OCRA

OCRA is a small Italian restaurant on Triq il-Kbira, in the heart of Ħaż-Żebbuġ, a town in central Malta. The cooking is unashamedly traditional, built around a handful of dishes that pay tribute to the chef's grandmother, served on patterned vintage china in a warm, relaxed setting. Our guide to restaurants in Żebbuġ lists the other places to eat in town, and our page on Italian restaurants in Malta compares it with kitchens around the island.

Paolo and the story behind the food

The chef, Paolo, was born and grew up in Rome, where he first fell for cooking through his grandmother and the family garden. He then spent years on the move, learning his trade in kitchens run by some of the most influential chefs in the world, before settling in Malta. OCRA is his way of putting Italian food rooted in memory on the table: carefully sourced ingredients, deep flavour and recipes that mix family history with a more modern touch on the plate.

The menu, course by course

The menu is deliberately short, with four starters, three pastas and three mains. Starters cost from €11 to €19. Peperone tonnato, roasted peppers under a tuna sauce, is €14, and deep-fried balls of cabbage and potato with a celery mayonnaise are €11. Two raw dishes cost €19 each: a Fassona beef tartare with Jerusalem artichoke and cured egg, and a fish tartare with apple and pan-fried mushrooms.

Pasta is where Rome comes through most clearly. Carbonara with eggs, guanciale and pecorino costs €16, as does trofie alla Norma with aubergine and yellow datterino tomatoes, and handmade taglioni with mussels, cherry tomatoes and a cannellini bean cream is €20. Among the mains, saltimbocca alla romana, pan-fried meat with prosciutto crudo in a creamy sauce, costs €26, a fish fillet alla pizzaiola with sautéed broccoli €27, and a 300g ribeye with roasted potatoes €34. Sides are roasted cauliflower with chestnut cream and hazelnut butter or roasted pumpkin with goat cheese at €6 each, and roasted potatoes at €4.

Hours and booking

OCRA is a dinner restaurant on weekdays, open from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm Tuesday to Friday. On Saturday and Sunday it also serves lunch from noon to 3:00 pm before reopening at 7:00 pm, and it is closed all day on Monday. Bookings are taken by WhatsApp or through the contact form on the website. If you are touring the centre of the island, Saracino's Trattoria in Attard and Il-Kċina in Siġġiewi are other nearby options.

Around Ħaż-Żebbuġ

Several historic sights lie within easy reach of the restaurant. The De Rohan Arch, about 750 metres away, was put up in 1798 to celebrate Żebbuġ's elevation to the status of a city by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc in 1777. The Armoury in neighbouring Siġġiewi, about 1.8 km away, was once the home of the village captain and the store for the local militia's weapons. Towards Attard, the Parish Church of Saint Mary, about 2.1 km away, dates from 1613 to 1624 and is considered the finest Renaissance church in Malta, and San Anton Palace, about 2.8 km away, began as a knight's country villa and is now the official residence of the President of Malta. The 17th-century Wignacourt Aqueduct, built to carry spring water to Valletta, is also about 2.8 km away. Our Mdina guide covers the walled city a short drive north.

Planning your visit

Lunch is served only at weekends, so plan a midday visit for a Saturday or Sunday and book ahead. If you are coming from the capital, our Valletta guide helps plan the rest of the day. To ask about a table or anything else, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the restaurant.