went for dinner. It was... eh. Nice presentation but definitely not enough food. I was checking the fridge at home after having 3 courses, starter-mains-dessert. That shouldn't happen, even after a "small plates" kind of restaurant.

Let's say that sometimes you pay for the atmosphere. It was not great either. We went there at 6pm on a Wednesday, and downstairs was empty. It looked so cozy, exclusive and romantic! That feeling didn't last. Although the place was empty, we were directed to sit in the worst location, by the stairs. There was a private party upstairs and people kept passing by our table to go up and down, stomping their shoe dust over our food, and talking right by us without masks.

The restaurant remained empty, with just 2 other couples arriving downstairs as we were having dessert. We could have enjoyed our evening without the constant traffic and the shoe dust and breath microparticles. It was 170 EUR but it really felt like dinner in a train station restaurant.

Go for the wine (it's worth it) and maybe call ahead and ask for a table on the side of the window, those are...