There is a very good choice of restaurants and cafes from deluxe to fast food (hamburgers and fish & chips), including Chinese, fish and beachside bars. Table service is normal, but many bars and cafes have table and/or counter service. Pork and fish dishes are recommended and vegetables are excellent. The best Maltese fruits are oranges and grapes; also delicious are strawberries, melons, mulberries, tangerines, pomegranates and figs.
National specialties:
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Lampuki pie (fish pie).
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Bragoli (beef olives).
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Fenek (rabbit cooked in wine).
• Ricotta sweets are popular.
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Helwa tat-Tork (a sweet sugary mixture of crushed and whole almonds, offered to diners after a meal).
National drinks:• Maltese beer is excellent.
• Maltese wine.
• Maltese spirits.
Licensing hours of bars, restaurants and cafes are usually 0900-0100 and beyond. Most hotel bars close between 1300 and 1600 and then reopen after 1800.
Tipping: 10 to 15 per cent is expected in hotels and restaurants when not included in the bill. Taxi drivers are usually tipped 10 per cent of the fare.
NightlifeThere are several discos, bars and nightclubs. Roulette, baccarat, blackjack and boule can be played at the ‘Dragonara’ casino, St Julian’s or at the Casino de Venezia in Vittoriosa. The Manoel Theater is one of the oldest in Europe. Cinemas show mainly English and American films.
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