Favorite Traditional Maltese Dishes Worth Trying
The Cuisine of Malta Blends a Number of Mediterranean Influences
May 31, 2009
It is hard to find truly unique Maltese dishes: for the most part, Maltese recipes bear strong Italian (especially Sicilian) influences, with other Mediterranean and Continental cuisines thrown in.
Knowing Your Way Through a Maltese Menu
A specialty you should look for on local menus is Gbejna (or Gbejniet, pronounced J-bay-nieet) a very popular pungent cheese made form goat's milk. Gbejna always features prominently in Maltese platters and Cheese platters, two popular entrées which may be shared as a starter or ordered as an appetizing main dish.
Huge stuffed ravioli (Ravjul in Maltese) are also very popular on restaurant menus, and come with different fillings as well as served with a variety of sauces. Minestra, a thick vegetable soup, is not unlike the italian minestrone; another variation, Kawlata, is made with beans and pork.
Timpana is a mixture of ricotta cheese, macaroni, minced meat, tomato purée, aubergines, onions and eggs encased in pastry and baked (often only two or three of the ingredients are included, and another variation is to substitute rice for the macaroni).
Rabbit (Fenek) is a favourite dish among meat dishes, and there are farmers on the island who specialize in breeding rabbits for restaurants. Popular recipes are fried rabbit and rabbit casserole.
Brajioli are meat parcels created by mixing together meat, bacon, eggs, onions and breadcrumbs, wrapping the result in thin slices of steak.
Traditional Maltese Fish Dishes
Fish are in abundant supply in the waters of the islands, but their presence on the menu is always subject to weather conditions.
The tasties fish to look out for are swordfish (pixxispad pronounced pishee-spad) and dentice (a delicate white-meat fish). If your like seafood, octopus stew is an excellent option.
However, Malta's favorite fish is Llampuki. It is caught between September and October and often served as the national dish, lampuki pie (Torta tal-Lampuka in Maltese): the fish is filleted; tomatoes, cauliflower, onions and olives are placed around it; finally, everything is covered in pastry and baked.
Maltese and Gozitan Wine Styles
Gourmets who believe the old rule of thumb that a country's food is best complimented by local wine, should not pass the opportunity to sample the local labels, ranging from white to red and rosé.
Although foreign wines have become more affordable since Malta joined the European Union and had to conform its import taxes to European standards, Maltese and Gozitan wines are actively promoted both in the local shops and on the wine lists of most restaurants - with good reason too, since Maltese Wines have improved dramatically in recent years.
Maltese Beer and Soft Drinks
Local beer is excellent and so are the locally produced fizzy non-alcoholic drinks. Perhaps the most popular soft drink is Kinnie, a bitter-sweet and aromatic drink. It could be said to be a national drink as its recipe is Maltese and it is said to out-sell every other fizzy drink on the islands. Kinnie is often described as an acquired taste and "Malta's answer to Coca Cola and root beer rolled into one".
Maltese beers -- namely Cisk Lager and Hopleaf Pale Ale -- have won numerous prestigious international awards and are very popular with both the locals and visitors.
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