A pastizz is the standard Maltese snack. Diamond-shaped, made from layered pastry, sold hot from small shops all over both islands.
One costs well under a euro and two are a normal breakfast.
There are two fillings
Ricotta is the white one. Mushy peas is the other, and it is yellow inside.
Those two cover almost everything sold. Some places do chicken or a curry filling now.
Ask for pastizzi without saying which, and you will be asked to pick between ricotta and peas.
The round ones on the same counter are usually qassatat. Same idea, different pastry, often filled with peas, ricotta or spinach.
Some counters also sell ross fil-forn and torža tal-inġiena by the slice. Both are lunch rather than a snack.
Where to buy them
A shop that sells them is a pastizzerija. Most villages have at least one and they are usually small, plain and busy.
The good ones sell out and bake again through the day, so a queue moving quickly is a good sign rather than a bad one.
Many take cash only. Worth having a couple of coins on you rather than finding out at the counter.
Petrol stations and bakeries sell them too. They are not the same thing, because they have been sitting.
When people eat them
Breakfast, mid-morning, after work, and very late at night.
Some pastizzeriji stay open until the early hours and are busiest after the bars close.
There is no wrong time. A pastizz at two in the morning is as normal as one at eight.
How to order
Say how many and which filling. Two of each is a common order and nobody blinks at four.
They come in a paper bag, straight from the tray, and they are hot enough to wait a minute before biting into one.
Nobody sits down for this. You eat them standing up or walking.
A te fit-tazza, tea in a glass, is the standard thing to have alongside.
A note on the pastry
The pastry is layered with fat and shatters when it is fresh. Flaking is the whole test.
If it bends rather than flakes, it has been out too long. Go somewhere with a queue.
They do not travel and they do not reheat well. Buy two, not ten.
There is a list of the best pastizzi in Malta, and more on Maltese food.
