Gillian Bartolo went down to the Xara Palace Hotel and found that Kevin Bonello is devoted to food in every way.
“I was born in Rabat to parents descended from a line of farmers, who themselves bred poultry and rabbits for their own consumption and have always kept a vegetable garden in the tumolo of land surrounding our modern bungalow, as well as roses, peach and apricot trees and grape vines, which my father uses to make his own wine. I am the eldest of four. I have a sister Berenice and brother Clint besides Adrian, my sous-chef at Xara Palace. From very young I was involved in the breeding of our animals and in tending to our garden, and I loved helping in the kitchen, preparing capons, rabbit and roast pork which my mother cooked in a traditional wood oven in the garden. She still uses it. Every Sunday and more often in summer, up to forty relatives and friends gathered in our garden for barbeques of swordfish and rib-eye, talking and laughing as they ate and drank till dusk. I also vividly remember the aroma of succulent roast pork with crackling, which my mother would put into the oven at 5.00am to allow it to cook slowly till lunch-time. Every morning without fail there would be a big pot bubbling on the cooker and my favourite meal was beef and shellfish. Fond food memories of my childhood include sponge soaked in jelly and smothered in coconut. Also Cordon Bleu beef slices with gruyère cheese and smoked ham, coated in flour and breadcrumbs and shallow fried, and my mother’s mouth-watering lasagne.
“In summer the extended family would pack their land-rovers with camping gear and head for the sea below Selmun or for Ghajn Tuffieha for three or four days at a time. From my father’s dinghy we would fish for lampuki (dolphin fish) and vopi (boops). I’m still an avid fisherman, and now have my own speed-boat which I take out as often as I can in July to catch allungi, which I then grill straight away and share with family and friends. My other great love is hunting for doves and quail, also a hobby I’ve had since childhood. What I love especially about hunting is the early morning hazy stillness as you watch and wait.”
After a childhood steeped in culinary pursuits, you would have expected Kevin to drift naturally into cooking as a career. It wasn’t quite like that. He did very well academically at school and got the right grades in his O levels to get into the Fellenberg Institute and take engineering. But that summer, just for fun and to make some money he did a stint at Restaurant Guzmano Navarra in Rabat and he was hooked. All thoughts of the Fellenberg Institute summarily banished from his mind, he enrolled into the Institute of Tourism Studies where he distinguished himself again. Two years later, he did his work phase at the daunting Savoy Group, in London which included the famous Claridge’s, Berkeley and the Savoy itself. He waxes lyrical: “It was a chef’s dream. The clients were very rich, so I could prepare all sorts of exotic fare. I met chefs from all around the world so it was really stimulating, and my mind was bursting with culinary ideas. Besides training at these top notch hotels was super strict and any slap dash work, and they were down on you like a ton of bricks. A brilliant learning experience. I adored London and would have stayed on, but was unable to get my visa extended. I still keep in touch with some of the good chefs I met there.”
At 28 Kevin stresses that it’s important to know what people are cooking and eating around the world. In ten years, he has been on 15 specifically culinary trips abroad. The most memorable were Charlie Trotters in Chicago, Le Bristol in Paris, restaurants in South Korea, Luxembourg, Tuscany in Italy and Seville in Spain. Now he says, culinary interest is shifting to Asia. In fact lots of top chefs have upped sticks for the Far East. But in his opinion the Italians are tops. “They have a real passion for food, a real love affair that pervades their cooking. As far as I’m concerned French cuisine is simply a more perfected, more sophisticated adaptation of Italian cuisine.”
What kind of things does he cook for family and friends? “I might hunt for wood-cock, then build a bonfire near one of our little hides in Rabat or Imtahleb. At other times I buy a suckling pig and roast it on a spit in our garden, slowly, for about twelve hours and then feed about 40 friends and family. I’m still very close to my family. They are the main reason I am still in Malta.
“My favourite food? Definitely mum’s. Her minestra, broth, aljotta washed down with our wine.” And what three ingredients would he always have in his fridge? “Basil, olives and some kind of meat…Guilty food pleasures are my downfall. Definitely, shellfish and foie gras.” One food he could never give up? In true Mediterranean fashion: “every type of bread. So it’s only natural that I make bread on special occasions at the hotel too: Black olive ciabatta, pain perdu which is like focaccini with sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.”
Asked to think of a favourite food scene from a book or movies, Kevin tellingly chooses a Bruce Lee film where, desolate after the death of his family, and alone in the forest, he cooks a rabbit on a spit and then devours it in a frenzy, tearing off the flesh with his teeth. This is definitely in keeping with Kevin’s love of the wild, and I think the choice of a strong man, alone and desperate says a lot about our chef, who appears very controlled but occasionally expresses quite angry opinions.
What about the four people he would invite to dinner if he could? Gordon Ramsey, the topnotch British chef, erstwhile footballer (like Kevin). “I’d like to know why he switched professions and what he thinks of new cooking techniques like molecular gastronomy.” He’d also have Megan Gale, top Australian model who does the Vodafone advert “just for a chat,” Carmel Busuttil – the famous footballer also from Rabat and finally the Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. “I’d ask him how he sees Malta in five to ten years time, if wages in Malta would still compare very badly with Europe.” And what would you serve? “A minestra with fresh goat cheese, fried rabbit and crèpes suzettes flambé with honey and lemon, so I could chat to them.”
Any special dishes in his repertoire? Smoked Rabbit Tart Tatin (with puff pastry) served with sun dried tomatoes sorbet; also chocolate pudding with honey and yoghurt ice cream and a trio of fresh local lamb: kofta from the shoulder, fillet cooked with coffee and nutmeg and loin seared with parsley and lemon.
Where does he source his food? “I use mostly local seasonal produce and buy vegetables straight from a semi-organic farm I trust.”
Any special surprises on the Xara Palace menu to look forward to this season? “Fresh salmon poached in apple juice and chocolate devil’s food cake. Also whole roasted de-boned rabbit, stuffed with its own offal.”
Where does he see himself in five years’ time? He is dismissive at first: “I live for the day,” but after a pause: “I’d like to be the best chef on the island and eventually be the first to get a Michelin star.”