Hotel Phoenicia's flagship eatery, Pegasus, has just launched the new autumn à la carte menu featuring its classic dishes as well as a selection of dietary options including gluten-free choices. Executive chef Saul Halevi and Food & Beverage manager Francesco Perricone have reinvented their popular menu with healthier choices that all share one thing: the highest quality, all-natural ingredients, in the majority locally sourced. The duo has also embarked on an education campaign with the team, developing and sharing new techniques which underpins what master chefs can do to transform their ingredients into what they hope will be signature dishes.
With a menu that features ingredients sourced from more than 10 local farms that support sustainable agriculture, and several artisan fishing boats, chef Halevi and his award-winning brigade create seasonal dishes using the freshest ingredients available, many of which emanate from the rapidly expanding kitchen gardens which now occupies more than eight tumoli of the Phoenicia's magnificent 7.5-acre gardens. These kitchen gardens allow the chefs to plate high-quality products within minutes of their harvest, seasonal freshness is guaranteed, as is variety. This is the essence of what Francesco and Saul call "zero-kilometre cuisine". Sustainability is the name of the game.
Recognising the needs of today's lifestyles, chef Halevi and his team have created a large variety of healthier options on the new à la carte menu including low calorie entrees, gluten-free options, vegetarian delights, and heart-healthy gourmet dining. Pegasus is committed to providing healthier and tastier options for clients who truly enjoy their food embraced by at least 80% fresh local produce.
"Malta has some of the world's best ingredients so now we're just letting the garden and the sea decide for us," says chef Halevi who has just been awarded with a FestaVico Silver Spoon which now adorns one of the restaurant walls, while TripAdvisor this year awarded the Pegasus again with their Certificate of Excellence award 2014.
Pegasus is a restaurant that has garnered award after award since re-opening in 2013 under Francesco's and Saul's love for innovation and is the only establishment in Valletta to have its own kitchen garden. It is on the "must try" list for most food lovers and a number of international food writers and critics from across Europe have beaten a path to its door to combine incredible lunches and dinners with a weekend of pampering at Malta's most stately five-star hotel, home to this modestly sized restaurant.
The tasteful simplicity set off with elegant walls depicting the mythical Pegasus, one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology, a winged divine stallion, builds the anticipation of a special meal. The Pegasus is always intimate with a maximum seating of only 34 covers at any one time.
Francesco confidently says: "It's more than a meal, it's an experience. A great one! We look forward to serving this new à la carte menu, the product of over 12 months of development work and research in the concept of a healthier cuisine, and to putting a smile on happy faces with great dining that is based on the freshest local produce."