Tmun restaurant

Tmun is a family-run fish and seafood restaurant at Mġarr Harbour, the port where the ferries from Malta dock on Gozo. Its kitchen turns out carefully plated Mediterranean seafood, fish and meat, lifted with herbs and a measured hand with Asian spice, and the menu shifts with the seasons to follow the best local produce. It is a natural first or last meal on the island, and the family behind it has been cooking on Gozo since the 1980s, and our guide to restaurants in Għajnsielem covers the rest of the village.

Three generations of one family

The story begins in 1987, when Jane and Leli Buttigieg opened the first Tmun in Xlendi, on the other side of Gozo. Jane ran the kitchen and Leli looked after the dining room, while their young son Paul learned the trade around them. In 2009 the restaurant moved to Mġarr Harbour, and Paul stepped up as head chef and took charge of the business.

Paul watched his mother cook as a boy and knew by sixteen that the kitchen was where he belonged. He is now one of the best-known champions of Maltese cooking, and he enjoys the creative side of the job most: dreaming up new dishes, and letting whatever fresh produce arrives decide what goes on the menu. Gozo sits on one of the oldest sea routes between Europe and Asia, and that meeting of flavours runs right through his cooking. A reminder of the family's roots stays on the dessert list in Jane's Cheese Cake.

Snacks and starters

Guests choose between the à la carte and a sharing menu. Both are published as samples, because dishes change through the year with what local growers and fishermen can supply. Snacks arrive as two pieces each and cost €5 to €12: Thai fish sliders, fish croquettes with a saffron emulsion and lamb curry samosas with tzatziki are €5, panko tempura prawns with a sweet and sour relish and crostini of Cantabrian anchovies with stracciatella are €6, and Gillardeau oysters, dressed with ponzu and yuzu, cucumber, gin and basil, or gratinated with nori and miso, are €12.

Starters run from €12 to €18. The ceviche of the day's catch comes in leche de tigre with pickled onion and chilli at €14, and barbecued octopus with a lime and lemongrass hollandaise is also €14. Monkfish cheek ravioli with clams, crispy prawns and a vermouth foam costs €15, while the fish soup with mussels and red prawns and a foie gras parfait with pork rillettes, pomegranate, dates and brioche are both €16. The prawn tartare with strawberries and balsamic pearls tops the list at €18. For something less fishy, there is a fig tart with Gorgonzola cream, speck and walnuts, a mushroom risotto with portobello tartare, roast oyster, pickled shimeji, porcini powder, pine nuts and pecorino, and an open lasagne of braised short rib ragù under a béchamel foam, a thyme and nutmeg crumb and 36-month Parmigiano, each at €12.

Fish and meat mains

Mains cost €25 to €35. The tuna steak with red pepper purée, burnt avocado guacamole, 'nduja jam and fennel is €25, as are the Asian-style calamari with ginger, garlic, soy, honey, coriander and chilli. Monkfish, known locally as petrica, is fried in panko tempura and served with peas, mint and guanciale for €29, and grouper, or dott cawlun, comes in a Thai coconut sauce for €34. The fish trio, with the day's catch, grilled calamari and a king prawn on a caper and raisin purée, is €35.

Meat eaters are well looked after. Duck leg confit with butternut squash purée, a duck croquette and Madeira jus costs €25, and so does the Balinese porchetta with sambal, beetroot, crispy kale and crackling. The lamb plate pairs a roast rack with slow-cooked shoulder, ras el hanout, harissa and tzatziki for €32, and the char-grilled US prime striploin with textures of onion and red wine jus is €35.

Desserts and the sharing menu

Desserts include Jane's Cheese Cake with a red fruit topping at €7, a dulce de leche fondant with caramelised walnuts, raspberries and vanilla ice cream at €8, a pistachio tart and an apple tarte Tatin with cinnamon ice cream at €9 each, and textures of Valrhona chocolate, from white to dark, at €10. The cheese plate is €16, and homemade ice creams and sorbets are €3 a scoop.

The sharing menu is the way to taste widely. It is priced per couple: €120 for seven plates, €150 for nine and €180 for eleven, drawn from a list that mirrors the à la carte, from the ceviche and octopus to the porchetta, slow-cooked lamb shoulder and striploin, with desserts to finish. A few dishes are dressed a little differently in the sharing format: the monkfish cheek ravioli comes with a prawn gremolata and dill, the mushroom risotto gains a chestnut foam, and the day's catch arrives in the Thai coconut sauce used for the grouper on the main menu. Everyone at the table must pick the same plates, and the menu is served until 1:00 pm at lunch and 9:00 pm at dinner. The chef may change dishes on the day. Some dietary needs can be met: note them when you book and tell your server when you arrive. For more seafood kitchens, see our list of seafood restaurants.

Opening times through the year

Tmun keeps two timetables. In summer, from July to September, it serves dinner on Monday and from Wednesday to Sunday, with lunch on Sunday only. In winter, from October to June, lunch is served on Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and dinner on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Exact times are not published, so book ahead, particularly in winter when the restaurant opens on fewer days, and check the latest timetable on the restaurant's website before you cross on the ferry. If you are staying over, our guide to hotels in Gozo lists places to sleep across the island.

Around Mġarr Harbour and Għajnsielem

Għajnsielem, whose name means spring of peace, is the village that rises above Mġarr Harbour on the south-eastern coast of Gozo, and its council also looks after the whole of Comino. In July 2024 it had 3,733 residents. Fort Chambray stands on the heights above the port, the small Gozo heliport near Xewkija is about 2.2 km away, and the neo-gothic parish church of Our Lady of Loreto, about 650 metres from Tmun, is the village's landmark.

Further afield, the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul in Nadur is about 1.4 km away, and Ta' Kenuna Tower, a semaphore station the British put up on the Nadur cliffs in 1848 and restored in 2005, about 1.6 km. Heading west, Santa Cecilia Tower, built in 1613 and now a private house, sits beside the restored St Cecilia Chapel, the only medieval chapel left on Gozo, both about 2.0 km away. Mġarr ix-Xini Tower, completed in 1661 and the largest of the Knights' watchtowers on Gozo, guards its gorge-like bay about 2.2 km away and is open to visitors. The snorkelling cove of Ħondoq ir-Rummien, below Qala and looking across to Comino, is about 2.3 km away; it features with other swimming spots in our best beaches in Malta guide.

Finding Tmun and booking

Tmun is on Triq Martino Garces, a couple of minutes' walk from the Gozo ferry terminal. Leave the terminal with the bay on your right, follow the water's edge, and the restaurant appears on your left, set back behind the boatyard; watch the sea in front, where horses are sometimes taken for a swim. Tables can be booked online through the restaurant's website. Our Gozo guide and Blue Lagoon guide help plan the day around the crossing, and our page on restaurants across Gozo includes neighbours such as Geppetto, Country Terrace and Ta' Vestru in Qala. For any other question, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the restaurant.