The Golden Fork's girl boss magic 💅

Starting this is hard. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because there’s too much to say. Chef Letizia Vella’s The Golden Fork has always been a comfort for me. Comforting in the sense that I can trust that whoever I bring to this table will feel something special. I always do. 

My first The Golden Fork visit was in Attard, a few months after Chef Vella opened the doors. I visited on a review with the Definitive(ly) Good Guide, so my critical hat was on. A quaint staircase leading to a small dining room with an even smaller traditional balcony looking over the small pjazzetta. From my seat I could see the kitchen and I still remember the first glance Chef threw my way; my eyes hopefully communicating, “no pressure, Chef, just do you”, and I waited. 

My then go-to-glass of Sancerre swirled as the signature amuse bouche immediately captured my attention. Till today, Chef Letizia’s snacks from the kitchen entertain me in the most encouraging way, the cigar gives me memories of being a kid and pretending to smoke chocolate decoys like the grown ups – and I feel that trip down memory lane with many of her dishes. Then there are other impressions that simply elevate the experience, like the foie gras macarons.

The concept of The Golden Fork is inspired by Chef’s childhood memories while growing up in Malta, so a lot of the flavours, accents and playful takes directly connect with locals’ nostalgia. My experience with Maltese food was quite late in my life. I am Maltese, I have lived here all my life, but the cuisine was not the norm in my family. 

When I ate meat, my mother prepared things like imqarrun il-forn (which I ate whole hearthedly) and the occasional braġoli (which I never quite understood) but in my early 20s, after my break away from plant-based foods, I was introduced to Maltese cuisine. My wife’s grandmother always poured her heart into the dishes she made, and it was in her kitchen that I first tried pulpetti tal-corned beef (adore them), stuffat tal-majjal (abhor this) and kusksu. 

Holy, moly, kusksu. What a magical dish. It’s a pasta dish disguised as a soup, pretending to be a conscious choice of healthy eating, but truly it’s a heavy, delicious dish that was created for comfort. Where was kusksu all my life? But now that I knew kusksu, understood the creaminess of the egg yolk, the very special poached ġbejna, the pearls of pasta and the rich broth — I could understand interpretations of it. 

You all know where this is going, because you all watched MasterChef Malta Season 1 and, if anything like me, you watched Chef Letizia work her Kusksu dish with hawk eyes, and relished the judging of the participants as her dish was reinterpreted as a Signature on a worldwide franchise. These moments energise me to do more in this industry. 

But the Kusksu is not the only dish that captures my attention. I ordered this dish in Attard, and twice more in Rabat. I’ve also enjoyed the iconic puffed-rice octopus dish, the almost-creepy-but-definitely-delicious-dish featuring a quail heart, along with the rest of the quail as well as a particular element of a dish that keeps me up at night – the Prawn Cracker. 

An early version of The Prawn Cracker.

Uwejja! It’s too good. Vacuum pack that shit and deliver it by the box-load to EVERYONE! Mandatory! 

It’s crisp, but then there’s a slight chew. It’s savoury but has an inherent sweetness from the prawn. It’s light and never oily, and get this… it’s not even meant to be the star of the dish. The dishes on Chef’s Tasting Menu are inspired by an ingredient, led by the kitchen’s creative direction of the day, so you never quite know exactly what you’re getting, you just know it’s going to feature ‘prawn’, for example, and be exceptionally delicious.  

Food is so important to me. But character is also important, maybe slightly more so. Character fuels flavour and as Chef Letizia grows in this industry, she’s showing her chops to the world with accolades that any Chef would be proud of. She’s also a girl boss so I am biased and that’s OK, because representation matters and I am always unapologetically a girl power cheerleader 🎉

In all honesty, I would say that The Golden Fork is one of the restaurants I’ve frequented the most, it’s a quick and quiet walk to my hometown’s centre and I’m always surprised and excited to visit. Both for the new interpretation of the Tasting Menu and the friendly chats over the immaculately lit kitchen pass — aka the threshold between Chef and diner. 

Chef Letizia Vella made me understand Maltese food in an entirely new way. A late comer to the scene, I was unaware of our local flavours, but learning them in a grandmother’s kitchen and then experiencing them in an elevated professional setting — my heart skips a beat just thinking about this. So grateful.