20.4.06

muscat's pastizzeria

anyone who remembers his junior college days
or like me my higher secondary days mostly spent at white arrow
or else people walking down from the hospital having visited some sick relative
or else returning home after a wasted morning and early afternoon
waiting in the outpatients ward at st' luke's
must have at some point taken their taste
at muscat's pastizzeria's
glorious pizza

having to catch the bus home from university
i usually walk down to msida to catch it from there
the walk is downhill
plus the buses pass even more frequently
but more importantly
a corner away from the msida marina old people's home
whose steps serve as seats for people waiting on the bus stop

you find muscat's
with one of the best fast food pizza recipes on the island
their pizza must be a singularity

the crust is on the sweet and bready side
the sauce they use is a simple tomato base one
but with very distinguishable tomato parts
and i think that their cheese is a white melted mozzarella
it sometimes also feels like there is a hint of cheddar but i can never tell

from the countless times i ve tasted this pastry food
i think i can safely say that their secret lies
in the oven they use
theirs is a bread baker's oven
it might be a wood burning one
but it is definetely the heat emanating from the brick and the steel dishes that have for maybe the past 20 years or something been in constant use

the pizza is slightly different
every time you go
since it depends at which stage of the pizza cycle you have purchased it
if it is just after its birth out of the iron vault oven
then the pizza will be quite hot and fragile aswell
infact care has to be taken
when this is the case
as since the pastry is still fresh and hot
the paper bag will not allow enough insulation for you to hold it firm till the pizza is a bit cooler for you to eat
if you hold it from the top part of the paper bag sleeve
the pizza will take the shape of a valley and the cheese will many times drip down into the middle of the pizza
or if you re further careless
it will drop back to the bottom of the paper bag

the other stage is the just right stage
this is when the pizza has been taken out and left
under the heat lamp for sometime and thus has continued to cook to the just right level
of course always in my opinion

the other stage is when you arrive at a less busy time of the day and get a pizza which has been lying under the heat lamp for about 40 mins
this results in a bit of a drier pizza with a crisper cheese

the stages other than the just right ones
are not bad at all mind you
and infact they compliment to the eating experience as everytime it is a good muscat's pizza
but with a different stage in the cycle

their ovens cook at extreme heat
probably you can fit a big fridge and freezer into that oven
and once i went just as they ran out off pizzas and it took the baker about 5 miutes to put them in and take them out ready for sale

there are three people i always see there
a middle aged bald headed guy with a moustache
that almost always asks me if i want anything else apart from the pizza
this is probably so that he would not have to deal with undecided customers who send him back for something else
he also occasionally asks you if you want a drink
but it is quite rare

then there is another guy
not completely bald but is borrowing
as we say
hair by letting his side hair grow longer so that he can comb it on to the bald part
this guy always wears these enormous blackish sunglasses
probably bought in 1978
and are lately getting to be less eccentric since
massive shades
that make his look like spectacles
are in fashion
back, but with a vengeance

these two are shortish square shaped and stockish
and always work as caterer-sellers and cashiers
then there is a thinner slightly taller guy
with more hair than the other two that kneads and bakes the pastries
he s usually in mid discussion with one of the two baldy guys
on something or another whilst he kneads away

13 comments:

G G said...

thanks for your
encouragment man
much appreciated

Kenneth said...

So many memories of 2003-2005 :)

G G said...

welcome kenneth
where do you find yourself now?
i guess i ll follow th link

Kenneth said...

I have to make do with the pizza at the Uni canteen. Or rather, I'm not eating that junk anymore as I'm getting fat, hehe.

Great blog you have here, awguri :)

G G said...

actually the canteen pizza
is good when it is fresh and warm
when it is warm but a bit older its not so good
which is actually a very good test for any pizza
if its good when it starts to get colder or old then its a definite must have whenits fresh and warm
here i m talking about the round pizzas
the square ones suck ass
however back in first year
one day i bought one of the square ones and for some reason i proceded to squirt mayonnaise on this
and it was very very good
i know it sounds disgusting or stupid
but it was
however i had tried it again one time and it didnt work again

Erezija said...

keep this conversation going. your icons complement each other very nicely.

G G said...

what do you mean by the icon comment?

dwardu said...

Għażiż Glen, aħfirli jekk se nkun ksur is-sorm… imma “mimlija” b’j waħda tinkteb… sakemm mhux apposta, f’liema każ niskuża ruħi d-doppju.

G G said...

ghaziz dwardu
grazzi tal kritika
pero...

il j zejda hija zball
li xi hadd indenja jghidli li ghamiltu xi 9 xhur ilu

u il persuna li qaltli kien il boss prezenti tighi waqt job interview

hehe

jien merejtu gahx ghedt kif hadd qatt ma qalli bl izball...
ovvjament waqajt waqa ghan nejk kbira

u issa inhallih hemm ataparsi ghaltapposta!

nispera li irrispondejt il queries tieghak

dwardu said...

Ħe ħe ħe :)

Neville Calleja said...

Alas the 'borrowing' guy has now retired and sold it on. Nonetheless, it is still as popular and the menu has diversified as well, whilst retaining the old staples.

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