Maltese Food: 15 Traditional Dishes to Try and Where to Eat Them

Maltese food is a mix of Sicilian, North African, Arab and British influences, cooked with what grows on the islands and what comes out of the sea. Here at Experiences Malta, these are the traditional dishes we tell every visitor to try, the local drinks to order with them and where to find the best versions.

15 Traditional Maltese Dishes to Try

1. Pastizzi

Malta’s favourite snack: diamond-shaped pockets of flaky pastry filled with ricotta (tal-irkotta) or mushy peas (tal-piżelli). They are cheap, served hot from bakeries and pastizzi bars all over the islands, and usually eaten with a cup of tea.

2. Ftira

A ring-shaped, flattened sourdough bread. Its culinary art and culture was added to UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. Eat it as a sandwich filled with tomato paste, tuna, olives and capers, or Gozo-style, baked with toppings like a pizza.

3. Ħobż biż-Żejt

The classic Maltese summer snack: thick slices of crusty Maltese bread rubbed with tomato paste (kunserva) and olive oil, topped with tuna, capers, olives and onion.

4. Stuffat tal-Fenek (Rabbit Stew)

Rabbit slow-cooked in red wine, garlic and tomatoes is widely seen as Malta’s national dish. A fenkata is a rabbit feast, often starting with spaghetti in the rabbit sauce followed by the fried or stewed meat.

5. Torta tal-Lampuki (Lampuki Pie)

Lampuki (dolphin fish, or mahi-mahi) is Malta’s best-loved seasonal fish. The season opens in mid-August and lampuki stays on menus to the end of the year, fried or baked in a pie with spinach, olives and capers.

6. Ġbejniet

Small round cheeses made from sheep’s milk, a speciality of Gozo. Try them fresh and soft, sun-dried, or coated in crushed black pepper.

7. Bigilla

A thick dip of mashed broad beans with garlic, herbs and chilli, served with bread or water biscuits (galletti). Often part of a Maltese platter.

8. Timpana

Baked macaroni in a rich meat and tomato sauce, bound with egg and cheese and baked inside a pastry crust. Hearty Sunday food.

9. Ross il-Forn

Baked rice with minced meat, tomatoes and eggs, cooked until the top is crisp. A family favourite and a good comfort meal.

10. Bragioli

Thin slices of beef rolled around a filling of breadcrumbs, egg, bacon and herbs, then slow-cooked in a tomato and wine sauce. Sometimes called beef olives.

11. Aljotta

A light fish soup with plenty of garlic, tomato, herbs and a little rice, finished with lemon. Best eaten by the sea in a fishing village like Marsaxlokk.

12. Qassatat

Round pastry parcels similar to pastizzi but made with a shortcrust-style pastry, filled with ricotta, peas or spinach and anchovies.

13. Kapunata

Malta’s version of caponata: aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, capers and olives slow-cooked together. Served warm or cold, often with fish.

14. Imqaret

Diamond-shaped pastries filled with spiced dates, deep-fried and best eaten hot from a street stall, especially at festas.

15. Kannoli and Qagħaq tal-Għasel

Maltese kannoli are crisp pastry tubes filled with sweet ricotta, often with candied fruit or chocolate. Qagħaq tal-għasel are rings of pastry filled with a dark treacle and citrus filling, eaten all year and especially at Christmas.

Maltese Drinks to Try

• Kinnie: Malta’s own soft drink, launched in 1952 and brewed from bitter oranges and extracts of wormwood. Bittersweet and very refreshing.
• Cisk: the island’s best-known lager, brewed by Simonds Farsons Cisk. The brewery that first made Cisk opened in 1929.
• Maltese wine: look for the native grapes Ġellewża (red) and Girgentina (white), and bottles marked DOK, Malta’s quality designation.
• Bajtra: a sweet liqueur made from prickly pears, which grow wild across the islands.

Where to Eat Maltese Food

Traditional food is easiest to find in small family restaurants, bakeries and village bars. These are some of the places we point people to:

• Pastizzi: Is-Serkin (Crystal Palace) in Rabat, near Mdina, open since the 1940s.
• Ftira: Nenu the Artisan Baker in Valletta, or Mekren Bakery in Nadur, Gozo.
• Maltese dishes in Valletta: Rubino, which holds a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand, and the wine bar Legligin for Maltese meze.
• Gozitan cheese: Ta’ Rikardu in the Citadel in Victoria.
• Farm to table: Diar il-Bniet in Dingli, a family restaurant cooking with produce from its own fields.

For our full list by area, including all of Malta’s MICHELIN-starred restaurants, read the best restaurants in Malta.

Malta’s Food Markets

• Marsaxlokk Sunday market: the fishing village in the south of Malta holds a big fish market on Sunday mornings, next to the colourful luzzu boats in the harbour. Go early, and stay for a seafood lunch.
• Is-Suq tal-Belt, Valletta: the capital’s restored 19th-century covered market, now a food hall with local snacks and drinks.

Maltese Food Calendar: What to Eat When

When	What to eat
Lent and Easter	Kwareżimal (spiced almond biscuits) and figolli (almond-filled Easter pastries)
29 June (Mnarja)	Rabbit, at the traditional folk festival at Buskett
Summer	Ħobż biż-żejt, ice cream and prickly pears
Mid-August to December	Lampuki, fried or in a pie
Festa season (June to September)	Nougat (qubbajt), imqaret and pastizzi from street stalls
Christmas	Qagħaq tal-għasel and imbuljuta, a warm chestnut and cocoa drink

See What’s On in Malta for festivals and festas where you can try street food.

What Travellers Say About Maltese Food

Maltese Food FAQ

What is the national dish of Malta?

Rabbit stew, stuffat tal-fenek, is widely seen as Malta’s national dish. Rabbit is often eaten as a fenkata, a feast that starts with spaghetti in rabbit sauce.

What are pastizzi?

Pastizzi are diamond-shaped pastries made with a flaky, layered dough and filled with ricotta or mushy peas. They are Malta’s most popular snack and cost very little.

Is Maltese food good for vegetarians?

There are plenty of options: pea pastizzi, bigilla, kapunata, ġbejniet and vegetable ftira are all meat-free. Most restaurants also offer vegetarian pasta and salads.

What should I drink in Malta?

Try Kinnie, the bittersweet local soft drink, Cisk lager, Maltese wine made from native grapes such as Ġellewża and Girgentina, and bajtra, a prickly pear liqueur.

Keep Planning

Sources: UNESCO: Il-Ftira, Kinnie (Wikipedia), Simonds Farsons Cisk (Wikipedia), GuideMeMalta: lampuki season, Is-Serkin (Wikipedia), Maltese cuisine (Wikipedia), r/solotravel: Malta thread.