It is pretty much impossible for me at this point to go to a city, especially in Europe, and not do a food tour.  As I’ve mentioned before in several articles, it’s a great way to get to know a city, try some traditional food, and find some hidden gems.  This time, I booked a private tour for three of us through Offbeat Malta Food Trails.  I would have done a regular tour of theirs, but at this time they were only being offered on Saturdays.  I typically like to go on a food tour earlier in the trip to find the good spots, and so waiting until our last day in Valletta was not an option for us.  Luckily, the folks at Offbeat were super accommodating and were able to set up a private tour for us.  The normal price of the tour is 70 euro per person, and our private tour was 90 euro per person. It’s not cheap, but it was definitely worth it to get all the good food, history and personalized attention.

We met our guide, Daniela, at 10am at the entrance to St. John’s Co-Cathedral. She is a licensed tour guide specializing in culinary tours.  She definitely knows her history and her food, and she was super fun to hang out with for a good part of the day.  Our first stop was the Museum Cafe, a family owned restaurant that has been there for about 100 years.  There we had tea and pastizzi, one of the most traditional snacks of Malta.  Pastizzi come in two types – smashed pea and ricotta.  They are flaky pastries, made in a similar way to croissants, filled with either pea or ricotta goodness.  The flaky crust is so buttery and delicious and just falls apart as you bite it and melts in your mouth. It is a bit heavier than a croissant, and extremely filling in your belly and would make an excellent hangover remedy! The pea filling has a bit of a curry/cumin spice to it which makes it savory and interesting.  The ricotta was not quite as interesting, but being the cheese lover that I am, I think I preferred the ricotta.  The debate rages on in my brain. 

Daniela took us around Valletta spouting all sorts of history and showing us cool spots along the way.  We stopped at the oldest (and last, I believe), spice shop in Valletta, Tal-Hwawar, where we met the owner, Johann Farrugia, who quickly gave me a pouch of his secret recipe of mixed spices traditionally used to make stewed rabbit, the national dish of Malta.  I can’t wait to use it!  The shop smelled incredible, as most spice shops do, and it was a lovely stop.

Our next stop was Galeas on Merchants Street (one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares in Valletta for shops and dining) for traditional Maltese ftira sandwiches.  Ftira is the bread, which is soft and round, cut into pie pieces. There is a hole in the middle so it doesn’t rise too much.  The filling is traditionally tomato paste and tuna.  Honestly, it was delicious, but I think we were still too full from the pastizzi to finish our sandwiches.  Oddly, Galeas is also a salon, which is apparently something of a thing in Valletta, as we saw several combo hair cutteries combined with food or coffee shops.  

We took a longer walk around Valletta’s old “red-light” district, now hip with lots of bars and cafes and not so much red-light.  Daniela pointed out some cool buildings and sculptures along the way. After this longer walk to work up a bit more of an appetite, we ended up on Republic Street (Valletta’s main drag) at the Kings Own Band Club Restaurant.  This is a historical place that used to be a Gentleman’s Club. They still play live music and teach music to students here.  There is also a delicious restaurant where we had a Maltese platter which included some Maltese sausage and goat cheese.  Then we had the stewed rabbit.  This is slow cooked for hours, and prepared with the very spices that the lovely owner of Tal-Hwawar gifted me.  Rabbit is apparently pretty tough, so needs to be slow cooked for a long time to get it to be tender.  I cannot wait to try cooking it!  We devoured it pretty quickly.  

Our final stop was at a small, semi-below-ground chocolate shop called Chocolate District.  I am not a chocolate person at all, but this was unanimously our favorite stop!  We tried some hot chocolate mixed with traditional Maltese liqueurs which come in several flavors.  I tried the fig, Anna tried honey, and Brian tried the prickly pair flavors.  We also had some coffee flavored chocolate which was to die for.  We idiotically decided that we would come back another day to pick up more chocolate to bring home, but when we came back on both Friday and Saturday the place was sadly closed.  Here’s a tip for anyone reading: if you are in Europe and you are in a place that is open and you want to buy something, do it then and there – do not put it off.  Opening hours are fluid and places can randomly close for no reason whatsoever.  Don’t regret missing out like we did on Chocolate District!  

Daniela left us at our hotel and we parted ways.  She is planning to open a food tour business of her own, the first of its kind in Valletta.  In many European cities, there are gastronomy tours where you walk around the different shops and markets in the town collecting ingredients and then learning how to cook them in the traditional way.  Well, there is actually nothing like that in Malta, yet!  Daniela plans to begin her new company soon, and if a trip to Malta is in your future, please follow her on Instagram @daniela_thelocalguide for updates!  Daniela is a gem, easy to get to know and chat with, and I know her new business will be successful!

While our tour was private, I am pretty confident that what we did was pretty similar to the regular Valletta tour that they hold on Saturdays.  I would definitely recommend this company for a food tour in Valletta, and if you can, request Daniela as your guide!