A pastizz or pastizzi in plural, is a traditional pastry of Malta. The shell is like puff pastry and is filled with various savory things. If you do some research on traditional Maltese food, this one will be on most lists. You can find pastizzerias all over the island. One particular one I went to was near the hotel in St Julian, and was called Shawn’s Pastizzeria.
The have a store front on the sidewalk and display case where you order, and then there is outdoor seating for your to enjoy the meal.
After a week+ travelling in Europe, I will always start to crave Asian food. One lunch, I decided to try one in Malta as recommended by the Michelin Guide. Here is what the guide says: “they offer an appealing blackboard menu of Asian classics. Cooking is fresh and authentic, with bold, vibrant flavours.” Would this be the case? Lets find out.
We started with the tori karaage described as “Japanese crispy fried chicken coated with a homemade sweet chilli sauce” and crispy fried calamari “with a tangy Thai dressing and wasabi mayo”.
In general, I have found success using the Michelin guide more often than not. However, in Malta, I found the guide off. Only 1/5 restaurants in the guide were good. That’s a 20% success rate. The guide in Malta needs to be revised. This brings us to the topic of this post – Caviar and Bull – which is included in the Guide. The description from the Guide says “this chic restaurant overlooking the bay specialises in top brand caviar and aged AAA Canadian beef – although you’ll find plenty of seafood too”. Chic? Yes! The rest? Lets find out. The meal started with an amuse and some butter.
Noni is a one Michelin starred restaurant located in Europe’s smallest capital city – Valletta, Malta. We dined here on New Year’s Eve before hitting the club, and it was my favorite meal in Malta. The setting, service and food were near perfect. Here was the menu for the evening.
The first course was the oyster and one of my only minor feedbacks from the meal. The oyster was delicious but I feel like oysters should be served cold. This one was more room temperature.
Malta is the 10th smallest country in the world. Look on a map. Its a dot compared to nearby Sicily. You can drive around various points in the entire country in less than an hour. One of my favorite places I went to in Malta, on a recent trip, was the city of Mdina. If you like medieval fairytale Europe, then you will love Mdina.
The city is fortified and perched on a hill. As we approached it by car, I was in awe. This picture does not capture the beauty and amazement of the city.
