3.8.09

Glen's Top 100 Food Experiences

this will exist in a process of flux, revision and update

the number one food item at the bottom of the list is the one food item i would choose if i was held at gunpoint and asked to pick just one favorite

second place goes to another food item which if i was held at gunpoint i would put as a second place and so on up to the hundredth mark

i tried to put the items in their order of preference as much as possible
but of course a lot of the work was instinctive

a lot will be revised eventually

feel free to fire away with all your qualms and disagreements

the countdown starts here

100 Chewing on broken pieces of cinnamon stick

99 Bebbux (snails) in broth or in stew

98 Master's milkshake with cold milk, flavours: strawberry, sensation, and banana.

97 Frutie Blue Ice Lolly

96 Ftira fresh from the baker, spread with butter and processed sliced cheese that melts from the residual heat of the baker's oven

95 Eggs benedict with a perfect poached egg

94 Tomato jam as eaten in barcelona

93 Corned beef and squeezed lemon on maltese bread wih kunserva and olive oil, eaten in a field under the hot sun during the 10 o clock tea break on a grape picking August day followed with some tea from Nanna's Thermos consumed with family members this meal is at its simplest and poorest but is of great nostalgic importance to me.

92 Mixed bean salad, with garlic etc a la George Mateljan from whfoods.com

91 Cappellini with butter and powdered pepper (Tarja)

90 Cold orzata (almond drink) on a hot summer's day from a valetta stall

89 Fresh lampuki coated in flour and fried, sprinkled with lemon juice and olive oil

88 Margo's smoked Amalfi Sausage

87 French Onion Soup with toasted Gruyere on a large floating crouton on top

86 Carribean Goat Curry

85 Kimchee (a korean cabbage spicy pickle) with warm steamed rice. A true acquired taste. This thing is foul tasting to the unitiated.

84 Pumpkin and Orange Soup

83 Fried chicken with maple syrup. (Or as i experienced it Canteen Japanese Karage with Maple Syrup from Quebec as suggested by a French Canadian friend.)

82 Soggy Corn Flakes, after they are left to sit for a few minutes in lukewarm milk

81 Crepe with crushed biscuits, MnMs and nutella, yes i am a a pig!

80 King prawns esp. crushing their heads under my teeth and sucking the goodness

79 Cinnamon Grahams, and Golden Grahams with milk.

78 Stilton with cranberries

77 Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese

76 Cold latte di mandorla

75 Skittles

74 Wild Boar Ham

73 Frozen black grapes (esp Merlot as those
are the one i have most access to, eaten frozen)

72 Kukicha green tea, after a meal

71 Kwarezimal from Martin il-Furnar San
gwann, they get them from someone else but they're the best kwarezimal i've ever tasted, no real sacrifice if you're eating this. 2nd best so far is Sapori Siciliani's

70 Two or Three McDonalds Burgers (plain) eaten consecutively. I feel all you anti-McDonalds boycotters stirring in your chairs. This is the burger that made McDonalds the Empire that it is today, i love this recipe, soft small bun, pickle in the middle .... I eat three, i buy no fries, no coke, and savour them one after the other knowing that if there is a food-Hell i m going to it for sure.

69 Pumpkin and Sage soup

68 A good earl grey

67 The whole ordeal of smuggling up Ftajjar biz-zejt on Ryan Air flights (or other low cost airlines where food isn't served). For me and for those traveling with me, prepared from fresh bread with a good mix of fresh herbs, kunserva, feta cheese, tuna, onions...in other words fragrant as fuck. This is awesome because you get the other passengers and the flight crew jealous, especially once that smell hits the air and stays there for quite a while.

66 Grill closed toast, made from Maltese bread with a filling of olives, onions and cheddar, then buttered from the outside.

65 Apple Pie a la Mode with Ice cream on top, this depends on the greatness of the pie and it usually is better if the ice cream is an unusual flavour eg. Creme caramel/Whiskey

64 A good Zeppolla, deep fried chou pastry filled with a ricotta cream and drizzled with honey. I d suggest Sapori Siciliani, San Gwann.

63 Toasted maltese bread with kerrygold butter

62 Sliced fresh peaches in a lettuce based salad

61 Baba Ganoush

60 Emperor of India' s, (St. Julians) chicken korma

59 Muscat Pastizzeria's plain pizza

58 Home made summer iced drink made from pressed prickly pear juice, kukicha green tea and lime.

57 Pizza Marinara after snorkeling and free diving. That's when my taste buds have been marinating in sea water for a good hour, and i m semi-high on deep breathing and excercise-endorphins. Prepared with decent seafood ingredients and WITH mozzarella, no matter what the rest of the world advise and say, i will send the motherfucking cheese-less pizza back if i get no mozzarella on it, no matter what your scrupulous pizzaiolo thinks!

56 Leftover refrigerated Minestra, eaten chilled esp. for breakfast in summer. Dont ask just try it if you're curious.

55 Skittles, Sour (green packet

54 A good old commercially bought, red
frankfurter. Don't know why but they're good.

53 Pumpkin and bacon soup

52 Cool black grapes snatched from a vine in the early morning before harvest, and eaten by direct biting into the bunch as if it was some chicken drumstick or something. What's special about this is that it beats any breakfast.Though it is summer and even the morning is warm, the grapes have endured the coldness of the night and are watery clean from the night's dew. That coupled with the knowledge that the rest of the day is going to be a load of hard-ass, sun-toiling, grape-picking hell makesthat very first cold bunch a special one.

