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Traditional Maltese cuisine is Italian in origin, but "international" food is on most restaurant menus as well. Locally caught fish is a specialty. The national dish is fenek (rabbit); bra?joli (beef olives) and lampuki (dorado) pie are runners-up. Pastry coats fish, vegetables, cheese, and pasta dishes. Soups, minestra (minestr
Traditional Maltese cuisine is Italian in origin, but "international" food is on most restaurant menus as well. Locally caught fish is a specialty. The national dish is fenek (rabbit); bra?joli (beef olives) and lampuki (dorado) pie are runners-up. Pastry coats fish, ve
Traditional Maltese cuisine is Italian in origin, but "international" food is on most restaurant menus as well. Locally
Traditional Maltese cuisine is Italian in origin, but "international" food is on most restaurant menus as well. Locally caught fish is a specialty. The national dish is fenek (rabbit); bra?joli (beef olives) and lampuki (dorado) pie are runners-up. Pastry coats fish, vegetables, cheese, and pasta dishes. Soups, minestra (minestrone) and aljotta (fish) especially, are common, and are delicious with daily baked crusty Maltese bread. Capers, the buds of the caperis specicum shrub that is native to the islands, are widely used. Native wine is abundant and inexpensive; look for medium-dry whites. Cisk lager is a local favorite, and try Hop Leaf pale ale for something with a bit more bite. Kinnie, a terrific nonalcoholic thirst quencher, is made from a "secret recipe" that includes bitter oranges.
One of the current rising stars of Malta's dining scene is Jonathan Brincat, owner-chef of the much talked-about Noni, a chic, cozy escape set in a former jazz bar. The menu is a studied, elegant affair taking a number of Maltese and Mediterranean classics and fine-tuning them with a bit of French flair, from saddle of rabbit with confit croquette to a crackling smoked rib "gyoza" that accompanies the pork to smoky chorzio bean puree. It also has one of the better wine lists in town. Book early to get a table downstairs in the stone cellar and avoid the chilly overflow tables on the ground floor.
Leading politicians and the fashionable alike dine here on haute Maltese-Italian cuisine. Dishes hit the heights with pan-seared boneless quail and veal chops, and the day's catch is usually reliable. Tables on the open balcony-style terrace overlook the Sliema waterfront, but if it's too hot outside, try the table just inside the open full-length windows to get the best view combined with a little cool air. There is a lounge downstairs; the restaurant is on the fifth floor. An elevator only takes you part of the way; you'll still have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the restaurant.
23 Windmill St., Valletta, N/A Malta, VLT 1351, Malta
This inventive Maltese trattoria has a menu that takes traditional, seasonal ingredients and tries to do something a little different with them, from a tempting starter of pork cheek lasagne to rabbit done "three ways." It's set in a 400-year-old vaulted stone building, with a series of small, simply furnished and elegantly lit dining spaces. When the restaurant is full, space can be a little tight.
22 Old Bakery St., Valletta, N/A Malta, VLT 1459, Malta
While most of the restaurants lining Marsaxlokk's waterfront are rather cheap and cheerful, aimed more at the ravenous lunchtime crowd, Tartarun not only skews more upscale but also makes superb use of the island's seafood—it is literally fresh off the boat. The atmosphere buzzes with intent, and light pours through its huge windows. There's no terrace, but you'll get more than a taste of the sea from the menu, with the prawn carpaccio a classic opener, followed by roasted sea bass and clam sauce and fried lentil or perhaps one of the fine local lobsters.
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