tucked away towards the east of valletta’s republic street, a good stretch after the big bustle of tourists has ebbed down, sits noni, one of the youngest additions to the city’s culinary scene. its second, lower floor hidden in the depths of the rock malta’s capital was built on, the restaurant is keeping things deliberately low-key – until it comes to the small, yet well-defined menu that’s firing on all cylinders.

chef jonathan brincat, who for many years has been riding top positions across the globe as well as in his home of malta, is working with maltese classics like rabbit meat or ħobż biż-żejt (a plain “bread and oil” dish) and “putting a spin” on them, as he calls it. in fact, he allows them to spiral softly out of control, the ħobż being thoroughly deconstructed, the rabbit coming as a double of confit and fried ball – a certain bet for crowning the menu should the noni ever launch a separate bar / bistro venue. until then, we’ll gladly return to their flagship…

on a side note: as maltese portions traditionally are rather voluminous, we asked for small servings. therefore, in order to avoid confusion and misrepresentation, we are using noni’s own food photography for the remainder of this production…