We know what wonderous food our island produces, like duh! But, Maltese food was put in the spotlight Down Under during a radio segment ‘Foodie Tuesday’ on ABC Radio’s Drive with Rafael Epstein. Rafael chats to Mark Mizzi, chef at The Maltese Pastizzi Bar & Restaurant in Essendon, Victoria about the deliciousness that is Maltese cuisine.

Mark and his partner Susan decided to give opening a resto a go and he discusses everything about his pastizzi bar and Malta, too. “Over in Malta, a pastizzi bar is a place where you just drive up to, grab a few pastizzi and a couple of other things and a cup of coffee, and away you go. And that’s what we want to do on a Sunday afternoon or Sunday morning.”

“So, this is the passion project?” Rafael asks. “100 per cent,” Mark answers, saying he’s loved cooking for a long time and has recipes from all over, including some from Maltese nannas. That’s the gold, right there!

They aimed to be just a pastizzi bar, but the venture quickly grew from there. “On the first three Sundays, we averaged over 200 people per day,” saying their customers have been very welcoming to the idea.

Then, the guys moved on to talk about the best bit: the food. “Maltese cooking is a lot of Italian influence such as the ravioli which we call the ravjul, lasagna which we have the lasagna Maltese.” From the get-go, Rafael had questions about the differences. “Virtually it’s very similar. The thing is with the Maltese, we tend to do the raviolis differently; the process of making it is a little bit different to the way the Italians [make it]. And the sauce is different, too,” he says, noting that each recipe also varies from one nanna to another.

Mark serves up some cool dishes, including the traditional pudina and hobz biz-zejt. The conversation quickly turned to the delicious Maltese lasagne dish. “The Maltese tend to use ricotta, which they use in the middle of the actual lasagne piece.” When asked if just a smidge is put, Mark responds with, “No, it’s about half an inch-thick throughout the middle.” Ovja. “My nanna used to make it like that,” he says, also pointing out it’s a very Maltese thing to do. #Delish!

One guy also called in to discuss none other than the delicious golden pastry – pastizzi. The caller mentioned Café Cordina in Valletta and said that he absolutely loves their pastizzi (what we call tax-xemgha – the round ones). Mark serves the traditional flavours of rikotta and pizelli, but he does not there are others like corned beef, chicken, and anchovies.

The guys talk about the delicious stuffat, the popular summer dish hobz biz-zejt, while Raf digs into some of Mark’s dishes. Mark also explains that there is an emotional connection between his customers and the cuisine.

“It’s quite emotional, because when people come in there, we have the old music, but when they come in, sit down and have something to eat, they reminisce about the tastes they’ve had growing up, and they remember their parents or grandparents who cooked for them who are no longer with us,” he says. “We’ve had people crying in the restaurant, which is good because it makes us feel we are doing exactly what we set out to do.”