Tasty tapas with a Maltese slant comes highly recommended

Gustoso

11 Queen Victoria House,

Victoria Road,

Old Town, SN1 3BG

Tel: 01793 978342

THURSDAY is the new Friday, or so I’m told by those young enough to party on a school night and still get up in the morning.

Whereas once the bars and restaurants of Swindon were rammed with revellers celebrating the arrival of the weekend, Fridays can now be a fairly mellow affair. Christmas parties excepted, Thursdays are now where the weekend begins apparently, with anyone who’s anyone hitting the town for good food and a drink or three.

So where were they all when my friend and I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the Thursday crowd?

We’d chosen Gustoso, on the corner of Victoria Road and Wood Street, for our night out, and I’d even taken the precaution of booking a table for fear of not being able to squeeze in. As it turned out, we were the only ones in there most of the evening, save for a few drinkers at the bar.

Either the lashing rain had kept people at bay or someone has been pulling my leg about the Thursday night thing. I’m still not sure which.

What I do know, though, is that it’s a travesty this place isn’t doing a better trade. Sandwich shop by day, but tapas bar by night, its dishes with a Maltese slant are very, very good – dare I say even rivalling those of another more popular tapas place nearby. It’s just a shame that so few people know about them.

The quiet was a little disconcerting when we first sat down. Some background music might have been good to break the silence, as we felt the need to whisper to one another for fear of being overheard. However, that same quiet also worked to our advantage throughout the evening, as owner Louise Field was never far away with her recommendations.

By its very nature, tapas is for sharing, so with my friend being vegetarian our choices were obviously more limited.

Meat-eaters can choose from dishes including chorizo frito (fried sausage) £3.50, gwienah tat-tigieg (chicken wings marinated in honey and lemon) £3.75, and ravjul moqli (deep fried Maltese ravioli) £3.95, but on this visit I restricted myself to the veggie options to make the most of the sharing experience.

We were ravenous, so opted for the trio of dips (£7.95) to take the edge off our hunger while we studied the rest of the menu. Louise steered us towards a chillied red bean dip, another with blue cheese and herbs, and a third which wasn’t on the menu; a vivid beetroot dip with a delicious tang.

The dips came with a basket of crusty bread and some Maltese water biscuits to mop them up, and helped fill the gap while we waited for our tapas to arrive.

Between us, we’d gone for bunuelos de queso (cheese fritters with a chilli sauce) £3.75, tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette) £3.75, patatas bravas (potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce) £3.50, some Maltese and Spanish olives £2.75, and another of Louise’s recommendations, roasted asparagus topped with a poached egg (£3.50).

The food filled our small table, with the evocative smells mingling to reignite our tastebuds, and it tasted just as good as it looked. In particular, I loved the cheese fritters, which were gooey and salty and incredibly moreish, especially dipped in the fiery chilli sauce.

We also loved the asparagus; an unexpected treat – so simple yet so delicious. We could have eaten two platefuls and still not been satisfied.

I get the impression desserts are not a priority here, with only three on the menu. We didn’t want one anyway, but on another day (with less bread to fill me up), I’d have gone for the krema karamella (£3.60), a “special recipe from grandma’s kitchen” by all accounts.

Our bill, with three glasses of a very smooth house red, came to £37.65.

Later in the evening, around 10pm, another party of diners walked in, happy to find somewhere still serving food at that time.

I think they were the only three other people out on the town that night, as when we stepped back out into the rain, Old Town was deserted.

Perhaps someone had told them Thursday was the new Friday as well, and they were hopng to avoid the crowds.

– MICHELLE TOMPKINS