Maltese food is its own thing – a mix of Sicilian, North African and British influences built around flaky pastizzi, crusty ftira, slow-cooked rabbit and whatever the boats land that morning. The quickest way to get under its skin is a guided street food walk through Valletta, tasting as you go while a local explains what you're eating. It's cheap to eat well here, the portions are generous, and a tour takes the guesswork out of finding the good stuff. Here's what to try and how to taste your way around.
- 01Maltese food is its own thing – a Sicilian, North African and British mash-up that rewards a bit of guidance to eat well.
- 02A guided tour is the fast way in: it does the curating, so you learn what you like and where to go back for the rest of the trip.
- 03Eat like a local and it's genuinely cheap – the trick is stepping a street back from the seafront tourist menus.
- 04Best done early in a trip, so your later meals are spent chasing the dishes you discovered you liked.
- 05It doubles as a sightseeing walk through Valletta, so it earns its place even on a packed itinerary.
What is Maltese food like?
It's hearty, rustic and built on what the islands have to hand – not refined fine dining, but generous home cooking with deep roots. Centuries of Sicilian, North African and British rule all left a mark, so you'll spot Italian pasta, Arabic spicing and the odd very British touch on the same menu.
The base is bread, pork, rabbit and seafood, dressed up with sun-ripened tomatoes, capers, olives and local cheese. It's the kind of food that rewards a long, slow lunch rather than a quick bite.
It also stays kind on the wallet, which is part of why Malta is good value for eating out. The headline dishes are cheap, filling and everywhere.
The dishes to try
Start with the pastizz – a flaky, diamond-shaped pastry filled with ricotta or mushy peas, sold hot from hole-in-the-wall kavas for small change. It's the national snack and the first thing any food tour hands you.
The national dish proper is fenek, or rabbit, slow-cooked in wine and garlic and served either as a stew or with the pasta-like first course of a traditional fenkata feast. For something handheld, look for ftira – a ring of crusty Maltese bread split and filled with tuna, tomatoes, capers, olives and olive oil.
Round it off with a Maltese platter of bigilla bean dip, gbejniet (small sheep's cheeselets), sun-dried tomatoes and cured sausage, and a sweet imqaret – a date-filled pastry – to finish. Wash it down with a Kinnie, the island's bittersweet orange-and-herb soft drink, or a glass of local wine.
The best way to taste it: a Valletta food tour
The most efficient way to try a lot of this in one go is a guided street food walk through Valletta. Over about three hours you move between bakeries, kavas and tucked-away spots, tasting as you go, while a local guide ties the food to the city's history.
It works as a first-day plan in particular: you come away knowing what the dishes are, which ones you liked, and where to go back for more. You can book the Valletta street food and culture tour ahead, as the small groups sell out in season.
It also doubles as a sightseeing walk, so it pairs neatly with a wider day exploring the capital – our things to do in Valletta guide covers the rest of the old city.
Where to eat the local way
Away from a tour, the rule is simple: step back from the seafront. The tourist strips in Sliema and St Julian's charge a premium for the view, while the same food at local rates is a street or two inland, or out in the villages.
For seafood, the fishing village of Marsaxlokk is the destination – the harbour restaurants serve the morning's catch, and the Sunday market is a feast in itself. Valletta and the Three Cities, meanwhile, hold the most interesting modern kitchens and wine bars.
To go beyond the plate, a Maltese wine tasting pairs the local Ġellewża and Girgentina wines with cheeses and cured meats – a natural follow-on from a food tour.
What it costs to eat in Malta
Cheaply, if you eat like a local. A pastizz is under a euro, a filled ftira a few euros, and a casual sit-down lunch is around €10–15 – well below most of Western Europe.
A guided food tour costs more, around €55, but it bundles a run of tastings, the walk and the local knowledge into one booking. Think of it as the curated intro, then eat your way around on your own for the rest of the trip.
Featured image: Renata Apan / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
