General Review Details:

• Reviewed Restaurant: Copperfield’s
• Review Date: Tuesday 17th March 2009
• Current Weather: Clear Chilly Evening (12 Degrees)

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Piccante Restaurants Web Awards:

The Piccante Ratings:

Restaurant Ratings:

Restaurant Ambience: 9/10

Restaurant Hygiene & Layout: 9/10

Restrooms Hygiene & Layout: 8/10

Overall Service: 9/10

Value For Money: 9/10

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Food Ratings:

Timing & Followup: 9/10

Presentation: 9/10

Food Taste: 9/10

Menu Variety: 7/10

Wine List Variety: 8/10

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Overall Piccante Rating

9/10

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In-Depth Review:

Getting There:

The Copperfield’s Restaurants is situated on the premises of The Victoria Hotel. Finding its (Victoria Hotel) location should not be that much of a problem since it is located just next door to the Saint James Private Hospital. However if you no idea at all where it is located, simply take a look at our Piccante Tracker, or else keep heading straight up the coast of Ta’ Sliema and take just one turn when you encounter a glowing neon sign display ‘Pizza House’. As for the Restaurant itself, Copperfield’s is located just a few steps away from the Main.

Parking space is available on the grounds of the Victoria Hotel however we did not make use of it. In such a case parking outside the grounds may result in a bit of trouble since Ta’ Sliema is well known as for its lack of parking space, especially in the summer season and especially in the proximity of The Victoria Hotel, (considering the fact that a Private Hospital is located just next door) so make sure to make use of the Parking Grounds available if possible.

(Located On The Premises Of The Victoria Hotel)
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(The Entrance To Copperfield’s)

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The Restaurant:

This restaurant is located at The Victoria Hotel. The interior of this restaurant is very classic and elegant. In the restaurant, a large wall mirror is very noticeable. Other decorations that fill this restaurant are large paintings, wall ornaments such as plates and vases. Moreover, the light is also very classy, with two large chandeliers with the ceiling being the main light source and other small chandeliers with the wall. A buffet table is also set in this restaurant. Also, a decorated balcony can be seen over the buffet.

The tables are very well set. Everyone would have enough leg room and some privacy. The tables are covered with light brown linen and the chairs are covered with leather that matches the tables. The temperature in the restaurant is very well regulated with heating. Soft background music is available, which adds up to a relaxing atmosphere.

WiFi Connection: An Unsecured Access Point is available however we did not manage to connect to any website whatsoever, possibly because the network is used as a LAN Server or else due to some technical problems which might be resolved at a later stage.

(Inside The Restaurant)
.(Inside The Restaurant)
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(Inside The Restaurant)
.(Inside The Restaurant).(The Buffet)
.(The Buffet)
.(The Buffet)
.(The Buffet)

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The Service:

When we stepped inside the restaurant, we were welcomed by a waiter, who after greeting us showed us to our table. Then, a waiter gave us the menus and explained some things such as what was offered on the buffet on that they.

Some water was first ordered and served immediately. Before the starter, some fresh bread and butter was served. Then the starters were served. The empty plates were removed immediately. Waiting time is neither too long nor short. After that we finished the main course, we opted to choose a dessert from the buffet table instead of the menu. Throughout the service, the waiters took care to fill the wine and water glasses. Overall the service was exceptionally good, the staff is very friendly and professional and always ready to help you when needed.

(Our Selected Table)
.(The Buffet Area)
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The Food:

Menu: The Menu at Copperfield’s is very interesting and offers an A’ La Carte Menu, Buffet, the Traditional Sunday Luncheon plus an Enriched English Buffet Breakfast.

The exciting fact about the Buffet offered at Copperfield’s is the fact that it changes on a daily bases with a cycle of 15 Days (meaning that every day for 15 consecutive days the dishes available will always be different). This is quite an appealing feature especially if you happen to reside at The Victoria Hotel, since it will allow you to taste and experience different dishes everyday from the same restaurant.

The Buffet Menu consists of 4 Sections and always starts with A Selection of mouth watering salads presented with assorted dressings. Moving on to the next section (the starter selections) one can find a wide range of soups offered (15 soups, a different one each day) such as Broccoli and Stilton Soup and Cream of Lentils plus another selection of 15 Pasta dishes to choose from.

The Buffet also offers a variety of white and red meats and fish specialties all offered with freshly cooked Potatoes and vegetables in season. A remarkable thing to note is that even the Potatoes and Vegetables available are changed on a daily basis such as Noisette Potatoes, French Dried Potatoes, Fried Courgettes with Sun dried Tomatoes and Gratinated Broccoli with grated Cheese. Finally to end up your Buffet A Choice of Gateaux, Flans, Mousses and Fruit Salad from the Dessert Counter are available.

It was also nice to note that Copperfield’s also offers an A’ La Carte Menu, which when you are not in the mood of moving around and picking your own selection of food, this menu is just what you would be looking for. The starters marked as Entrees, consist of 8 dishes to choose from and include a good selection of food ranging from Fish, Pasta, Meats and Salads. There was no indication whatsoever that any of the dishes are suitable for vegetarians even though 3 out of 8 dishes are.

Heading up to the Main Course section, one can find an interesting mixture of 7 meat and fish dishes to choose from consisting of Salmon, Steam Cerna, Chicken Supreme, Breast of Barbary Duck, Pork, Lamb and Beef. All the Main Course dishes are served with freshly cooked potatoes of the day (the potatoes available on the Buffet Menu) and fresh vegetables in season. To end up, the A’ La Carte Menu, offers 4 desserts to choose from plus another selection of 4 Hot Beverages to compliment your chosen dessert.

