Food Tour in Valletta, Malta

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One way to get to know a place you have never visited is by taking a “food tour.” It is a quick introduction to the history and culture of a city. So, when I visited the city of Valletta, on Malta, one of the first things I did was to sign up for a culinary excursion of the city.


Valletta City Walls


I used the Viator app and found the highly rated (4.9/5.0) Valletta Food Tour. Our guide was Romina, a Maltese native. She met us just outside the city gate, at the Triton’s Fountain. The fountain was finish in 1959, in conjunction with the construction of a new bus terminal for the city. It underwent restoration in 2017. The plaza is paved with limestone tiles that are chockfull of fossils.

Triton's Fountain

Fossils in the paving stones



Romina started us off with two wonderful pastries called pastizzi. These are traditional Maltese treats made of a dough similar to Greek filo. They usually filled either ricotta cheese or mushy peas.


Ricotta Pastizzi 

Pastizzi with mushy peas


We then entered the city through the newest version of Valletta’s City Gates. This open passage was designed by Renzo Piano as part of project that included a new home for the country’s parliament, and a conversion of the former National Opera House, destroyed during World War II, into an outdoor theater.


Valletta City Gate

Opera House Theater

Our next stop was at an outdoor fruit stand, where we were treated to some amazing locally grown strawberries.




The Museum Cafe has been serving Valletta since 1921. Our visit was an opportunity to sample imqaret, a fried pastry filled with dates. Imqaret was brought to Malta by Arab immigrants during the Ottoman control of the island between the 9th and 11th centuries.



Imqaret


We continued along Melita Street to The Chocolate District. This is a modern shop in the old city, selling coffee and chocolate. Maltese coffee is a dark espresso brew flavored with cloves, chicory, and aniseed. They also sell a wide variety of flavored dark chocolate.









Romina brought us next to the Cafe Micallef, on St. Paul Street. We were served an Italian based called dish a polpette. This was a meatball in tomato sauce. I enjoyed it so much that I return later in the week for a dinner of spaghetti with rabbit.


Polpetta with Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Rabbit


Our final stop was at the Societa Fil. Noz. La Vallette. This 150 Year-old Maltese restaurant is run by the local philharmonic society to help raise money for its music school. We had a wonderful charcuterie plate and a tuna sandwich served on a traditional roll.



Tuna Sandwich


A food tour is a great way to learn about the history and culture of a place, and this was a wonderful tour. But make sure that you are hungry, because   there is a lot of food to enjoy.

Nuts and Bolts


  • Valletta Food Tour via viator.com 
  • The cost is €60 per person. 
  • It is a 3.5 hour walk along mostly flat terrain (there was one decent hill) with cobblestone streets.
Location: Valletta, Malta

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