51 Sliced Lamb Heart, shallow fried, then cooked in a quick reduction of Nero d'Avola

50 Nanna's Arioli recipe

49 Lobster liver

48 Victorian Date, Banana and Whiskey Chutney

47 Fire roasted sweet-potato, wrapped in foil, buttered

46 Extra virgin olive oil, locally pressed bought or somehow begotten from local farmers, so rich it verges on the pungent

45 Rabbit and Leek Pie, as eaten in some pub in Lewes

44 Suckling Pig, spit-roasted over Vine Twig cuttings for many hours.

43 Kinder Cereali (and an equal standing to Bueno and those fingers with the kid on the front)

42 Chocolate cheesecake made with Bourbon or Ovaltine biscuit base)

41 Nesquik Wafer... ahh that milky interior.

40 Belgian chocolate and orange cake as served at Xlukkajr (rest of the meal was unimpressive at most but this item was beautiful)

39 Lavender Ice cream

38 Fiorino d Oro's original owners' Cozze Pepate, (peppered mussels)

37 Maria Bonnici's Figolla, the plainest and simplest figolla i have ever seen, whenit comes to decor, some years have passed since i tasted that and i am sure its the best one i've tasted ever.

36 Fresh Figs wrapped in bacon and cooked slightly

35 Lamb back strap, cured with salt and pepper and roasted medium rare.

34 Coffee sweet gateaux

33 Macha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

32 Chicken Liver reduced in pomegranate sauce as made by Hani of Ali Baba fame.

31 Boiled Maltese Sausage or grilled

30 Good Miso soup used to wash down steamed Japanese rice

29 Averna on ice

28 Toasted bread (french loaf slice) with butter, ham and cheese, accompanied with English breakfast tea (Lion tea, Te tal-iljun) one sugar and with canned evaporated milk), with the occasional dipping. Usually this, I will do at Xufi's Mosta or Titu's San Gwann. I get a lot of stares when i do this.I hate you fuckin food snobs whatever social strata you come from!

27 Ravioli with butter and sage

26 Margo's Smoked Pancetta Whole-Meal
Sourdough Pizza as of March 2010

25 Fried or stewed rabbit, the best so far is between Sunny's in Mgarr, Gambin in Fleur de Lys (Kazin PN) or Ta' Fotti, Rabat(Bar is called Golded Lion)

24 University's and Tattinger's Sandro's Hot dogs, nobody nails a hot dog like Sandro, i don't know where he can be found nowadays. Disclaimer: i dont go to tattingers to party, though if im close to the area i check if Sandro is around

23 Raw peach parfait, made with raw almonds, pecans, and peaches

22 Hobz biz-zejt after a swim eaten by the sea, under the hot sun, with fresh tomatoes and herbs, rock salt and other stuff.

21 Refrigerated Maltese honeycomb soaked in the oozing golden goo. Found by surprise at my grandparent's fridge, the stuff was from an uncle's beehive.

20 A fresh raw oyster with a squeeze of lemon eaten as breakfast

19 Rizzi (sea urchin) with pasta.(on equal standing with Uni Sushi (sea urchin sushi))

18 Gbejna friska with rock salt and fresh basil

17 Heston Blumenthal's Caviar on White Chocolate

16 Venison burger with cranberry sauce

15 Portobello mushroom cross-sectioned, briefly fried in olive oil and butter on its head then topped with a light Gorgonzola sauce, sandwiched with its top and oven-ed for several minutes.

14 Wood barbequed Gurbell(Meagre), with fresh peach pulp sauce

13 Cold kinnie on a hot summer day

12 Lindt's 99% excellence pure chocolate

11 Maxibon ice cream sandwich (du gust is meglio che one) but i m not too fond of the stracciatella part the other part is what put this item at number 11

10 Fork-Mashed Strawberries doused with evaporated milk, and a sprinkling of hand-crushed salty crackers. This is not only a nostalgic quick snack my Nanna used to make for me as a kid so it brings back fond memories, but also my first concious encounter of sweetness and saltiness put together in one food.

9 Sapori Siciliana's (San Gwann) Maltese blackberry granita (made from real fruit)

8 Algida Cucciolone Prezzemolo Ice cream sandwich of malt biscuit with 3 adjacent layers of Vanilla, chocolate and Zabaione(a cream made from eggs, sugar and wine)

7 Fiorentina T-bone steak, eaten Fiorino d' Oro a couple years ago

6 Xmas Roast Turkey Breast stuffed as a roll with a filling of Rabbit Liver (battered in flour and ground cumin, fried in butter) and Roasted Pecans. The roll is roasted and basted in a blood orange sauce and spring onions for several hours.The one creation i truly impressed myself with (along with a dozen other diners i hope)

5 Cordial's (Cyrille's, Valletta) Argentinian Angus Fillet, cooked a la Tournedos Rossini (foie gras on top big crouton on the bottom swimming in foie gras sauce), at least the one i ate in November of 2008, the one i ate a year later was not as great somehow or another.

4 A summer's first sweet-cold, blood-red watermelon after a winter of abstinence.

3 Iberico Ham, i dont know exatly what the name was but i ate it at a great restaurant called Sta. Catarina in Barcelona.

2 Sweet Maltese summer peaches esp. cold, the thinly haired ones as big as your fist

1 Frozen Nutella Packets, i don't know where i got this idea from but i was about 11 years old and it was my first creative breakthrough. Not saying i invented this, but it must be my favorite thing ever.



this compilation of items has been going on for several months
adding bits as i go
it is 1:15 in the morning on a thursday night and i have work in a few hours
it feels like i put myself through a foodie-exorcism