Palazzo Preca Restaurant

Strait Street is the narrow lane that runs the length of Valletta behind the grand facades of Republic Street, and at number 54 a 16th-century palazzo now holds a family-run restaurant. Palazzo Preca opened in 2012 under Chef Ramona Preca and cooks the food she grew up with: fish straight from Maltese waters, pasta made in house and Maltese recipes handed down through her family. Our guide to restaurants in Valletta covers the rest of the city's tables.

A daughter's tribute to Stella and Charles

The restaurant is Ramona's homage to her parents, Stella and Charles Preca. Charles was a well-known Maltese cook who ran the King's Own Band Club bar in Valletta and in 1997 opened Tal-Familja in Marsascala, and Ramona and her sisters learned the basics of Maltese cooking at his side in both kitchens. In 2018 he received a WRMC Lifetime Achievement Award. When Ramona found the empty palazzo on Strait Street in 2012, she turned it into a restaurant of her own. She runs it with her husband, Yan Farrugia, who looks after the dining room, while her sister Roberta cooks at King's Own. The two sisters also present Viżjoni, a cookery programme on TVM, and have published a book of more than 190 pages of family recipes, It's About Time, sold in aid of the DAR Bjorn care home.

Ramona's aim is to honour Maltese food rather than reinvent it, which is why her mother's trifle still appears among the desserts. The kitchen has collected plenty of recognition along the way: a place among the top 40 restaurants in Malta and Gozo every year from 2013 to 2024, a listing among the top 12 in the WRMS Restaurant Guide, a 2016 commendation for one of the best wine lists on the island, the WRMC Special Award for Best Female Chef for Ramona, and inclusion in The Definitive(ly) Good Guide for 2025.

Inside the palazzo on Strait Street

Strait Street has a colourful past, and the building has seen centuries of sailors and musicians pass its door. The restaurant's photos show a long dining room with arched stone doorways, a patterned tiled floor, white tablecloths and a chandelier at the far end, with a second room lined with bookshelves, framed certificates and decorative plates. The mood is relaxed and unhurried, the kind of place where a lunch can stretch into the afternoon.

The location puts you in the thick of the old city, close to St George's Square and the Grand Master's Palace. Our Valletta guide will help you plan a day around the meal, and if you want to stay within walking distance, see our pick of hotels in Valletta.

Starters and entrées

The cold starters are light and mostly gluten-free. Oysters in their half shell with a gin and tonic dressing cost €6, local raw prawns marinated with lemon oil €22.50, and veal carpaccio with hazelnuts, truffle oil and pecorino €16.90. Salmon gravlax cured with vanilla and served with a red peppercorn dressing is €16.50, and Insalata ta' Stella, named for Ramona's mother, combines water cheeselets, beetroot, artichokes and Kalamata olives for €15.90.

Hot entrées lean towards the sea. Local red prawns cooked with Maltese wine and garlic are €19.50, charred octopus with white wine and butter €20.50, and mussels steamed with garlic or done the Maltese way, impepata, with plenty of black pepper, €16.50. A shellfish soup with mussels, clams, prawns and langoustine costs €22.90, as does a mixed shellfish plate, and three grilled langoustines are €21. Two Maltese favourites are on the list too: aljotta, the island's fish soup, at €13.50, and rabbit liver flamed in sherry at €16. Vegetarians can start with a fried local cheeselet and chilli jam at €12 or brioche with wild mushrooms at €16.50.

Homemade pasta and risotto

Every pasta and risotto comes in a small or a normal portion, useful if you want a pasta course before a main. Spaghetti vongole with clams and Maltese wine costs €21 small or €25.50 normal, and the seafood spaghetti with mussels, clams, prawns and octopus €21.50 or €25.90. Linguine Caruso Classic is tossed with a calamari ragù, chopped prawns and a little chilli for €21.50 or €25.50.

From the land, the homemade braised beef ravioli with sage butter is €18.90 or €23.50, and linguine with beef strips and truffle cream is the richest choice at €24 or €27.90. The seafood risotto is gluten-free and costs €22.50 or €26.90, while the vegetarian wild mushroom risotto with aged Parmesan is €18.90 or €23. Friday specials have included the prawn bisque risotto with raw prawns, stracciatella and samphire shown in the restaurant's photos.

