“This is a simple dish. But I think it’s one of our trademarks. And also… it’s delicious.”
Delicious is an understatement when it comes to the outpour of creativity from the Tartarun kitchen. Chef James Schiavone is humble. His goal is to give his diners an experience of excellence through Malta’s finest seafood.
While elaborate techniques and top-tier ingredients feature in the majority of his menu items; the buttermilk fried sea bream with buffalo sauce, as humble as it may be, is the most accurate choice for Tartarun’s Entry No. 1 into The bajtra Catalogue.
The Story
Amidst the fierce restrictions implied by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chef Schiavone found himself in an empty restaurant - a new venture in Kalkara’s Smart City that boasted a delicious fried chicken. Like many other restaurants in this surreal time, Wejla closed its doors in 2020, but the down time spent in this kitchen did however allow for Chef Schiavone to experiment.
Wejla’s dedication to that perfect buttermilk fried chicken paired with a generational love for the produce from Malta’s sea brought together a marriage of technique, flavour, adaptability and a return to roots; personified through Tartarun’s two-per portion, iconic opener.
This snack strives for consistency and accuracy with every order. This standardised menu item uses farmed seabream that delivers the right textures; elevated through a buttermilk marination process. Chef Schiavone allows the fresh fish to dry overnight, it is then filleted and pinboned before it is marinated in buttermilk for another 24 hours.
The seabream, enhanced in tanginess and softened in texture, is removed from the buttermilk and coated in a flour mix tailored to heightened crisp-texture. It is deep fried until golden brown; little pockets offering a faint teasing of the toffee-textured skin left on the fish. It rests and braces itself for the buffalo sauce to stick to every nook and cranny.
Buffalo sauce and fried chicken are a match made in heaven. The switch to seabream takes it to a whole new elevated level. A standard sauce of butter, sriracha, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar comes together in an immersion blender for added consistency in results, flavour extraction and texture.
As the buffalo sauce settles onto the fried fish, a quick garnish of classic egg mayo, spinach mayo and squid ink mayo is iconically swayed onto the pair of fried breams in the portion; served on the signature Tartarun wax paper.
Chef James Schaivone’s 1st entry into The bajtra Catalogue is buttermilk fried sea bream with buffalo sauce.
Tasting Notes
One of the major reasons why this dish is a signature and valued entry into The bajtra Catalogue is the consistency of the product. The seabream itself does not carry a profoundly marine flavour; it’s mild, it’s delicate and it’s extremely versatile. It also carries flavours exceptionally well, allowing bolder, more vibrant flavours a great springboard for appreciation. The bolder flavours here are mostly carried through the buffalo sauce which is velvety, smooth and rich - decadent in every way; primarily in the hold it has on the outer shell of the fried bream. A stickiness develops in the two-to-three bite passage from fingertips to the edge of your lips; bringing a tactile energy to the menu item.
The buffalo sauce tastes of a garlic, chilli and ginger infused butter, which essentially is what you should expect from a sriracha-based sauce. The slight heat numbed with the tangy buttermilk lifting from the core of the seabream indebted to the 24hr marinade and the wisps of Pollock-style mayo signing off the dish. But the magic of this dish is mostly noted through its texture; primarily the toffee-like layer created through the skin-on fry for chew, dimension and an incredibly oily nuttiness.
