“This is the kind of place that turns a meal into an experience.”
Set against the waterfront of St George’s Bay, Sole has spent nearly two decades quietly becoming one of Malta’s most considered dining destinations. Not through noise or spectacle, but through consistency — a sustained commitment to doing things properly, season after season, year after year. This summer, it enters a new chapter: a refreshed Mediterranean menu, shaped by Ambassador of Gastronomy Marvin Gauci alongside Italian head chef Marco Lasenza. Two people who understand that good food, at its core, is about place.
Gauci has long been one of Malta’s most thoughtful culinary voices and is someone who approaches the table with the patience of a craftsman rather than the urgency of a trend. Lasenza brings with him the precision and warmth of the Italian kitchen, a sensibility that sits naturally alongside the Mediterranean coastline just beyond the terrace. Together, they have built a menu that feels neither borrowed nor performed. It feels earned.
The food reads like a love letter to the coastline. Raw dishes and crudo take centre stage — a Crudo Platter of red prawns, oysters, fasolare, langoustine, seabass and tuna that arrives at the table looking exactly as it should: honest, cold, pristine. Nothing gilded. The kind of platter that asks you to slow down, to pay attention, to taste one thing at a time. Beside it, good bread. A glass that needs refilling. The sound of the water.
The Catch of the Day follows the same logic. Sourced from trusted local fishermen, chosen for what is freshest rather than what is most convenient, it changes with the sea. Served simply al sale, cartoccio, grilled, or acqua pazza, the preparation steps back and lets the fish speak. There is a confidence in that restraint that takes years to develop.
Details matter here, and Sole pays attention to all of them. Bread is made in-house, arriving warm and unhurried. The olive oil and honey come from Gauci’s own Gourmet Malta selection — personally sourced, considered, traceable.
Many of the herbs and greens are grown in his private garden in the north of the island, picked and brought south. Nothing arrives from nowhere. Every element on the table has a provenance, a person behind it, a reason for being there.
This summer, Sole also launches its mixology programme — the Elixirs of the Sea. A cocktail collection drawn from Maltese folklore, coastal iconography and the layered identity of the island, these are drinks that carry a story. Premium spirits, local ingredients, artistic presentation. They are worth arriving early for, and worth lingering over long after the plates have been cleared.
The al fresco terrace remains the setting that ties everything together. Long summer evenings, the bay stretched out before you, the light doing what Maltese light does in July, warm and unhurried and impossible to replicate anywhere else. This is the kind of place that makes a meal feel like more than a meal. A table by the water, food that respects its ingredients, service that knows when to appear and when to disappear.
Two awards at this year’s Definitive(ly) Good Guide — Best Service and Best Seafood — confirm what regular guests have known for years. Sole is not trying to be the loudest room in the bay. It is simply, quietly, one of the best.
Bookings at solebytarragon.com or
T: +356 7728 3342.