Fish from the Maltese coast

Seafood is the core of Palazzo Preca's cooking, and the fish list changes with what the boats bring in. Mains from the sea come with roast potatoes and hot vegetables. The local red prawns, sautéed with garlic, white wine and tomato and served on rice, cost €39, and the pan-fried octopus with garlic, butter and herbs, one of the most requested dishes, is €31.50. Pan-seared sea bass fillet with prawns and thermidor sauce is €34.90, and line-caught sea bass baked in a crust of sea salt, served whole or filleted, is €34.

For a feast, the Shellfish Platter à la Palazzo Preca piles oyster, prawns, mussels, razor clams, scallop, fried calamari, soft-shell crab, octopus and clams onto one plate for €41.90, and the fritto misto of sea bass, salmon, prawns, fishcake and calamari costs €39. Grilled calamari is €29.90 and lobster thermidor, baked with onions, mustard, cheese and cream, is sold at €13.50 per 100g. The catch of the day costs €7.90 per 100g, with an extra charge for fish baked in salt. From 15 August to the end of December the restaurant also marks lampuki season, when the dolphin fish loved across Malta comes back to local tables.

Meat dishes and sauces

Meat mains also come with roast potatoes and vegetables. Traditional rabbit cooked with garlic and wine is the most Maltese of them at €27.50, and the chicken supreme with a Madeira and foie gras cream costs €28.90. Pork belly slow-cooked for eight hours is €32, a breaded pork schnitzel with caper and garlic butter €31.90, and duck breast with honey and wild berries €32.50. For beef, there is a rib-eye with red wine jus at €34, a flank tagliata with rocket and Parmesan at €32.50, and the house Fillet à la Ramona with caramelised onions, port and demerara sugar at €39.

Sauces and extras let you build up a steak: pepper or mushroom sauce costs €4.50, foie gras sauce €7, truffle cream €8 and a local prawn sauce €9.50. You can add a seared scallop for €6, grilled asparagus for €5.50 or half a lobster thermidor of 250g for €33.75. The wine list has been praised in the past, and a drinks menu of cocktails and wines sits alongside the food menu.

Sunday lunch, private dining and gifts

Sunday lunch returned on 20 September after the summer break and runs from 12:00 to 14:30 each Sunday. Recent dishes have included oven-baked Camembert with crispy guanciale and caramelised figs, the local red prawns, and brisket agnolotti with peas and Parmesan cream. Places are limited, so booking ahead is wise.

A private dining room holds up to 24 guests, and bigger parties, weddings and corporate groups can take over the main restaurant. The team writes personal menus for business dinners, christenings, confirmations, birthdays and anniversaries, with vegetarian, vegan and allergy-aware options on request, and a staff parties menu is available for Christmas. Gift vouchers can be bought online, as can a PDF edition of the sisters' cookbook at €29.90.

Around Strait Street

The restaurant's block sits among Valletta's grandest set pieces. St John's Co-Cathedral, about 100 metres away, was built for the Order of St John between 1573 and 1578 to designs by Girolamo Cassar, and its interior was reworked in high Baroque style in the 17th century by Mattia Preti among others; our St John's Co-Cathedral guide explains how to visit. Also about 100 metres away, the Great Siege Monument by the sculptor Antonio Sciortino, unveiled on 8 May 1927, sets three bronze figures of Faith, Fortitude and Civilization on a granite base, a memorial to the siege covered in our Knights of Malta guide.

Republic Square, about 100 metres away, began as Piazza Tesoreria, home of the Order's treasury, and gained the name Piazza Regina after a statue of Queen Victoria was put up in the 19th century; many people still call it that. It fronts the National Library of Malta, about 150 metres away, founded in 1776 by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc. The Grandmaster's Palace, also about 150 metres away, housed the rulers of the Knights Hospitaller and later the British governors. For more ideas, browse our list of things to do in Malta or walk on to the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

Booking and visiting

Tables are booked online through the restaurant's booking page, with reservation times starting at noon; Sunday service is lunch only. If you are building a food tour of the capital, two other Valletta pages worth reading are Legligin and AKI, and our Three Cities guide covers the towns across Grand Harbour. To ask about a table, a private room or a group menu, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the restaurant.