My 15 Favorite Dishes Everyone Should Try When Visiting Malta

The out-of-the-way lido was much under a limestone terrace and white umbrellaed café. A sheltered cove opened into the impossibly blue Mediterranean, looking above the Gozo Channel to the island of Malta. A brave youthful gentleman dove from the terrace. Seabirds fed modest fish to chicks in cliffside nests.

The waiter introduced a tray of fish and king prawns on ice. The bounty was caught in the cove beneath me that morning. I chose a smaller Pagella (red snapper) to be grilled entire. I listened to my fish sizzle and sipped a glass of Maltese bubbly. Then, as I daydreamed and gazed across the blue water, smaller plates with olives, bread, cheese, sausage, and beans started filling my desk. Which is when I fell in love with Maltese food items.

Ingesting Malta

While in Malta, I didn’t consume 1 unappetizing or improperly cooked morsel. Eating places, cafés, markets, and avenue suppliers promote new, locally generated meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and dairy.

I fell in love with the Mediterranean diet program for the reason that the food is seasonal and always contemporary. I attempted avenue food stuff, sidewalk cafés, four-star eating places, and buffets. I purchased foodstuff for picnics and groceries at farmer’s marketplaces, village stores, mobile fishmongers, traveling farmers, and supermarkets. I was in no way dissatisfied.

When you go to Malta, try out every little thing. They are all pleasant but really don’t miss these 15 favorites of mine.

1. Pastizzi

This is Malta’s staple street foodstuff. Shell-formed layers of flakey pastry enclose savory ricotta or, my beloved, perfectly seasoned peas. Malta is known for their pastries, both of those sweet and savory. Pastizzi is a preferred with mid-morning tea. Quit in a small bakery or kiosk filled with locals ingesting tea, having pastizzi, and catching up on neighborhood gossip.

Accessible at espresso shops, bakeries, and kiosks, you will promptly obtain your favorite spot for this tender pastry loaded with creamy cheese. Check with a community wherever they get their pastizzi and start off your quest to find the very best.

2. Pizzette

Certainly, it is very much like pizza, but it is Maltese pizza. Like any region, Malta has many variations of favorite dishes. The pizzette differs from island to island even villages may have their very own particular recipe.

The pizzette pictured higher than is the most common style. The crust is created from Maltese wheat. It’s an historic grain introduced to the islands by the Romans in 218 BC. The flour yields a crisp crust that fires fantastically in the conventional wood ovens. It’s topped with olive oil, tomatoes, thinly sliced potatoes, olives, and tuna. You will come across this delight in quite a few variations at bakeries, kiosks, and delis.

Professional Tip: Search for a kiosk whilst you are out and about discovering towns and villages. They are prevalent. Kiosks are fast foodstuff stands that provide well prepared pastries, pizzas, rolls, sandwiches, meat pies, and other conventional avenue meals. The food is usually delightful and budget-friendly. For case in point, you can have a filling lunch from the kiosk with a pizzette and a cold Cisk (Maltese lager) for €2.50.

3. Seafood And Shellfish

Seafood is Malta’s major protein. Fins and shells come into Malta from the compact fishing villages surrounding the island daily. Normally in the day by day capture are Lampuka (Mahi-Mahi), swordfish, seabass, grouper, sea bream, shrimp, king prawns, mussels, clams, oysters, and urchins.

You will uncover fish on all Malta menus. I particularly advocate pasta with seafood. Seafood linguini is well-liked. The seafood will change with the day’s catch. Kiosks will have a fish pie or pizzette. Foods retailers and fishmongers have the day’s catch out there to take household for a feast.

4. Stuffat Tal-Fenek

Stuffat tal-fenek, or Rabbit Stew, is the nationwide dish of Malta. Locally raised rabbit is sluggish-cooked with purple wine, tomato paste, garlic, carrots, and potatoes. The wealthy stew is served with mashed potatoes and veggies. You’ll find it on menus in most Maltese eateries.

5. Maltese/Italian Everything

Malta is 60 miles from Sicily. The two international locations have been connected for 1000’s of decades. Identical climates generate identical food stuff. Maltese food stuff has a solid Italian impact, or possibly it is the other way spherical. No matter, the two cuisines share similarities.

When you locate a favored Italian dish these types of as lasagna on the menu, give it a attempt. You will find refined discrepancies that demonstrate you a new side to your old favorites. I specifically like the tomato sauces designed in Malta. They are a bit lighter and less acidic. Pasta is ordinarily made from community wheat, introducing a a lot more robust flavor. You will discover Maltese/Italian meals on each individual menu, kiosk, and food store.

6. A Sample Of Malta

The Maltese Platter will most very likely be your initial flavor of Malta. Most places to eat will bring a plate of standard Maltese noshes to your desk following you have ordered and before your starter. The complimentary amuse-bouche arrives in quite a few versions depending on the time and cafe type. The size depends on the variety of diners.

The compact plates that are made available are often complimentary. Outlined on the menu, huge platters with a huge wide range of regionally generated delicacies will consist of a cost.

