Brunch arrived in Malta fairly recently and took hold hard, particularly in Sliema, St Julian’s and Valletta. It is now one of the easier meals to eat well here, and one of the easier ones to overpay for.
A food walk helps you avoid the tourist menus along the harbour.
The two kinds
What brunch here usually looks like
Expect long tables, flat whites and a wait at eleven on a Sunday. These places are concentrated along the Sliema and St Julian’s front and in the Valletta side streets.
It is competent, photogenic and priced accordingly. Book, or arrive before ten and be finishing as the queue forms.
Where to stay
A bakery and a coffee standing up
Nobody here calls it brunch. It is a ftira (Maltese flatbread) or a bag of pastizzi (savoury pastries) from the bakery. You eat it standing up, with a coffee from the bar next door.
It costs a tenth as much and it is the better story.
The pastizzerija test
Sliema, St Julian’s and Valletta
The international brunch scene is concentrated along the Sliema and St Julian’s seafront and in the Valletta side streets. Valletta has the better rooms and the shorter queues.
For the Maltese version, any village bakery will do, and it will be open long before the brunch places are.
Where to stayBook a food tour
Weekend brunch in Sliema and Valletta fills up. Either reserve a table, or arrive before ten and be paying the bill as the queue starts forming outside.