Anglo Maltese Bistro Bar

The Anglo Maltese occupies the ground floor of a building on Merchant Street, one of the long straight streets that run the length of Valletta, and it carries a good deal of the city's history with it. The name belongs to the Anglo Maltese League, a snooker club that opened here in 1935 and still plays on upstairs, while the restaurant below serves Maltese favourites and comforting European dishes. Our round-up of restaurants in Valletta lists the other places to eat across the capital.

A snooker club with nearly a century behind it

The League has been part of Valletta life for close to a hundred years. In 1997 the current family took over its care, with the aim of keeping its heritage intact while opening the doors to visitors as well as locals. The building also had a role in the Second World War, when it was used for storage, and its help to the Royal Air Force was recognised with a commemorative plaque from Sir Francis Douglas. A framed wartime plaque hangs on the dining room wall today, above a pair of yellow velvet armchairs.

That layering of old and new runs through the place. The snooker tables remain upstairs, true to the club's original purpose, and the restaurant downstairs has grown up beside them as a relaxed spot to eat at almost any hour of the day.

Maltese favourites and European classics

The cooking pairs traditional Maltese flavours with dishes that will feel familiar to most European visitors, with the emphasis on good ingredients, a genuine welcome and fair prices rather than fuss. The photographs on the restaurant's own site give a sense of the style: octopus cooked with garlic, olives and cherry tomatoes and finished with lemon, and a deep, glossy meat stew with peas. The bar handles drinks too, from beer to a gin and tonic dressed with a long ribbon of cucumber. The menu itself is not printed online, so ask your server about the day's Maltese specials when you sit down.

Inside, outside and private events

The entrance is a pair of tall green doors framed by potted palms, opening onto a room of dark blue walls, low lamps on the tables and velvet armchairs in yellow and grey. Out front, tables shaded by umbrellas line Merchant Street, and on a warm evening they fill with diners. The restaurant opens from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm every day, which makes it as useful for a mid-morning stop as for dinner. It takes table reservations and caters for birthday parties, corporate functions and other events, and the team can be reached through the booking form on its website.

Around St John's and the auberges

This end of Merchant Street sits among some of Valletta's most important buildings, nearly all of them about 100 metres away. St John's Co-Cathedral, built by the Order of St John between 1573 and 1578 to designs by Girolamo Cassar, has an interior redecorated by Mattia Preti and others that ranks among the finest high Baroque spaces in Europe, and St John's Square in front of it is ringed by an arcade and cafés. The Auberge d'Italie, home to the Italian knights from the late sixteenth century, now houses MUŻA, the national collection of fine art, and the Auberge de Provence holds the National Museum of Archaeology with its prehistoric and Phoenician finds.

About 150 metres away, the Great Siege Monument by Antonio Sciortino, unveiled in 1927, shows three bronze figures of Faith, Fortitude and Civilisation. Our guides to St John's Co-Cathedral and the Knights of Malta fill in the background, and our Valletta guide covers the rest of the city.

Planning a visit

With all-day hours, the Anglo Maltese fits easily around a morning in the museums or an afternoon at the cathedral. If you are comparing Maltese kitchens nearby, our pages on MUŻA Restaurant and LaPira Maltese Kitchen are a short stroll away, and our guide to hotels in Valletta helps with somewhere to stay. To ask about a table, a birthday or a work function, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message on to the restaurant.