San Giovanni Caffe

Directly across the street from St John's Co-Cathedral In Valletta, Malta, you can find a decent meal and some shade. Prices looked a bit high but main courses come with a salad and fries, so it turns out to be a good value. Don’t let the people hawking the restaurants put you off, it seems to be the custom here, and with four or more restaurants in the same small square, a necessary evil employed by the restaurant owners to keep ahead of the competition.

                                 I couldn't resist trying the traditional Maltese dish of Beef Olive, what I had assumed was beef involtini stuffed with olives. Wrong, there were no olives to be seen or tasted but there was ground beef, ham, eggs and onions wrapped by sliced beef in a curiously round shape. Did they think it looked like an olive? It was braised in a tomato sauce with carrots and peas, all overcooked but tasty. I guess the overcooked peas are part of the British influence; you see quite a few steaks and mixed grills being offered in Maltese restaurants.

                           You also see quite a few pizze and hamburgers, but when tourism is so much a part of the economy, you see them, no matter where you are. It still surprises me that people want something familiar in a foreign country, when they could be trying local dishes and immersing themselves into the local culture. Isn’t that what travel is all about?

I cannot recall the exact name of this pasta dish, but the little purses, as they were described on the menu, were stuffed with Gorgonzola and covered in a Gorgonzola cream sauce. You could tell by this dish that Malta has been closely associated with Italy and Sicily.

                            For lunch the following day I tried their rabbit, since it appeared to be the national dish. It was braised in a wine sauce that included garlic and black pepper. Very nice and it came with the "chips" (French fries) and salad just as my other entree had.

                         The chocolate and walnut torte was decadent enough to finish the meal, but not sweet enough to spoil it.

San Giovanni Caffe St John Square Valletta, Malta