Also recently recently introduced A Health Menu, ‘the V good feeling’ is being offered at The Penny Black Bar and The Copperfield’s Restaurant. The Victoria Hotel has taken the guests’ health to its heart. Click Here To View The ‘the V good feeling’ Menu

Wine List: A very well varied wine list is available at this restaurant. Wines on the wine list come from all over the world including: Maltese, French, Italian, Spanish, Australian, South African, California, Chilean, Argentinean, New Zealand’s, Lebanese and German. Obviously, the wines available come from different types such as Red, White, Rose, Sparkling and Champagne. If one is searching for a typical region, he could find it in this wine list, because, wines from the major regions such as Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piemonte and many others are all present in this list. All wines available on the list have a brief description to help you choose the right wine for your food. The prices are very reasonable, obviously varying with the quality of the wine you choose. Our choice was a Maltese Single Estate wine, a Marnisi year 2006.

Our Selection: Our selection of starters included two choice from the A’ La Carte menu which consisted of Platter of Norwegian Smoked Salmon dressed on crispy salad leaves garnished with onion rings and capers together with Ricotta filled Ravioli served with porcini and light cream tomato sasla, sprinkled with flaked walnuts. The smoked salmon was a delicious plate to start with. The salmon fillets were very tender and pleasurable to eat. With this plate a salad of some fresh crispy vegetables was also served to complement the salmon. Some capers on top of the salmon were also served with this dish. The Ricotta filled Ravioli was also a very flavorsome dishes. All the ingredients included where very tasty and made this dish suitable for vegetarians. It was also nice to see the combination of Porcini Cream together with Tomato Salsa, and the flaked walnuts sprinkled all over the light cream perfectly completed this rich Pasta dish.

Following the previous starters our next choice of Main Course dishes consisted of Seared breast of Barbary Duck served with pomegranate Jus and dried fig and Roulades of pork fillet filled with Gozo cheese and baby spinach, wrapped in bacon rashers accompanied and port and whole grain mustard sauce. The Barbary duck was excellent. The tender meat of the duck was cooked perfectly. The dense sauce, which was a little sweet, was extremely good and complemented very well the taste of the duck. Crispy roast potatoes were served with this dish and also were very good. Vegetables were also served with this dish and they were not overcooked, leaving some crispness and conserving the original taste.

The Roulades of Pork Fillet was also interesting and nice dish to taste. First of all the dish was ordered Medium Rare, which might be of a little surprise to many of the readers. Medium-rare pork is nothing to get worked up about these days, if the pigs are raised properly, there’s no reason to be afraid. It really is a myth that pork needs to be cooked well done. It may have been the case in the 1990s because of the way pigs were raised and the way the pork was cured. The parasites that were prevalent back in those days are very unlikely to exist in pork today. Most Chefs recommended cooking pork to a temperature in the range of 140 Degrees, not over 170 Degrees like it was a while back. Bacteria (trichinosis) die at 137 degrees. Cooking a little less allows for much more tender and most pork dishes to be served so basically cooking the pork to 170 degrees is no safer than cooking it at 140 degrees.

The Roulades of pork were perfectly combined with Gozo Cheese and baby spinach filling and although they are not abundant in quantity, their excellent flavor gave managed to give the whole dish a totally different and wonderful savor. All wrapped in delicious bacon rashers and accompanied by the mouthwatering Port and Whole Grain mustard sauce, the dish was simply fantastic.

To conclude our succulent meals, desserts were chosen from the offered buffet assortments. This time Neil opted to have some Cheese With the popular Maltese Galletti. Three types of cheese were available consisting of Yellow Cheese, Blue Cheese and Peppered Cheeselets (Known as Gbejniet Tal-Bzar). As for David’s choice of dessert this consisted of a piece of wonderful Lemon Cheese Cake, decorated with two delicious cherries sitting on top of some soft cream, and an excellent crispy biscuit base.

Our Food Experience: Overall the food served to us at The Copperfield’s restaurant was excellent, both in taste and also in the selection of ingredients. Also the presentation itself was quite good. Timing was also excellent on all of the dishes and the overall flow of the food was just perfect. The food served combined with the atmosphere adds up to a very cosy, warm and relaxing evening.

(Platter of Norwegian Smoked Salmon)
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(Platter of Norwegian Smoked Salmon)
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(Ricotta Filled Ravioli)
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(Ricotta Filled Ravioli)
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(Barbary Duck)
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(Barbary Duck)
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(Roulades Of Pork Fillet)
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(Roulades Of Pork Fillet)
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(Cheese With The Popular Maltese Galletti).
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(Lemon Cheese Cake)
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The Bill:

Average Total: 50.00 Euros (Two Persons)

With an average price of 10~14 Euros per dish and taking into consideration the first-class service offered together, the fact that it is located on the premises of a 4-Star hotel, the tasty and rich food offered together with the buffet available which changes on a daily basis, Copperfield’s is an exceptionally great value for money restaurant.

Our Overall Opinion:

Our visit at Copperfield’s was surely and unforgettable and exceptional trip into fine cuisine presented in rich and delicious dishes. The restaurant’s ambience is very classy and elegant one, and the only thing that keeps it back from winning a Romantic award is the buffet feature.

The overall the service offered is also remarkably good; the staff is very friendly and professional, and combing this with the fact that Copperfield’s also offers great value for money prices, this restaurant ought to certainly be on your top of the list if you are after a classy and elegant breakfast, Sunday Luncheon or dinner.

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