Where to eat in Valletta

To celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary they took the whole family to Malta for a week in May. We were lucky to stay at the Phoenicia hotel, just outside the Valletta city walls (literally overlooking them!).

I’m writing a few posts about our stay, this one is all about the food, but it isn’t all about formal dining – I’ve included seven of our discoveries in Valletta for everything from ice cream treats, pizza, fine dining, fish and of course drinking!

The family on mum and dad’s 40th anniversary.

Where to eat in Valletta, Malta

Michael’s for fish

First up is Michael’s. This place was recommended by the lady in the glass shop as top notch for fish.

Set inside the Civil Service Sport Club, Michael’s is a posh restaurant and seemed to be for those dressing up and having a formal occasion. We were the only family group there and only the second large table – most were tables of two, with couples sharing a starter and dessert and feasting on the fish mains.

Dad was upset that we were seated in the side room, instead of the main room with much more grandeur in the decor! (And a view of the open kitchen). We were, naturally if you know my family, the loudest people in the restaurant! We don’t do restrained, we do drink a lot of good wine and we do expect good service, always!

After seating us in the side room we were unfortunately ignored for 10 minutes – that’s without having menus to read, water poured to drink or any bread – basically none of the usual things you expect when you are seated at a restaurant where you made a reservation (i.e. we weren’t surprising them with a sudden large table). Eventually we made contact with a waiter and all those things came, along with suggestions for the best fish to try in their special potato preparation, and local wine.

The baked fish parcel – layering up the thinly sliced potato means that the juices are kept in and the fish is moist. This was lovely, especially with the Pernod sauce and local herbs.

Whilst the fish mains were a hit, some of the “fusion” starters missed the mark slightly. A gorgeous looking duck with foie gras Bon bons, was a miss as the foie gras was coated in dark chocolate that meant you couldn’t taste its subtlety. A tuna tartare with mango and avocado with Bloody Mary sauce (aka tomato sauce!), was too much, both in size and number of flavours.

However desserts were sublime! We had these with a glass of local dessert wine.

Chocolate tart with Parmesan ice cream – sounds weird, but was lightly flavoured and the sweet and savoury mix worked really well!

After the initial stumble over the service, we found Michael’s to be good, with plenty of attention from the wine waiter and some good recommendations. Worth it for a posh meal, if you like a restrained formal atmosphere!

Margo’s for pizza

Someone at Margo’s is social media savvy, as they tweeted me to come try it out! We had already seen the sign (one of mum’s friends is called Margo), so we popped in one day for lunch.

Set inside one of the old traditional townhouses in Valletta – just the other side of the presidential palace on the central road, Margo’s is just around the corner from Michael’s (Valletta really isn’t that big!)

In typical family style we completely over ordered… We started with their burrata salad with a lemon and honey dressing, plates of home smoked meats and sausages to share and then a pizza each! (Oh and did I mention the wine?!)

Mmmm all the pizza!

The pizza choices all sounded amazing and the focus is on local quality ingredients. We were stuffed though! We ended up spending so much for lunch that they gave us free gelato.

Amorino for ice cream

Amorino is on the main drag before the square with the library building. They are quite unique in how they serve the ice cream:

You don’t pick an ice cream size as such, just the flavours you want and they build it like a flower, flavoured petal by petal.

We thought it was so good we went back for more! Perfect for the hot days in Valletta – athough you need to focus on eating before it melts…

Club bar @Hotel Phoenicia for cocktails

We definitely made friends at the hotel bar! Sergio looked after us well, realising that we would be frequenting twice a day for a week! (Pre and post dinner drinks naturally – we were on holiday and had something to celebrate!)

Brandy Alexander cocktail at the Club Bar

This was my Brandy Alexander – dessert in a glass!

I really liked the interior of the bar – it felt more intimate than other areas in the hotel.

Posing!

Sergio made a mean Negroni! This was perfect for an aperitif pre dinner.

Obviously I had to try the local liqueur made from prickly pears

Rampila for the view

Rampila is the first restaurant you see when entering Valletta old town as it’s nestled within the city ramparts – hence the name.

Rampila restaurant view from the entrance to Valletta old town

View of the restaurant during the day.

Dad was concerned that this would make it overly touristy, or that the view out would be a let down. But when we were there on the terrace it was still gorgeous. The restaurant was thoughtfully decorated with plants and fairy lights and being between the stone walls and covered with umbrellas made it feel cosy.

Sarah and Dad at the start of the meal.

The other half of the family as dusk was falling

So pretty!

As you can guess Rampila is rated as one of the most romantic restaurants in Valletta, but even for our group it was magical. The food, the atmosphere, rated it as one of the top meals my Dad had on holiday – I think he felt this even more when I picked up the bill <gulp>!

Whilst I didn’t get any pictures of the food, it was lovely and well presented. We had 3 courses, with prosecco to start and a lightly sparkling moscato with dessert. Mum’s lamb main was absolutely stunning – it was like a deconstructed kebab, but with amazing flavours (I.e nothing like the kebab you get at 1am on the high street Saturday night!), the meat grilled to perfection and the sauces superb.

Well worth checking out – even if it’s just for their set lunch menu!

Pegasus for fine dining & fine wine

Whilst we dined a few nights at the main restaurant in the hotel, including trying out the traditional Maltese buffet, for their anniversary we decided to try the “fine dining” restaurant Pegasus. If you do try out the main restaurant at the Phoenicia, the seared tuna with aubergine in the a la carte menu is amazing.

Pegasus is smaller and more intimate than the main restaurant and has a separate kitchen.

First class food, presented beautifully like this prawn starter!

Mum skipped starters and I ate lightly, choosing the fish, as we all had our eyes on dessert – crêpe Suzettes, made at the table and a must to order in honour of our mum Susan!

The head waiter did a great job flambé the crêpes!

We started a trend in the restaurant, so impressive was the effect, so the waiter had to make crêpes for every other table after ours!

Try the Isis Maltese Chardonnay – lovely and unoaked for those that don’t like the traditional French oaked Chardonnays – a real treat!

A Mocio Mio

The final recommendation is Mocio Mio – we stumbled in here for lunch after visits the Maltese Experience show (that’s another blog post coming soon!). Tucked in a side street, but with plenty of signs from the Barraca gardens, it was a great impromptu find.