St Julian's has more restaurants than it has streets. Here is how to find the one cooking the food this island actually eats.
St Julian's will feed you anything. Sushi, burgers, a pizza the size of a car bonnet. What it does not always offer is the food people here grew up on — the slow, unhurried island cooking that comes out of a Maltese kitchen on a Sunday.
That food still exists. You just have to know what to look for.
Three things worth checking
Look for rabbit on the menu. Stuffat tal-fenek takes hours and cannot be faked, so a kitchen that cooks it properly is a kitchen that cooks everything else properly too. Look for fish that changes with the season rather than a laminated list that never moves. And listen to the room — if you hear Maltese spoken at the next table, you have found the right place.
At Gozitan we have been doing it the same way in the heart of Paceville for years. Rabbit braised slowly in wine and garlic. Fish landed that morning. Bragoli, aljotta, ġbejniet from Gozo. Recipes handed down rather than invented.
Real Maltese food is not a theme. It is just what we cook.
We are open every day, from a quarter to noon until a quarter to midnight, a short walk from Spinola Bay.
St Julian's will feed you anything. Sushi, burgers, a pizza the size of a car bonnet. What it does not always offer is the food people here grew up on — the slow, unhurried island cooking that comes out of a Maltese kitchen on a Sunday.
That food still exists. You just have to know what to look for.
Three things worth checking
Look for rabbit on the menu. Stuffat tal-fenek takes hours and cannot be faked, so a kitchen that cooks it properly is a kitchen that cooks everything else properly too. Look for fish that changes with the season rather than a laminated list that never moves. And listen to the room — if you hear Maltese spoken at the next table, you have found the right place.
At Gozitan we have been doing it the same way in the heart of Paceville for years. Rabbit braised slowly in wine and garlic. Fish landed that morning. Bragoli, aljotta, ġbejniet from Gozo. Recipes handed down rather than invented.
Real Maltese food is not a theme. It is just what we cook.
We are open every day, from a quarter to noon until a quarter to midnight, a short walk from Spinola Bay.
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