Fenkata...Maltese traditional men's night out...with bunnies!

The recipe is simple, fix a day at least three months before. Start sending as many emails and smses, (as much as you can afford timewise) and just hope that at least ten friends turn up due to other commitments that funnily enough always pop up around that day.

One of the funniest answers I received this time was that “I’m sorry Chal, but I’ll have the painter coming in that day so I will not be able to do it.” The Fenkata happens after eight in the evening and keeping in mind how hard working the local painters are I have trouble driving at night since all roads are usually jam-packed with ladders with men dressed in white dungarees all painting in the middle of the night.

So once I get the idea of how many people will turn up (usually a couple of days before) I book a table at our favourite snack bar in Zebbiegh which is called the Farmer’s Restaurant for what the locals call a Fenkata (A night in a plain, simple and clean workmen snack bar eating a local delicacy which is rabbit to one’s heart content)

The menu is simple. In our case we were ten so I asked the bar owner for four rabbits when I was making the booking. Two were fried in olive oil with lots of garlic and onions and the other two were stewed in wine and tomato sauce.

The night usually starts out with lots of drinks at the bar counter while eating some appetizers like water biscuits(galletti) with hard cheese and hams, bruschetta and the so famous hobz biz-zejt (bite sizes of local fresh bread served with tomato paste on top, onions, garlic and olive oil)

Every one opted for the Spaghetti as starter, which is served with the sauce made from the rabbit stew and herbs and spices. When everyone licked the sauce off the plate with fresh crusty local bread it was the turn of the main course. Four large bowls of succulent rabbit pieces, 4 large bowls of homemade chips and a massive dish of salad and other one with fresh vegetables. The bowls were moving hands and so were the lovely bottle of homemade red wine, in fact we had fourteen bottles of them between the ten of us.

Fag break for all the sickos who leave some dry leaves of tobacco take charge of of their life(luckily I quit my 60 a day habit three years ago). We were then served the traditional desert that is served after such a colossal meal which is dry cheeses the sweet ones and the peppered ones, peanuts and Helwa tat-tork (maltese halva) which goes down so well with the last few glasses of the wine (we don’t quit until the last drop) and guess what: all this for € 180, that is €20 each so we had enough money to tip the young gentlemen who served us and the cook for providing us the food on which to feast.

This is the best way one can spend a fantastic evening with his mates and on the side are some pictures taken with my mobile when the alcohol was already making its way to my head, so excuse the quality of the pics of our last Fenkata!