Il-Kċina

Il-Kċina is the restaurant at the Limestone Heritage park and gardens in Siġġiewi, in the south-west of Malta, and it is the kind of place that works equally well for a long Saturday lunch, a family birthday or a quiet weekday plate of pasta in the shade. The restaurant offers indoor seating and an open-air garden, free parking and a modern Mediterranean menu, and it is operated by the Corinthia Caterers group. If you are planning holidays in Malta that go beyond the usual coastal resorts, this is the obvious place to eat.

The details below cover the menu, prices and opening hours, with some local context for travellers from the UK.

Eating inside Limestone Heritage

The setting is the main reason to choose Il-Kċina. Limestone Heritage is a heritage park and garden devoted to the stone that built Malta, and the restaurant sits in the middle of it, so the garden tables feel like part of a park rather than a roadside stop. Visitors who want to understand the material behind the islands' architecture can make the meal part of a longer afternoon, and our things to do in Malta page has more ideas for the rest of the day.

The choice is indoor dining in a comfortable room or open-air tables in the garden, and a virtual walk-through is available so you can look around before you book. Free parking is included, which matters in a part of Malta where public transport is thin and most visitors arrive by hire car. If you are still planning the journey, our flights to Malta guide covers getting to the island before you collect a car.

The weekday lunch deal

The best value on the menu is the weekday lunch deal, available Monday to Friday except public holidays. Two courses are €20.00 and three courses are €25.00. The choice rotates, but the current list includes hummus and falafel, black mussels in white wine with tomatoes and herbs, porcini ravioli, a trio of arancini with beef ragout, mushroom and truffle or octopus and squid ink, calamaretti fritti, tempura prawns and fish and chips. Main course choices include panzerotti with ricotta di pecora, paccheri with Maltese sausage, spiced chicken brochettes, grilled local pork and a half rack of slow-cooked ribs.

Desserts on the deal include local imqaret, the date fritters served with Maltese ice cream and honey, or two scoops of homemade ice cream or sorbet. For a weekday lunch in a garden, this is hard to beat on price.

Starters, focaccia and sharing plates

The main menu begins with starters designed to be shared. The trio of dips with rosemary focaccia wedges is €13.00, white fish croquettes with leek and potato purée are €10.95, and hummus with crispy falafel is €11.95. Sous-vide quail breast with figs and honey is €14.50, duck bao buns with kimchi are €14.50 and a baked brie in puff pastry with wild berry compote is €14.95.

Focaccia from the wood-fired oven is a house theme. Plain rosemary focaccia with sea salt and olive oil is €9.00, one topped with Parma ham, rocket and Parmesan is €12.00, and a mortadella and burrata version is €14.00. Freshly prepared pizza is also on offer, so ask about the current list when you book.

Pasta, risotto and salads

Pasta and risotto are strong here and run from €14.50 to €19.95. Paccheri with Maltese sausage, gorgonzola and baby spinach is €16.00, and braised meat ravioli with porcini and chestnuts is €16.95. Gnocchi with nduja and burratina is €17.00, orecchiette with pepper purée and stracciatella is €15.95, and smoked duck with pistachio pappardelle is €18.95. Squid ink spaghetti with calamaretti is €17.00, the crab and prawn risotto is €19.95 and the walnut and gorgonzola risotto is €14.50. A gluten-free pasta option costs a supplement of 2 euros.

Salads include a chicken salad at €14.50, a beef tagliata salad at €16.50, a fresh fig and burrata salad at €15.50 and a pulled duck salad at €15.50. Several dishes are marked vegetarian, vegan, gluten free or lactose free, which makes it an easy choice for mixed groups.

Burgers, grills and the Tegamino

The burger list is more ambitious than most. A pulled duck burger is €16.50, the heritage burger with a 250 gram USDA beef patty is €16.95, a mushroom and chickpea burger is €13.95 and the house Il-Kċina burger, which adds a Maltese sausage patty and a garlic and ġbejna mayonnaise, is €18.95. A gluten-free bun costs 1 euro extra.

Mains include a full rack of pork ribs at €26.50, an Argentinian ribeye at €31.00, a duo of duck at €23.50, spiced chicken brochettes at €21.50 and seared local seabass at €28.00. The most theatrical dish is the Tegamino at €35.00, a terracotta pot of prawns, mussels, clams, calamari and prawn bisque, covered with pizza dough and baked in the wood-fired oven. For a group, the Uruguayan tagliata to share, at about 1000 grams, is €76.00. Sides such as fries, mash, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables are €3.50 to €4.50.

Drinks, coffee and cocktails

The beverages menu includes tea, herbal tea, hot chocolate, a full range of espresso coffees, milkshakes and a signature cocktail list at €9.00 each. Options such as the Heritage Delight, the Limestone Sour and the Barrel Thyme are built around gin, rum and bourbon with local touches. A home-made limoncello made by Limestone Heritage is €2.00 for a 2.5cl measure, and espresso is €1.80, cappuccino €2.50 and Irish coffee €6.00.

Choosing the right day and time

The opening pattern is unusual, so it helps to match your plans to it. Weekday lunch, from Monday to Friday, is the most economical way to eat here because the fixed-price menu applies. Saturday is the flexible day, with the kitchen open without a break from morning until 22:00, which suits a long, unplanned lunch that drifts into the evening. Sunday is lunch only, from 12:00 to 15:00, and Tuesday has no evening service at all, so do not turn up hoping for dinner on those days.

Evening service on Monday and Wednesday to Friday runs from 18:00 to 22:00. That is the time to order the Tegamino or the ribs, and it is also when the open-air tables are at their most atmospheric once the heat has gone out of the day. If you want an outdoor table in summer, book the garden early.

Opening hours, events and getting there

The restaurant opens at 09:00 on every day except Sunday, so it works for a late breakfast as well as lunch. Monday and Wednesday to Friday include an evening service from 18:00 to 22:00, Tuesday closes after lunch at 15:00, Saturday runs through from 09:00 to 22:00 and Sunday is a lunch service from 12:00 to 15:00. Send an enquiry through the form on this page and it goes to Il-Kċina via VisitMalta.co.uk to reserve.

Il-Kċina also takes private bookings of up to 100 guests across its indoor and outdoor areas, from birthdays and graduation parties to corporate events, and a brochure is available from the restaurant. Siġġiewi is a short drive from Mdina, and our Mdina guide fits neatly into the same day, while the capital is covered in our Valletta guide. For a base nearby, see hotels in Mdina or compare hotels in Malta more widely, and check our Malta weather guide before choosing the month. The list of restaurants in Siġġiewi shows the other places to eat in the village.