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Maltese Musings #2 – Dining Out and Pizza Dodging
Now, if you’re going to eat out in Malta there’s one thing you really should expect to find above all others: Pizzerias. We went our entire stay trying – often vainly – to avoid the bloody things in fact. The bulk of restaurants you can find are, essentially, Italian.
That said, this is perhaps not entirely surprising given the following factors:
- Malta’s proximity to Sicily;
- The general lack of experimentation displayed by most British holidaymakers; and
- Malta’s sole contribution to culinary innovation being Rabbit Stew.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I like Pizza, and I like Pasta, but a week of it would probably have me trying to stove my head in with a Tiramisu. But with a little careful digging it?’s not actually difficult to find some excellent eateries covering a variety of disciplines.
Our favourite finds were as follows, so if you ever go over there I’d recommend a look-see:
Barracuda in Sliema: a very civilised place serving small yet filling main courses, delicious deserts and hangover-inducing coffees. It was so good we went twice and the swordfish is very highly recommended.
Zest in St. Julian’s: offers a mouthwatering and hearty East-meets-West Fusion menu and will forever be remembered as the place which introduced us to the local liquers, particularly one made from Prickly Pear (bottles of which returned with us).
Kitchen in Sliema: not only served gorgeous pre-prandial cocktails, had an amazing award-winning menu – I even had a vegetarian option it looked so good – but also the staff were gorgeous which is always a boon. (The waiter was probably the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen, and the women were stunning too.)
And finally, The Blue Room in Valetta provided us with what is simply the best Chinese food we have collectively ever tasted. (This was no typical Chinese restaurant with cliched decor, either, everything was supremely stylish.) Downside is that it’s probably ruined all future Chinese meals for us by setting such a standard, but hey.
There were others, I must say, but these were by far the best.
One other point, I suppose I should make though, is that outside eating is to be discouraged. Even in October the tables are beset with flies and for some reason the Maltese have a major aversion to actually taking steps to combat this. Most odd…
Posted on October 23, 2008 | Filed Under Holiday Excess
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