Maltese food is a Mediterranean kitchen with a British accent and a Sicilian grandmother. It’s bread first, rabbit on a Sunday, ricotta in everything, and a bitter orange soft drink nobody outside the islands has heard of.
The tourist strip will sell you a competent pizza. These pages cover the rest. They explain what the local dishes are, where to find good versions, and how to eat well without paying seafront prices.
A food walk helps you avoid the tourist menus along the harbour.
- Maltese food explainedFtira, pastizzi, rabbit and the rest: what Maltese food is.
- Maltese drinksKinnie, Cisk, local wine and what to order in a village bar.
- Food marketsMarsaxlokk on a Sunday and the markets worth setting an alarm for.
- Food tours and cooking classesCooking classes, wine tastings and tours where you eat.
- Best restaurants with a sea viewTables where the view earns the price, and a few where it does not.
- Best value lunchEating well for under fifteen euro, which is easier here than it looks.
- Best vegan and vegetarianVegan and vegetarian cooking beyond the token pasta dish.
- Michelin and fine diningMalta’s starred and fine-dining rooms, and whether they are worth it.
- Best pastizzi in MaltaThe pastizzerija test: where the ricotta is right and the pastry shatters.
- Best ftira in MaltaMalta’s bread, made well, and the bakeries that still do it.
- Best pizza in MaltaWhere the pizza is worth the queue, and where it is only convenient.
- Best brunch in MaltaLong, slow breakfasts, from seafront terraces to backstreet cafes.
- Best gluten free in MaltaKitchens that take coeliac seriously rather than just removing the bun.
How to eat well here
Walk three streets inland
The single biggest factor in what you pay is not how good the food is. It’s how much sea you can see from the table.
Three streets back from the water changes the price of every meal and usually improves it. This works everywhere on both islands.
Eating well for less
Bakeries and village bars
Very little Maltese food is restaurant food. The national dishes are bakery items, Sunday lunches and things eaten standing up, which is why visitors often leave saying they never found it.
You find it in pastizzeriji, village bakeries and family-run places away from the water.
What Maltese food is
The markets
Marsaxlokk on a Sunday and the Ta’ Qali farmers market are working markets rather than craft fairs, so they are worth the early start.
Both sell what is in season, cheaply and direct. If you are self-catering, Ta’ Qali solves the week.
Food marketsBook a food tour
Eat where the menu is short and in Maltese first. A pastizzerija with three things on the counter and a queue of people in work clothes is a better bet. Avoid anywhere with photographs on the menu.