It is a fact of 21st century Maltese life that restaurants proudly flaunt their local roots in ways that had not been done before. It’s not that the Maltese were embarrassed about their heritage; they had not noticed what was right beneath their noses.

Today many venues proudly proclaim their provenance; fuelled by generous subsidies, some craftily market their organic label to their best advantage and others develop twists on local recipes that makes dining an experiment rather than a trip down memory lane.

Tal-Majjistra is one restaurant that is more than just a cunning marketing exercise. It is housed inside an old residential building in the hamlet of Mgarr on the west coast of the island of Malta. There are few reasons to visit Mgarr if you are a tourist as it is off the beaten track and you’re more likely to be heading to the nearby beach (for which you needn’t linger in the village core in the first place). All this contributes to the feeling that you’re just popping in to see an old friend or relative rather than be out on the town and looking for a (commercial) place to eat.

The menu is not too extensive but is full of food that Maltese have been eating for centuries. Perhaps the seasoning is updated to allow for continental tastes; perhaps the preparation is different to what an old greying granny would have been used to, but the dishes are as recognisable to me as they are to my grandparents’ generation.

I had the mushrooms in garlic – oleaginous morsels that had been lavishly coated in garlic, with a dollop of brandy to help the seasoning along. The sizes are on the cusp of being generous. This is not a criticism, merely a statement; some eateries think that they can fob off the clientele with quantity if the quality is low but there is no sense that either has been compromised here.

I went with the Unexpected Brother and his muliebrous clan. I had a few frowns thrown my way when I ordered horse meat for a main course; not because of any animal-right imperative but because of high-blood pressure concerns. I threw caution to the wind and tucked in to an impressive dish. Unlike previous instances were I had wolfed down horse meat, this time was different. I was expecting something chewy that would make my hair stand on end but got perfectly seared and seasoned meat that relaxed me into a post-prandial slump.

We sat in the courtyard of the building – a typical feature of a certain type of Maltese home – surrounded by the honey-coloured walls that shielded us from the setting sun. The well-thumbed wine selection is also not extensive but contains a sensible choice of whatever takes your fancy and pairs well with the items on offer.

Ignoring drinks, this evening out set me back EUR 20.00 which is quite reasonable; indeed, as we walked out on to the large church parvis across the road, I couldn’t help but think about how much the village has evolved from a few dingy places with dubious reputations serving cut-price local food to people who wanted a taste of the past, to a smartened up modern location beside the sea with a restaurant good enough to make you ignore the coastline.

Tal-Majjistra Eat House
Triq il-Kbira
Mgarr
Malta

Have you tried Maltese food before? What’s your favourite restaurant?