Pastizzi

Pastizzi (singular pastizz) are a familiar Maltese snack. Each one is a small parcel of thin, layered pastry that shatters into flakes when you bite it, wrapped around one of two classic fillings: ricotta, or mashed peas cooked with onion. Visit Malta describes them as a flaky pastry parcel filled with ricotta or mushy peas, and Visit Gozo calls them Malta's favourite savoury snack. They are eaten hot, usually standing up, and rarely one at a time.

You buy pastizzi from a pastizzeria, a small bakery-counter shop that sells them through the day, as well as from many bars, kiosks and cafés. They work at almost any hour: with a coffee in the morning, as a quick lunch, or as a late snack after an evening out in St Julian's or Sliema. Visit Malta notes that hot ricotta pastizzi go well with wine or coffee, which sums up how flexible they are.

Where to try it

• At pastizzerias in town centres and villages across Malta and Gozo, where they come out of the oven through the day.
• From bars and kiosks in Valletta and the Three Cities, often alongside a tea or coffee.

Order a mix of both fillings if you cannot decide, and eat them while they are still hot, because the pastry loses its crunch as it cools. Ricotta and pea pastizzi are different fillings, but a pea filling is not a guarantee of a meat-free pastry. Some producers add corned beef and bacon to the peas. Vegetarians should ask about both the filling and the pastry fat. If you want to see how they are made, a food tour or cooking class is the easiest way in.