Malta – Northern Region – Mellieha – Tal-Puzzu

To celebrate not getting run over on the road (more on which later) we thought that a little stop for lunch would be useful. Our walk had ended in Millieha and I had a sudden craving for pizza, which isn’t an entirely rare experience (the craving for pizza that is, not ending up in Millieha).

I thought about beer, but a refreshing cold drink of Pepsi seemed more suitable, especially as craft beer wasn’t mentioned on the menu. This might be something that I go on about a lot this week….. We opted for the eating outside option at this restaurant and hoped that we wouldn’t be stuck with smokers nearby, although fortunately that eventuality didn’t come to pass. The restaurant was never full, but it remained suitable busy throughout, a mix of local and visitors to Malta.

And the diavola pizza, which was perfectly acceptable and I think they have their wood fired pizza oven. A thin and beautifully crisp base, lacking perhaps a little in tomato flavour from the sauce (I like a rich tomato sauce on the base), but the toppings had some heat to them and for a lunch-time snack it met my needs. A number of reviews said that the rabbit was one of the specialities of the restaurant, but I’m deliberately not eating that, however much of a national delicacy and tradition it might be.

Liam’s subtle little calzone, which had ham, mushrooms, tomato, mozzarella and, for some reason, egg, in it. But, it all worked well apparently. All the food seemed freshly made and was at the appropriate temperature, so I felt that we got value for money for the lunch.

The service at the restaurant was attentive and polite, everything arrived promptly and they had balsamic vinegar from Modena, reminding me of Richard and his gift buying last weekend in Florence. After the meal it was time for some more discovery of the country’s history, with Liam discovering just how tiring this life of exploration actually is. I tell people that, but they often don’t believe it.