Maltese cuisine is influenced by Italy with a Mediterranean twist. Pizza and pasta with eggplant, olives or zucchini; garlic, olive oil, and Maltese, Italian or other wines are commonly found on the menu.
The national favorite meat is rabbit – perfect for Larry as he is an adventurous diner and loves to try new things. He’s feasted on pasta with rabbit bolognese sauce and whole pan-fried rabbit as shown below. He reports that “it’s something different and I liked it!”
Fish is more my dish and this sea bass was simply prepared and tasty.
Maltese bread is served with nearly every meal – usually with a creamy dip made from either black beans, fava beans or kidney beans and a deep, red tomato paste spread called kunserva.
The Maltese are very proud of their bread made from durum wheat – it’s extra-crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We discovered a tiny bakery nearby that bakes their bread in the wood-fired oven (note Maltese cross on the oven door) shown below. According to an article in the Times of Malta, this bakery has been in business for over 130 years!
Beautiful just-out-of-the-oven loaves of Maltese bread look like this!
There isn’t a sign on the door at Trofimus Bakery (shown below) but we can smell the aroma of fresh-baked bread as we approach!
And, we couldn’t wait to take a bite of this wood-fire-oven-baked jam tart. These tiny tarts are also made with apple or mince filling. Yum!!
Our least favorite treat was this ‘honey ring’ made with traces of tangerine, lemon and orange. It’s a traditional Christmas item and the honey ring pictured below was likely baked well before the holidays and probably why this one tasted especially stale.
We like a chain of fast-food restaurants called Eeet Well for good salads, sandwiches, grain bowls, and wraps.
As for drinks, the local favorite beer is Cisk – an ordinary lager. The local soft drink is Kinnie – brewed from bitter oranges and extracts of wormwood. We like it!
Maltese food is simple, not fancy or fussy, no slick presentation but it’s good, hearty, and inexpensive.
Our next stop in a couple of days is Ortygia, Sicily where we have happy memories of delicious dining!
Cheers!
Sharon and Larry