It is about as far as you can get from anywhere in Malta, but like most other things it all depends on your perspective in life. If you simply look at the distance in kilometres and time, then you will automatically find it tedious and unnecessary. If on the other hand, as the old adage goes, you enjoy the journey, then this will automatically become a great destination, at the end of, about as scenic a drive, as you can ever get in Malta. And since this was only last week, the lovely deep Autumn colours were prevalent all the way, in the form of a bit of greenery, a deep blue sky and even deeper blue sea.
In this particular case however, improbable as this might seem, this specific location was selected because it was the most central and close for myself and a rather eccentric client I was meeting. I live in Burmarrad and he came specially from Gozo and asked me to find something in Malta as far North as possible, so Little Armier was bang in the middle.
I do not believe that many business lunches are held at Baia Beach, but why the hell not. Admittedly my client did ask me if this was a good restaurant, to which I truthfully replied in the affirmative, however while I knew exactly the style and wore short and a tee shirt, he came wearing formal business attire. Being Northern European and having arrived in the Maltese Islands quite recently, he visibly still needs a bit of readjusting to local lore.
So there we were, people running around in bikinis and flip flops, groups frolicking and relaxing, young and not so young couples obviously engaged in unashamed amorous activities, while we conducted our business meeting. But who cares.
The service was, as always so far, impeccable. Service should ideally be the right balance of professionalism, smartness, efficiency and politeness, with friendliness, conviviality and very important – smiles. And this is exactly what we got.
No serious business meeting may ever be conducted without good wine. So we went for a beautifully complex and intense Pouilly Fuisse Terres de Vergisson, which presented intricate flavours of fruit and minerality.
For starters we both had the tuna carpaccio, which was excellent in every respect. This was followed by a fritto misto which was pleasant and fine and a beef tartare which was extremely palatable and perfectly cut. My only suggestion would be to increase on the accompanying capers, spring onions and mustard, which are virtually microscopic in portion.
My biggest disappointment was that as the beef tartare was featured as a starter, I asked for it to be served as a larger portion, having taken it as a main course. Although the server never objected, he came back shortly and informed me that it cannot be changed in size. I have already mentioned this point here before, that unfortunately more and more restaurants refuse to change starter sizes, or those of any other dish, in many cases.
Having been in the trade, I fully understand that this may disrupt, precisely weighed portions, costings, pricing, stock control and other internal issues, and that it can be a nuisance to the operation of an establishment. But so can many other things such as several tables arriving at the same time, large tables ending up much smaller than expected, people turning up late, walk-in clients insisting on the best tables, customers asking for split bills at the end of the meal, the last stranglers staying on for ages sipping their last drink, and so many other frequent issues which are messy and undesirable for the restaurant.
Yet I still find it very rigid and unacceptable that such a basic request cannot be accommodated. There are an infinite number of solutions for such a small problem and certainly with an item such as beef tartare it shouldn’t be an issue to increase its size upon demand. Had it been say a whole fish and someone asked for a bit more, then I understand that the kitchen might be reluctant to serve one and a half fish, but this case was rather ludicrous.
I didn’t make a fuss, I just nodded and accepted, especially in front of my overseas client. We always automatically seem to want to iron out or conceal any inefficiencies we encounter in front of foreigners, as if we were personally responsible for them simply because we are Maltese.
As we were rather full by then, we first decided to skip desserts. But then somehow we changed our minds. However as we were not quite greedy enough to have one each, we shared a portion of delicious Sicilian cannoli between us, in true lover style. Now how’s that for a successful business relationship!
After the coffees we were very graciously offered a drink on the house, another very enjoyable but dying custom, I am afraid. Pricing could be considered slightly on the high side, with the carpaccio priced at €12 and €8 for two portions of chips accompanying our mains which one would normally expect for free. However this establishment is seasonal and will in fact close its doors until next Summer at the end of September, so I suppose a bit of a concession must also be made with this in mind.
Also worth noting it the fact that all dishes are excellently and artistically presented, more so than in so many other places. I always find this an added pleasure in the overall dining experience, especially when it doesn’t affect waiting times in any way.
It was a very pleasant lunch in beautiful surroundings, especially those clad in skimpy bikinis. Not your expected business lunch venue and to be perfectly honest, the whole ambiance did detract a bit from our working ethic and motivation. Much less was discussed and even less decided, than we had expected and intended. We might have to resort to another lunch in the very near future, but next time it will be in somewhere like Valletta, hoping that this time my client doesn’t turn up wearing a speedo!