<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[immellaħ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sincere Reviews, Unforgettable Meals]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:42:31 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.immellah.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Obsession, Not Passion: Inside Rebekah’s Relentless Pursuit of a Star]]></title><description><![CDATA[Date Visited: March 28, 2026 Restaurant: Rebekah's Mellieha Obsession The call came in the morning. Not a reminder email, not a polite text. A call. Chef Patron Andrew Vella on the other end, confirming the booking like it actually mattered who was walking through his door that night. No buffer. No receptionist. Just him, checking, tightening the screws. It brought to mind old footage of Marco Pierre White at Harvey’s, taking reservations like he was deciding who deserved to eat. Not...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/obsession-not-passion-inside-rebekah-s-relentless-pursuit-of-a-star</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d0f9b9072d140cb956ebc3</guid><category><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Gold Standard]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:04:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_6904509f1f9742caa768244aaf3e053c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_945,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Kitchen Held. We Didn’t.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Declaring Intent The line for the Gozo ferry was a slow-moving punishment, coiling up through Għajnsielem like a snake that had no intention of dying anytime soon. Engines idling. Windows down. Sun pressing on the windshield. The kind of queue that makes you reconsider your life choices. We bailed. If we were going to be stuck on the sister island, we’d at least eat properly. In Xagħra, the square was almost unnervingly still, that particular Gozitan quiet that feels less peaceful and more...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/the-kitchen-held-we-didn-t</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69c7cb09d1d6d2cc935a4d32</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 12:40:52 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Discipline Disguised as Comfort]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: Grain Street, Valletta Visited On: February 28, 2026 I’ve always thought Grain Street looked like it took a wrong turn somewhere between Savile Row and Strait Street. From the outside, it doesn’t whisper restaurant. It whispers discretion. Dark navy walls. Clean lines. The faint smell of polished wood and something expensive I can’t quite name, thistlewood, maybe, or just money. You half-expect a man with a tape measure around his neck to size you up before offering you a Negroni....]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/discipline-disguised-as-comfort</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69be670f4d56f917b020dda6</guid><category><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_fb33705c2a0e409d8235447c34959816~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_945,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Quiet Symphony at One80]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: One80 St Christopher Street, Valletta Visited On: March 6, 2026 Early Seating The door opened onto a room that was just waking up. Six in the evening, the official start of service. Early enough that the place still felt spacious, the tables mostly empty, the staff moving with the slow pace that disappears once the orders start piling up. I always aim for that first wave. You see the place more clearly before it fills with people. This was One80 St Christopher Street, one of five...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/a-quiet-symphony-at-one80</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69b52861d1b1d9cdf2158b9b</guid><category><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:35:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_5a223fb1af3a4c7ca9c319cfd213d00c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_709,h_945,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[It Feeds You Until You Surrender]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: Legligin, Valletta Visited on: February 25, 2026 First Stop: A Restaurant I Thought I Knew I hadn’t even taken off my jacket. Cats fed. Shoes still on. A faint smear of red wine on my cuff. I was still riding the warmth, that soft, dangerous afterglow where the room hasn’t quite left your body. My stomach tight. My skin slightly damp. The kind of fullness that borders on regret. And I knew I had to write. Because if I waited until morning, the edges would blur. The Guide would...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/it-feeds-you-until-you-surrender</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69a8209d2ba75494a030e815</guid><category><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 09:06:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_451423036e714d53880d61d990b2f8e5~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_878,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin: 47 Restaurants. 12 Months.]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’m not starting this project for noble reasons. Not for cultural preservation. Not to elevate the national discourse. Not to bow at the altar of fine dining. I’m doing it because I want to eat. Because somewhere between appetite and ego, I decided I want to sit in every single restaurant in Malta listed in the Michelin Guide and find out what that little red book actually means here. There are 48 of them. Or 47 now, depending on how you count the recent casualties. It’s a tidy number. Small...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/chasing-michelin-47-restaurants-12-months</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699df17791604ab56c3249da</guid><category><![CDATA[Chasing Michelin]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 15:13:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_5cb1a03ee5ae4247b81537cdfa5ee1a0~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_780,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[No Boarding Pass Required]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: Agora, Ta' Xbiex Visited on: February 15, 2026 The rain had been battering Ta’ Xbiex for hours by the time we got there. Wind coming off the water hard enough to tilt umbrellas sideways. The promenade slick and shining like a freshly gutted fish. We’d been to Agora before. Quick. Distracted. Polite. This time we came back hungry. The terrace was sealed off in thick plastic sheets that snapped and shuddered every time the wind hit. Inside, though, it was another country. Not...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/no-boarding-pass-required</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69938536884976137daab6ef</guid><category><![CDATA[The Usual]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:14:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_84adc0b0f1664f51bd042c51ae9c1094~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_708,h_944,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Steak Frites in a Parking Lot]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: EAT Food Truck, Pembroke Visited On: February 21, 2026 The Reel That Ruined My Morning It was one of those Maltese mornings that tricks you. Sun blazing like August, wind sharp enough to remind you it’s still winter. I was half-awake, thumb-scrolling through Instagram, when it happened. There it was. A reel from EAT. The sandwich of the weekend. Steak frites. Not the polite kind. Not the tidy bistro version you eat with a knife and pretend you have restraint. This thing looked...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/steak-frites-in-a-parking-lot</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699c31a1f1d815afdb1f797a</guid><category><![CDATA[The Paper Plate]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:06:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_7087097cc92543838dbb28b94a107c17~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_878,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sub-terranean, sub-par]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: Grotto Tavern, Rabat Visited on: February 9, 2026 Instincts Humans have spent thousands of years learning how to sense danger. A rustle in the bushes. A shift in the wind. Something not quite right. I like to think I’ve developed a similar instinct, not for predators, but for restaurants about to disappoint me. For our ancestors, a sudden silence in the forest meant run. For me, it’s a fine dining bar that looks hastily stocked, bottles strewn about like an afterthought. The kind...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/sub-terranean-sub-par</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699435586df156fdbe9f6695</guid><category><![CDATA[The Gold Standard]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:45:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_df6d7912587c4baf88c2f53178144120~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_659,h_878,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stars Are Nice. Standards Are Better.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Restaurant: Adura, Mellieħa Visited on: February 14, 2026 My love story with Adura started with a cancellation, the most unromantic beginning possible. Late August. A Sunday. We had a booking at Bottega Frawli, feeling organised, adult, smug. Then that morning I checked the route and realised we’d booked ourselves straight into the Mgarr festa. Fireworks, marching bands, roads barricaded with plastic chairs and municipal optimism. Parking? Forget it. We cancelled in a mild panic, the kind...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/stars-are-nice-standards-are-better</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699334881154152c3b3a87ae</guid><category><![CDATA[The Gold Standard]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:12:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7ad250_59c49f290df242b79b62563a494eb3d3~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Statement of Intent]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’m not a chef. I’m not trying to be one. I don’t need a jacket, a tasting menu, or a following of people who photograph their forks before they use them. I’m the one paying for the meal. The one sitting at the table. The one tasting without a filter. I’ve worked enough shifts in kitchens and bars to understand what happens behind the swing door. I’ve seen the hierarchy, the shouting, the burns, the quiet competence of the dishwasher who actually keeps the place alive. I know what it costs to...]]></description><link>https://www.immellah.com/post/a-statement-of-intent</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699333136afbe985b7a3552b</guid><pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 15:14:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/nsplsh_ea03b3a19d5c4345ac11def232c64b20~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>matteoaalessandro</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>