Day One Malta: 5/13/22: Flying to Malta; Timing; Covid

Greetings from Malta-

After a simple breakfast in the little park around the corner from the hotel (Cottage Café), where the birds swept in as soon as it was clear we were finished eating, we headed to the Geneva Airport to move on to Malta. While the Swiss are super-efficient, their boarding process for planes never ceases to amaze us—it’s a bit of a free-for-all. We flew to Zurich and then had an hour or so layover for our flight to Malta on Air Malta. Interesting, we needed to show proof of vaccines for the Malta flight and they were very serious about the process. And, after being in the airport for more than an hour without masks and where no one was masked, we needed to be masked on the Air Malta plane. The flight was late to take off and they forced us to check baggage so we were pretty far behind schedule by the time we landed.

Normally wouldn’t care, but we had dinner reservations at Noni and it’s a very tiny restaurant (only 11 tables) and it is booked months in advance. As many of you know, we had planned to come to Malta in December 2020 and then again in December 2021 and both trips were canceled due to Covid. We were supposed to eat at Noni on New Year’s Eve 2021, so when we could finally make this trip we re-booked dinner and were worried that we would never make it. We called to delay the reservation by 90 minutes. We hopped in a taxi at the airport and headed to the hotel (more on that tomorrow). The taxi driver must have been trained for the Indy 500. I think he was going about 100 kph in 60 kph zones; maybe even faster. Anyway, we made it to the hotel… checked in and ran out the door to get to Noni, which was well worth the exhaustion of dashing the ½ mile on the stone streets and steeply graded passageways. 

The town looks great. Lots of life and people (mostly young) filling the narrow cobblestone streets with restaurants and bars spilling onto every possible flat area and even on steps that cascade down the slopes. But we’ll know more tomorrow.

Noni (with its Michelin stars) was wonderful with each dish and all the extra “nibbles” they kept bringing to the table beautifully arranged and utterly fantastic. We decided on the three-course meal rather than the four course or the “tasting menu” that had eight courses. The first set of “nibbles” included a little cup of some kind of soup that was made of cauliflower and vanilla and some green oil; little gems that had some kind of cheese-like quiche with the freshest peas you can imagine (it was about 1” tall and 1” circumference); a little parmesan crisp filigreed to be like a leaf with tiny dabs of a fruit and something else, and a few other dishes that I cannot remember at the moment. For our “starters” Mike selected the risotto with sea urchin and I went with the rare tuna which was a little work of art striated with radish and one other fish. For the main courses, Mike went with the rabbit which was sort of deconstructed and I had the bass which had a crisp skin and totally luscious flesh underneath and it was all sitting in a dashi. For dessert Mike had the apple tart which looked nothing like a tart but was definitely apple and it came with some “milk ice cream.” I had a chocolate thing which I first thought would be a little like a mousse but in the center there was a mixture of caramel, banana, and miso!  I should report that the little restaurant with its 11 tables for two is inside a 250-year old  building, whose interior for the first floor restaurant has been beautifully restored and modernized as a great contrast to the exterior and the structure.

While I thought they would need to roll us out—there appeared little ending nibbles—chocolates, fruit jellies, nougats, and more. Good thing we still had some wine with which to finish it all.

Then we strolled back to the hotel and the streets were still popping at midnight. After we got back to the hotel, I had to go to the reception desk to ask for an extension cord and met the owner who was very surprised we were able to get a reservation at Noni. Deciding that I was some sort of culinary aficionado, he then listed all the best places to eat in Malta. I was pleased and pleasantly surprised that we already had reservations at many of his picks! We rarely do this much pre-planning, but we figured we’d be gone most days exploring the island and it would be good not to have to be figuring out where to eat each night. So we did a little research.

Tomorrow, I’ll fill you in on Malta’s history and politics and what we see. For now, glad we chose this little place which is elegant and right in the center of the oldest section of the city. On Sunday we will rent a car at the airport to be able to explore well beyond this area. There won’t be anywhere to park the car so we are prepared to leave it in some car park each night and walk to the hotel. And we are bracing ourselves for driving British style on the other side of the street, something we haven’t done in years.

Last thing.. they speak Maltese which doesn’t seem to sound like anything I’ve ever hears before. But everyone also speaks English (and Italian and French and lord knows how many other languages). A good line from one of the three waitresses at Noni who told us she had live in the US for two years, and worked in hospitality at Disney in Florida: “I learned while there that I really didn’t see or live in America—I lived in Florida and that was very different!”

Best –

Fern