3 Best Restaurants in Malta

One of the buzziest restaurants in the capital is the family-run Beati Paoli, an impossibly cozy, friendly affair that still flies under the radar of most visitors. It has that neighborhood feel, boasting of its "local fresh rabbit" on the blackboard frontage, yet serves up subtly crafted, on-point Maltese and Mediterranean dishes with a changing specials menu that never fails to delight. The interior is all stone and white walls, with an open kitchen to boot. Add to that a good local and European wine list and you can't fail to be charmed.

One of the current rising stars of Malta's dining scene is Jonathan Brincat, owner-chef of the much talked-about Noni, a chic, cozy escape set in a former jazz bar. The menu is a studied, elegant affair taking a number of Maltese and Mediterranean classics and fine-tuning them with a bit of French flair, from saddle of rabbit with confit croquette to a crackling smoked rib "gyoza" that accompanies the pork to smoky chorzio bean puree. It also has one of the better wine lists in town. Book early to get a table downstairs in the stone cellar and avoid the chilly overflow tables on the ground floor.

Squirreled away in the backstreets of Vittoriosa, this eatery offers traditional Maltese food dished up in tasting menus (€28 per person) that typically feature pork, beef, and rabbit options. Bigella bean dips, cheeselets, and locally hung sausage starters form a crash course in local specialties; rabbit marinated in a zalza (a tomato-based sauce) preceded by an assagi (taster course) of ravioli stuffed with local ricotta-style cheese ram home the restaurant's credentials. As authentic a taste of Maltese home cooking as you'll find on the mainland.