Rocksalt is a one of a kind eating place. When it first appeared in the busy shopping district of Sliema, towards the end of 2014, it immediately garnered an almost affectionate following amongst the Sliema crowd. Owner Steve De Domenico has worked his ass off to build what he calls the Rocksalt Experience. He believes that food preparation is an art form that needs to be delivered with great passion. He saw a gap in the market for the creation of a food brand for dedicated foodies and wine lovers. In August 2017, the concept moved over to Balluta hill, in what used to be a coffee shop, adjacent to the Inhawi hostel, and now boasted a terrace with views of the valley and sea. This combination of brasserie & gastro bar attracted an even grander crowd of sorts, from foodie connoisseurs to gourmet diners.
So what are we doing in a fine dining restaurant with a 5 and 7 course tasting menu? Rocksalt happens to open for lunchtime during the weekend, and they saw it fit to offer burgers! Despite being geographically located in St. Julian’s, we head to this quiet & secluded spot of town, surrounded by trees and an air of peace.
The burger in question is made from an imposing 250gr beef patty, made from imported sirloin and ribeye. We know that Chuck is a very classic choice for burger meat. Sirloin has great flavour but is rarely used, as it is a more expensive cut. The fattier cut of ribeye has a beautiful marbling texture that has a well-defined purpose in the patty concoction. The kitchen team spare no expense and their aim is to make a burger like no other. We expect Herculean outcomes from a head chef from Norway, that goes by the name of Tor! Remi from France and Matthias from Germany are also part of the very international kitchen team, and together they work like Swiss clockwork, handling burgers with one hand and gourmet rabbit on the other. The patty is a very thick affair, and most probably the thickest we’ve seen in the last year or so. It is pan-fried, topped with other goodies and then finished in the oven. The result is a thing of beauty, and something every burger lover looking for a real treat should experience at least once. Ground Sirloin is indeed very lean and tends to produce dry patties, but this is not the case here. This patty is very dense but somehow manages to be superbly juicy. It seems that Tor has worked his magic here, with seemingly no moisture lost during the grinding process.
A good portion of crispy pancetta goes on top. This Italian-style and robustly-flavoured meat is prepared from pork belly and cured in salt, a process which concentrates the flavours. Its fat lends a marvellous strong taste to the patty. All is covered in a sea of Mornay sauce and finished in the oven. This sauce is basically a bechamel with shredded cheese added, but it adds a sort of interesting depth that enhances the beefy taste tenfold.
The bun is sourced locally and serves the purpose of housing all the meat goodness well. There are truffle mayo and ketchup at the base, covered with layers of red leaf lettuce. This lettuce variety has a mild watery flavour and soft buttery leaves slightly tinged with red. A delicious onion relish marinated in oregano & marjoram goes on top, and luckily there’s a gracious amount of it, overflowing from all sides of the burger.
The very peak of the burger creation is finished with many thinly sliced pickles, which are prepared in-house, and held together with melted raclette, made from a semi-hard artisan cheese originating from France. The chef did not go overboard with the raclette, like other burgers we’ve seen in the past. A spoonful is not enough, but a bucketload is definitely out of place! Some might argue that a burger with all this amount of cheeses is indeed a cheeseburger. Thing is, when it’s this good, no one is going to dispute the name!
So how does this massive burger hold together in the two-handed eating test? Truth is, burgers can get messy and this one ticks all the checkmarks to be a good candidate, with all the cheese, veggie condiments and meat. Surprisingly enough it holds together quite well and is very possible to consume it with 2 hands without too much spill. Holding it gently and not squeezing too tight helps too. For the faint-hearted, you can also do it the fine-dining way, and use the supplied utensils!
The fries are served with a truffle mayo & mustard seed cream. These fries are not of the thin variety and remind us of the hand-cut potatoes of times gone by like the genuine Maltese fries grandmas used to do. They are seasoned perfectly and are served hot and well crisped.
Rocksalt have come up with a successful burger with well-rounded condiments that will be enjoyed by any burger adventurer or beef seeker. The well-seasoned beef mix, combined with the well-selected cheeses, is more than enough to make this a very memorable burger. It goes to show that even posh & fine-dining restaurants can propose a burger on the menu, but most importantly do it on a 5★ level. Rocksalt went a step further and even have a Savage version of this burger, with 2 times the beef and onion rings, and a whole lot more. But that’s another story, for another day…
