Top 10 Traditional Foods and Drink to Try in Malta

#1 - Pastizz

Pastizz is a popular street food in Malta, as you will see food stands and cafes serving it all throughout the country. It is flaky phyllo pastry that is usually filled with either ricotta cheese or smashed peas. There are other flavours, such as beef, anchovies, and spinach.

#2 - Rabbit Stew

There is no shortage of rabbit in Malta. The Maltese use it in a lot of their dishes - the most popular is in a stew form. It’s rabbit that has been slow-cooked with vegetables, spices, tomato sauce, and red wine. Enjoy with some nice bread and you’re in for a good meal!

#3 - Ftira

Speaking of bread, the most traditional bread in Malta is Ftira. Its most common form is a sandwich, which you can find as a quick breakfast or lunch around the country. A traditional sandwich would include tuna, sardines, olives, and capers. It is absolutely delicious (our personal favourite dish).

#4 - Alijotta

Another traditional soup in Malta is Alijotta. Alijotta is a savoury fish soup with rockfish, garlic, fried onions, mint, tomatoes, and rice that is usually garnished with lemon juice and fresh parsley. It is super savoury and rich, depending on where you try it. We noticed some restaurants have their own variations of it, with some being smooth and others being chunky.

#5 - Platt Malti

This is essentially a mezze plate for Malta. It consists of bigilla (mashed tic beans), cheese, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers, crackers, ftira, tomato sauce, large beans, and other accompaniments. If you just want to sample lots of local cuisine, this is a good option to order.

#6 - Kannoli tal-Irkotta

Since Malta is so close to Sicily, it makes sense that Sicilian foods would show up in Maltese cooking. None is more evident than kannoli tal-Irkotta. Yes, you can get countless varieties of a cannoli anywhere in Malta. In our personal experience, it definitely tastes authentic and just what you would get in Italy. What’s fun is all the coloured cannolis you can find throughout the country.

#7 - Qaghaq tal-Ghasel

This dessert translates to honey ring. It’s a pastry made with treacle, orange zest, spices, semolina, sugar, and cocoa. They are rolled into rings and baked until cooked all the way. Although its more of a Christmas treat, you can usually find this year-round in Malta. Since it’s dense, we recommend eating this with coffee or tea.

#8 - Imqaret

Another street food (and one we recommend enjoying with coffee or tea) is imqaret. It is a sweet pastry that is filled with dates and is lightly fried (kind of giving off a theme park fried treat taste). Depending on where you buy it, it can be either good or bad. We recommend getting it from a cafe rather than an actual street vendor. It tasted fresher and better to us.

#9 - Kinnie

Perhaps the most popular soda in Malta is Kinnie. You will see it EVERYWHERE. It is a bitter orange soda - definitely an acquired taste. If you like intense bitter flavours, you will love this drink. If not, make sure somebody is taking a video of you during your first sip. Memories will be made!

10 - Cisk

Last is a drink that you will also see absolutely EVERYWHERE. It is the beer of choice here in Malta. Cisk is a light lager beer that originated in 1929 and has been dominant here in Malta every since. For someone who doesn’t like or drink beer, I found the taste of this one quite nice. Definitely worth a try while on your visit to Malta!