Dining places almost everywhere serve a Malta platter. Nevertheless, eateries in vacationer parts will be much more probably to have a group-sized platter.

7. Bigilla (Maltese Bean Paste)

This savory spreadable dip is produced from tic beans, identified as ful ta’ Ġirba (Djerba beans). The cooked beans are mashed with herbs like mint, marjoram, peppers, garlic, and lemon. Some puree the mixture silky smooth, although many others leave it a little bit chunky. Possibly way, it is a delightful spread on Maltese bread or common water crackers. Bigilla is normally on Malta Platters. Delis and foods stores are also a good supply of the Maltese vintage.

8. Hobz Biz-Zejt

Just one of the oldest dishes on the islands, hobz biz-zejt is Maltese bread with oil and tomatoes. Standard crunchy Maltese sourdough bread is coated with local olive oil, then distribute with sweet or spicy tomato paste. This tomato paste is in contrast to what you uncover in cans in American supermarkets. Designed only from Maltese developed and sundried tomatoes, the taste is umami and sturdy with a sweet observe that is the fundamental background of several Maltese dishes.

Pro Idea: Hobz biz-zejt will come in these kinds of wide versions that it’s confusing. Attempt it when you see it on a menu you will not be let down. Frequently served as an open-confronted sandwich, it may well appear with a Mediterranean salad on major or possibly tuna or sausage on leading of the salad.

9. Wide Beans

On menus and in retailers, I appear for broad beans — one particular of Malta’s most significant crops. They are liked fresh new, dried, and pickled. Most soups and stews will incorporate beans. In addition, Malta platters may possibly have pickled broad beans and a bean paste.

10. Goat Cheese

Maltese cheese may perhaps be purely natural or spiced with peppers and herbs in new and aged versions. Most are gentle in taste, but tangy varieties are on give. I’m outrageous for the refreshing goat cheese. It is delicate and creamy. New, soft cheeses are effectively-liked as a unfold on bread with olive oil. Maltese cheese is ubiquitous and pretty low-cost in markets.

Professional Suggestion: Really do not be surprised to see a herd of goats getting herded to the milking parlor through village streets. Goats are usually moved to pastures for grazing. Whether or not walking or driving, move aside the goats have the correct of way.

11. Olives And Olive Oil

Olives harvested in Gozo, Malta are just one of my favorite crops. I’ve walked through olive groves with trees that are generations aged. They are an essential component of the day-to-day eating plan. Applied for oil and as foods, exceptional types are grown in Malta. They could be fresh new, pickled, or stuffed with anchovy paste, garlic, or peppers. Olives and olive oil are out there in places to eat, markets, and meals retailers.

12. Maltese Sausage

The sweet or savory sausage is usually manufactured from pork and spices. Though, you might find some built from rabbit or goat. It will be cured or even smoked. Find it in cafe dishes, local markets, and farmer’s markets.

13. Tomato Paste

You have not tasted a tomato until you have savored a single developed in Gozo. The sea air and infinite sunshine make Malta perfect for harvesting tomatoes. At farmers marketplaces, you will be amazed at the limitless styles. Tomatoes on your plate may perhaps be fresh, sundried, or cooked in a sauce employing the delicious tomato paste. You will find tomato paste in food retailers, delis, and marketplaces.

14. Figs And Dates

Figs and dates are grown in Malta in many versions. These sweet treats can be located in desserts and savory dishes. You are going to learn figs and dates in eating places, markets, and foodstuff outlets. I like them for dessert with contemporary goat cheese and a squeeze from a ‘perpetual lemon,’ the most prevalent in Malta. The perpetual lemon bears fruit calendar year-spherical.

15. Libations

The Maltese have been making wine and beer for hundreds of years. They had some excellent instructors in excess of the millennia, specifically the Romans. Amongst a lot of sorts, Girgentina is a greatly cultivated wine grape. It has been grown there for hundreds of years, but its exact origin is mysterious. It’s utilized for white desk wine and my beloved bubbly.

A vast wide variety of Maltese wine such as purple, white, and glowing are readily available almost everywhere that serves food, from kiosks to five-star eating places. Marketplaces and foodstuff shops are fantastic resources to fill your larder or picnic basket with nearby wine at price ranges that will make you smile. Try out Ta Mina in Gozo and Ta Betta in Malta for an authentic flavor of Malta in a wine glass.

When you say beer in Malta, you say, “Cisk.” The clean pilsner has been Malta’s preferred considering that 1929. Offered in 6 kinds, the most popular is pilsner. It pairs properly with most food items and would make a pretty afternoon cooler. You are going to discover Cisk all over the place meals is served like bars, kiosks, and shops.

When You Consume In Malta

You simply cannot go incorrect in Malta when it arrives to food stuff. With each and every bite and each individual sip, you’ll style the enthusiasm the Maltese have for growing and making ready the Mediterranean’s bounty. Ingesting is a gradual adventure in the Mediterranean acquire your time, savor, and immerse into Malta’s unforgettable food items.