This restaurant is in Paceville, St. Julians and therefore in the middle of it all if you’re in that part of town. In spite of popular belief there is many an aspiring restaurant in Paceville and this is certainly one of them.

This was our first time at Chapter One and having heard quite a lot about it, I must admit that we had fairly high expectations. I always find that this puts an establishment in quite a tough spot as one’s anticipation will automatically be much higher and pretty hard to satisfy, when compared to a blind choice when no particular expectation is expected to be met.

When I booked over the phone my reservation was handled with an extremely well mannered and professional response, which was again a telltale sign of a top eatery. Upon arrival we were immediately ushered
in and shown to our table. As we were subjected to very loud music, something I must admit I really cannot tolerate in spite of it being so common in many local restaurants, this was very quickly lowered without any hesitation, much to our relief.

Throughout the evening the service was totally efficient, extremely attentive and very keen – even enthusiastic, with loads of info being dealt out to us in reply to any of our questions. The restaurant itself is rather bare and austere and the tables on the smallish side, but we settled in to have a good meal and had many a banter with the knowledgeable and dedicated young maitre d’.

So we decided on a carpaccio of wild fish with marinated red prawns and fennel and a carpaccio of steamed beetroot with grilled goat cheese, walnut, mustard and honey. Both were very well presented and turned out
to be as pleasing to the eye as they were to the palate. The beetroot carpaccio particularly was a delicious combination of many both subtle and bold flavours which all married perfectly in this original dish.

For mains we had steamed Angus beef cheeks in its own jus and scallops in beetroot gelée. The scallops was one of the daily specials on offer as a starter, which they graciously agreed to transform into a larger main
sized portion for us, once again indicating their perfectly accommodating nature. We find that more and more restaurants refuse to do this and we are often told that they only serve starter portions with the only other option
being to order two!

The scallops were refreshing and delicate with an interesting mix of flavours. The beef cheeks were cooked to perfection and very easily eaten with fork alone and no knife necessary. I personally would have enjoyed a
slightly tastier sauce with this dish and found the one served slightly bland. The beef was served with roast potatoes which were unremarkable but adequate.

I had a home made chocolate brownie for desert which was exceedingly decadent and divine and yet another powerful kick to my increasing diabetes smile emoticon

With our coffees we asked for calvados and were served with a simply exquisite Daron X.O. Without making an issue out of it, I feel however that the maitre d’ should have pointed this out to us when we ordered. We were charged € 16 for the calvados and although I believe that this was amply justified by its quality, we did not request, neither were we informed that a premium brand would be served. We were also graciously offered seconds on the house, which also alleviated further this omission, which I confidently feel was purely a genuine oversight on his side. In general however, I think that whenever requesting any form of generic wine or spirit, premium brands should not be automatically served and charged for without previous discussion with the customer.

The total price including a Cote du Rhone Boussargues priced at € 16.50, amounted to € 123.00. I would tend to say that this was perhaps slightly on the high side, but then again the calvados made a significant contribution towards this.

To sum it all up I would say don’t go there for the stunning scenery or ambiance, but if you are in town and fancy a delicately prepared dish, original and creative fare, complimented by extremely attentive service, then this would be a good choice to make.