Malta's hotspots: wine bars

The newest restaurants, bars and cafes in Malta and Gozo.

It's always great to find a new bar, restaurant or coffee shop.
Whether you are just looking for the perfect capuccino, the tastiest take-out or want to surprise your partner with a romantic dinner,
I aim to provide you with the info on what's out there and how to get there.

Opening soon:

Pizza Hut at PAVI supermarket.

ITALIAN pizza and pasta restaurant at Malta International Airport.

Please note that you can search this blog to find all of the types of venue or the town you are looking for, eg 'wine bar' 'outdoor' 'Wi-Fi'.

There is also a Google Map Search gadget further down to help you locate featured places. Search for 'Town' 'Malta'.

If you have details of a new bar, restaurant or cafe, please send them to me at: zillahbugeja@gmail.com

Why not bookmark this site so you can return easily?

Showing posts with label wine bars. Show all posts

Monday, July 13, 2009

Wine bar in Mosta

Il Vecchio Forno
Set in what used to be an old bakery from 1903 to 1973, a wood-burning oven is still used to make focaccias, and pizzas. Other food includes dips, cheese and platters, Italian ravioli, piadine (wraps) and specialities of the day. Apart from a wide selection of wine, Il Vecchio Forno imports Rinascimento organic wine from Tuscany.
This is on the main road, one-way system leading from Mosta Dome, right hand side.
27, Eucharistic Congress Road, Mosta. Tel: Billy Grech 2142 1461,7970 6311. Opening hours Monday to Sunday 19.30pm till late.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tapas in Sliema

Ciao Fra Wine & Local Tapas
12 different selections of tapas every evening, your hosts will keep bringing tapas to your table until you tell them to stop. The home-cooked range includes relishes, sausages, stews, dips, pates, aged cheeses, seafood, grilled skewers, stuffed vegetables and marinated meats. The price per person for every serving of tapas is Eur3.
Sundays will offer special seafood tapas.
Cosy, intimate, modern setting. Small outdoor seating/smoking area.
Open evenings (except Tuesdays) from 19:00 onwards.
Quiz nights on Thursdays Time: 8:30pm - 10:45pm.
Free parking: With a bottle of wine, an hour free at Sliema Car Park.
Tel: David Darmanin on 9945 8567, 2134 1362, Alborada Building, High Street, Sliema. Same street as Tower car park, you have to go into the arcade that is opposite Casa Natura health food shop.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bugibba wine bar

Re Vino
Wine Bar, Bugibba.
Seafront, opposite McDonalds Bugibba. Opening hours 20.00 – 24.00. Tel 9945 8018, 2157 3304.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Central spot

DeVine wine bar and snack shack
Salads, pies, wraps, fruit platters, rice salad, mixed platters. Open from 10am till late. Set in a garden, background music.
Athenaeum Spa, Corinthia Palace Hotel and Spa, DePaule Avenue, Balzan. Tel 9920 6180.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tarxien wine bar

It-Tirx wine bar, Tarxien
Family-run wine bar serving platters, Maltese food, rabbit to order, buffet in winter. Private functions and art exhibitions. Roof terrace. 280 types of wine. Own label Tirx/Sant Anna wines.
The building dates from time of the Knights of St John, it was used to roast the corn before it went to be milled to be made into flour and eventually bread. 'Tirx' means large rock.
Directions - From Main Street just past Il-Kastell wine bar, come to San Bert chapel, just past it go up the side street called Triq il-Blata and it is just behind that. Alternatively: enter Tarxien from Paola, past local council, keep going straight at fork in road keeping the Stubbs' residence Villa Tarxien on your left, you will soon come to a chapel on your left, park there and go down Triq il-Blata.
Open Wed - Sat evenings only. Tel: 2180 0037, 7923 0808. 14, Triq Sant Anna, Tarxien.

How this blog originated

Why would I want to write about new restaurants in Malta? It seems like Malta is overrun by restaurants. I remember when my family opened the Al Fresco in Birzebugia 1984 and we were immediately packed out, with people sitting on the walls eating their food. They were hungry, not simply literally, for new places to go.

Times have changed and the competition is fierce. I can recall the days when burger buns didn’t exist, a burger was served on toasted sliced bread. The first pizza, that famous semi-freddo dessert in Valletta...ah, such good memories. Those were the days when going to the cinema was an exciting event too, even though the cinemas were full of sweet wrappers, for some reason we often had to queue outside, there was a limited choice of sweets, those awful home-made crisps that had salt in separate plastic bags. And people smoked inside the cinema! But for some reason it was great fun. Whether you watched the film or not, you know what I mean…

Something drove me to want to provide information on the newest places to eat and drink. I can't explain it, but I decided to give it a try. Imagine my shock and horror when it seemed like almost everyone I spoke to about the idea, either had had the same idea or someone in their family wanted to do it. Should I take the risk of losing friends, or worse still, not do it and possibly neither of us would? I decided to give it a shot, just to see how it would go.

It takes a lot of work, like everything worth doing. I am learning about the internet and search engine optimisation and you name it, along the way.

What is fascinating about the restaurant and coffee shop scene is that it is being inundated by the Italians. They are opening places here because they can easily, quickly and cheaply import their ingredients, and because our restaurant prices are generally higher than in bella Italia, they stand to make more profit. That is what I have been told. So now we have coffee shops and restaurants which really do make you feel like you are in Italy. While competition is always a good thing, local catering places may need to pull their socks up and I do feel it is regretful that local producers' goods aren't being bought. Thoughts about our carbon footprint are yet to be considered.

Even though we are a tiny island, you can eat Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, Greek, Chinese, Turkish fast food, Bulgarian and Russian. Let me know if there are any I have left out.

Maltese food is making a come-back at wine bars, serving the de rigeur platter of pickles, goat’s cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and olives with crackers and delicious Maltese bread. This is not how we eat at home though, it is more like an advert for Maltese food for the foreigners, more like appetizers than a meal.

I would like to see more creativity using local produce and the creation of a new Maltese cuisine, where chefs use local ingredients in innovative ways. I have always thought that sweet pastizzi would work well – pastizzi are ricotta-filled pies made from flaky pastry. And I feel we still have a long way to go towards the appreciation of healthy food. Never mind. We’ll get there.

For visitors to the islands, there is an enormous choice of places to eat. I would recommend the ‘workers’ places, the heaving lunch-time restaurants where you choose from what’s available, prices are good, service is quick. Andrew’s Bar in Birkirkara and Mgarr Farmers Bar in Zebbiegh are my favourites. That is as far as I will go with recommending places, because there are so many great restaurants, especially in the five star hotels. But also, Murphy’s Law where anything that can go wrong, will, is part and parcel of the catering world. That is why this is just an informative blog on the newest restaurants, bars and cafes. I feel it is only fair.

Malta's hotspots

The newest restaurants, bars and cafes in Malta and Gozo.

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