Are you looking for a place to enjoy grilled meat in Malta? Look no further than Barbecue Malta. Our Maltese summers do call for late night grilling by the sea or afternoon BBQs under the shade of some trees. The words ‘BBQ’, ‘Malta’ and ‘summer’ really ring true as sweet harmony. However why shouldn’t we benefit from the BBQ experience all year round? Or why not enjoy the ultimate gourmet BBQ/Grill experience without getting down and dirty? Of course, in Malta, to enjoy the latter option, we usually need to fork out a bit more money. In order to enjoy grilled prime cuts in a restaurant, be ready to spend no less than €22 on your main course alone. Paying any less than that may be somewhat worrying.
Nonetheless, we all enjoy a little splurge once in a while and us omnivores all deserve to treat ourselves to little carnivorous pleasures. Below is a list of Maltese restaurants that provide the great BBQ experience. The second part is put together with love and care from word of mouth and general opinion of most meat lovers. The first part of the list below is drawn from personal experience at BBQ restaurants in Malta.
Tried and tested
Below is a list of our favourite BBQ/Grill restaurants in Malta that have been tried and tested by the authors.
Sciacca Grill, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Sciacca
Now open in two prime locations in Malta (St.Julians and Valletta), Sciacca Grill provides the ultimate grilled meat experience. What you see is what you get, in the sense that you walk up to the meat counter and handpick which cut you would like served to you. A visit to this grill restaurant is always a pleasant surprise. Sciacca always have a enough of a wide variety of cuts to provoke you astray from your comfort zone but always ensuring their consistency in providing divine basics. This is defined by a grilled meat cut cooked to your heart’s content. Sciacca also serve grilled seafood, including lobster, if meat is not your kind of thing. The scamorza cheese served as a starter comes highly recommended and is our all time favourite.
Chukkas, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Chukkas
This BBQ restaurant is located in Malta’s Polo Club in Marsa. Apart from offering glorious grilled food in Malta, if y ou are there by day, this BBQ experience comes with a view of the Marsa racecourse. The food is consistently up to standard and excellently grilled and the service is consistently efficient. However pre-booking is highly recommended as Chukkas is more than usually booked up by large groups of people celebrating a special event. Therefore if you are hoping for a quiet romantic or private dinner for two, perhaps this may not be the perfect place. However if a little jovial Maltese rowdiness is not an issue we highly recommend you join in the fun and celebrations and give this place a try if you haven’t been there yet.
Buteco Lounge, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Buteco
Located in St. George’s Bay, Buteco is our all time favourite place to enjoy grilled picanha. Ths cut of meat comes from the back of the cow and is the top of the rump, popular in Brazil. Generally disappointed with the way picanha is cut and grilled in rodizios on the rest of the Maltese Islands, we are very impressed with the picanha served by this Brazilian lounge. This is the way this cut of meat should be enjoyed, thinly cut, grilled and served salted along with delicious sides of fresh potato salad, and rice topped with traditional black beans and farofa (toasted mainioc flour). We recommend you visit this BBQ/grill restaurant on a day with adequate weather in order to enjoy an outdoor meal usually accompanied by live Brazilian singing.
MEET Argentinian Steakhouse, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – MEET
Our first visit to this place left us with a mediocre feeling. However upon our second try we left fully satisfied. The trick lies in ordering your favourite cut of meat when evaluating the quality of food in BBQ/Grill restaurant. There is nothing like rib-eye. MEET is located in St. Julians, just above Ryan’s pub boasting a beautiful view of Spinola bay. Second time around we ordered the largest rib-eye to share and it was cooked divinely and the boiled potatoes were a perfect side. The frozen chips served as a side leave us disappointed as always. We are yet to find a restaurant that serves handcut chips/fries as an alternative to frozen ready made ones. All in all excellent service and excellent grilled food.
Buffalo Bill’s Steakhouse, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Buffalo Bill
This steakhouse uses the method of char-broiling to grill its meat, in which the heat is provided from the top rather than from the bottom of the steak. We love this restaurant for its simple set menu including any meat or cut of your choice along with a choice of your favourite sauce, side and an all you can eat buffet of sorts to start off with. Located in Portomaso, our visits to this restaurant have always been consistently satisfactory and we love to sit outside in the summertime. Don’t forget to punch your Portomaso parking ticket before you leave to benefit from free parking!
Ta’ Cassia Salina Restaurant, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Ta’ Cassia
During the summer months Ta’ Cassia’s majjalata is an event not to be missed. This is held on Wednesdays, outdoors in their mature garden in Salini. The spit roast suckling pig is offered at a fixed price along with an all you can eat buffet with typical Maltese side dishes. When the weather is right be sure to check this event out as the ambience at night in the garden is gorgeous and the food is divine.
To-eat List
Below is a list of restaurants that have come highly recommended by peers and are definitely worth a mention if you are looking for the BBQ/Grill eat-out experience in Malta.
Brass and Knuckle, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Brass and Knuckle
This place, located behind the Naxxar Parish Church is one to book as opposed to turning up unexpectedly. We attempted to add ourselves to an already booked table the last time around and the place was so full that they could not add extra seats. This makes Brass and Knuckle all the more alluring to us now. Super excited to visit this BBQ restaurant in Malta. It seems to run on the same concept as Sciacca, in that the meat is displayed at the counter ready for you to pick and order cooked to your fancy.
The Chophouse, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – The Chophouse
With raving reviews of the stunning views, The Chophouse cannot go without mention. Fully equipped with a state of the art charcoal grill, this restaurant located at Tigne Point serves good grilled meats. Although we haven’t been here ourselves yet, this place is definitely on our ‘to-do list’ as we have heard so much about it. Sunday lunch comes highly recommended. Stay tuned to hear more about our experience at this place!
Caviar & Bull, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Caviar & Bull
This is another restaurant that comes highly recommended for their grilled meats. Located within the Corinthia San Gorg in St. Julians, we have taken a look at their menu after many recommendations from peers and are looking forward to checking this out very soon.
Capo Crudo, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Capo Crudo
Although we have already been here and have thoroughly enjoyed their divine pasta, we are definitely going back to give their grilled meats a shot, as we were salivating over the cuts we saw served. Located in Valletta right over the sea next to the Ferry Terminal, this restaurant is definitely one to look out for.
Lore & Fitch, BBQ Restaurants Malta
BBQ Restaurants Malta – Lore & Fitch
This is another BBQ/Grill restaurant we have our eyes on. Promising the “boutique steak experience” and to “redefine[…] the very notion of a steakhouse”, we are super curious as to what this entails.