Loath as I am to challenge my good friend Daphne’s description of restaurant food in Malta, her depiction of it as “terrible” or even “bloody awful” (TMID, 13 April) is harsh. The truth is that our catering has never been better, and it is improving all the time.

We wholeheartedly agree that good food is an extremely important part of the tourist product and for Malta totally essential if it is to compete with other Mediterranean countries or ones further away.

This is the reason the Definitive(ly) Good Guide Co has initiated a “Gastronomic Calendar”. The calendar is a series of gastronomic events at restaurants selected from the most highly rated in the guide. The objective is to contribute towards making Malta the gastronomic centre of the Mediterranean.

Yes, it is a lofty ambition but even if Malta just develops a reputation for being “a” gastronomic destination rather than “the”, this will significantly enhance the tourist product. The calendar initiative is fully supported by the Malta Tourism Authority, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and Air Malta, with further support from Taste Magazine, published with The Malta Independent on Sunday, and The Sunday Times. Obviously the events are aimed at attracting tourists but also at building a gastronomic culture within Malta. HSBC and Marsovin, recognising the importance of tourism to the economy, support the Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants too.

More than 600 regular diners-out responded to our survey last year to create the current edition of the Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants in Malta and Gozo. These people, who eat out twice a week on average (amounting to more than 60,000 meals in a year), are the watchdogs who keep the standards up to scratch by voting first with their credit cards and cheque books, and then in our annual survey. They rate establishments according to food, service and ambience, and changing polls are what keep the caterers on their toes.

In this year’s guide, for example, 28 restaurants that featured last year were dropped because their approval rating diminished. But they were replaced by a similar number that had improved; 23 of those appear in the guide for the first time but five had appeared previously, then failed to cut the mustard, and then – dare one say it was their reaction to having been dropped from the list? Whatever, their popularity improved – were voted back among the highly rated.

Malta boasts more than 1,000 restaurants and cafes and nobody would suggest that they are all great. A few of them are undeniably terrible, possibly even “bloody awful”. But there is probably nowhere (as Daphne suggests, Sicily might be the exception) that has no bad restaurants. The guide lists 150 of the best on these islands – not a bad number, considering the size of the place.

Nor are they necessarily expensive. The restaurant most highly rated of all was also considered to be excellent value for money, and while nobody is claiming that dining out in Malta is cheap, there are plenty of restaurants where one can find superb food at very reasonable prices.

Among the top restaurants locally are French, Italian (and Sicilian), Asian (Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Indian), the best of which could hold their own against cooking in the original countries. This is in addition to the basic “Mediterranean” fare – which, one assumes, is what tourists are mainly hoping to find when they come here. Freshly caught fish, properly prepared by a Maltese chef, is difficult to beat, on a world scale.

There is clearly, therefore, no reason for tourists – always assuming that they are using a reliable guide book – ever to be disappointed.

But the main reason we (and the Malta Tourism Authority) recommend that would-be diners use an up-to-date edition of the guide is that standards do change. Owners sell restaurants, chefs move on, waiters go back to university, premises become tatty. It is the vigilance of the respondents to our annual survey that keeps restaurateurs on the ball, and diners who use out-of-date reference books risk disappointment, or even indigestion.

Potential restaurant-goers who want to know more about the dining-out experience can find it on our website: www.restaurantsmalta.com

We are always eager to receive feedback, not only about those venues that are highly recommended, but even from any that are considered “bloody awful”!

Lisa Grech

Managing director

The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants in Malta and Gozo