I'm in Love!

I think it happened to me! I just have to share this one with all of you. Last weekend we went out and intended to go to a new place called Il-Kastell in Tarxien. But somehow it was impossible to book since noone answered the phone (if anyone knows the place, please forward their number to me). So our friends decided to take us to one of their best well-kept secrets, Giuseppi's, a small restaurant/ wine bar in Mellieha. To tell you the truth, I was a bit dissapointed because I was looking forward all week to check out that place in Tarxien. Hehe, although our friends were raving about this place, I just didn't know what was expecting me!
But there it was: quite low profile, a corner house painted in red. The funny thing is, I never noticed it until I was told it's very close to the HSBC bank. In retrospect, the building's facade is quite lovely but since we were already late, as in true Maltese fashion, I didn't even have time to fully appreciate it.

The first thing I noticed upon entering was the cozyness of the place, which I always find very important. We waited a bit on the bar before we were seated downstairs, which makes up a small room with only three tables! Somehow, I felt very comfortable, though. I also loved the fact that the staff is very personal and probably this is due to being a family run business with lots of repeat visitors.

Well, I always write about wine bars and I haven't even mentioned yet what kind of wine we'd recommend. As I said before, I am not an expert on the subject and I rely heavely on the judgement of our good friend Mark. At least I made a try to memorize the names of the wines. This time we had two different white wines, a Chardonnay from South Australia called Yalumba and a Chardonnay from Chile called Casillero del Diablo (what a nice name, to think about it!).

What really made me fall in love though, was the FOOD! OMG, it is so delicious!!!! As a starter, I had an aubergine with parma ham, rock salad and topped with parmesan and pesto. I nearly died eating it... I was yearning for so much more! I could only console myself because I knew I had another 2 courses coming.
The guys had some weird fish thing, but they said it was very good. Anyway, my main course was very thinly sliced beef in olive oil and rock salad... WOW!!!! Everything tasted to original and fresh and I just love how they blend food and herbs. The only dissapointment you will find is if you are vegetarian. There isn't a huge choice between the risotto and risotto. But you can always order a dish without some ingredients. On the other hand, this place's speciality is on sea food.

For my final highlight, I ordered a lemon cheese cake. The waitress said it is one of their famous desserts... well if that's not reason enough to try it out!
I expected a normal cheese cake but this wasn't the case. It was more like an ice cream in disguise of a cheese cake! The base was so good...

At the end of the evening, I took the freedom to roam around the place. Upstairs encompasses two other rooms and is a bit spacier than downstairs. It also runs on the same decoration theme.

All in all, we had a great night out. I am still dreaming about the food at Guiseppi's and I can't wait to go back there... it is that good! Highly recommended, but be carefull, you might fall in love!