Maltese Street Food — From Pastizzi to Ftira and Beyond

Maklowicz dedicates an entire scene to pastizzi: "Pastizzi is precisely this — a type of savoury pastry most often filled with either ricotta or green peas." But Maltese street food goes much further.

Pastizzi — King of the Street (€0.50)

Crispy filo pastry in a diamond shape, filled with ricotta (pastizzi tal-irkotta) or peas (pastizzi tal-piżelli). Sold in "pastizzeriji" — simple shops open from dawn. Most famous: Crystal Palace in Rabat, Serkin in Rabat, Is-Serkin in Mosta.

Ftira — Gozitan Bread (€3-5)

Round, flat sourdough bread with olive oil, tomatoes, tuna, capers and olives. On Gozo it's an institution — every bakery has its own recipe. On Malta, authentic ftira is harder to find.

Hobż biż-Żejt — The Maltese Sandwich (€2-4)

Literally "bread with oil" — Maltese bread rubbed with tomato, drizzled with olive oil, with tuna, capers, olives. The traditional lunch of workers and fishermen.

Other Street Flavours

• Imqaret — fried pastries with date paste, €1
• Qassatat — pastizzi variant with spinach and anchovies
• Kinnie — bitter-sweet orange and herb drink, €1-2
• Cisk — Maltese beer, €2-3 at a bar

In Malta you can eat superbly for €5-10 a day by eating like the locals on the street.