Welcome to Malta!
We're gonna be spending the next few days exploring the island using our taste buds.
Trying some of the most authentic food and beverage, mmm!
We're gonna start off in Valletta where we currently are.
Yes, so the hotel we're at is the Hotel Excelsior and it's amazing like you can already see,
like just how much space we have here and we found this place on booking.com and we
reached out to our contacts there and we said "listen, we need to stay in this hotel because
it's so central and convenient for everything".
So, they hooked us up with this place but we are also hooking up you guys with 40 bucks
off your next stay.
So, click on the link below and then you'll find $40 automatically applied to your next
stay at booking.com
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We're in the city of Valletta right now and this is the capital
of Malta and it's actually a walled city, and it was the first planned city in Europe,
built by the Knights of St. John.
So they planned to build this city and they built a huge wall around it to protect the
city.
This is like this is the original wall, this is crazy!
And you can see it going all the way around.
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We stopped at Caffe Cordina and this is in Valletta, very close to the city center.
This is - this is a gem in the city.
We actually stopped here and there was tons of people sitting outside and the square having
coffee.
Coffee here is supposed to be amazing...
Coffee here is amazing.
I love coffee shops in different countries especially in Europe because they know how
to do it very well.
All right, I'm gonna try Kannol - no - yeah Kannol Rikotta.
It's a cannoli.
I thought this was only like Sicilian Italian but currently it's Maltese as well.
So this shell is so flaky.
I just have to gently bite and just falls apart in your mouth.
And inside its topped with pistachio and cinnamon and chocolate chips and Rikotta.
Oh so good!
Mmm...
The Sicilian in me is very happy.
Another popular item here is called a honey ring, which is like a hard pastry exterior.
Inside is a molasses mixed with different spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and anise
and then bacon.
Oh, it's hard, it's a lot harder than I thought.
It's crunchy, I thought it was gonna be soft but its crunchy.
And the interior is kind of like - like a Fig Newton but you know, more molassesy.
This is really good.
It'd be good dipped in tea, yeah, not bad.
Oh, whoa!
That almost - that like borderline brought tears to my eyes.
It smells so fresh but what is in this magical bag?
It is called a pastizzi and if you are in Malta, you have to try it at least five times.
It is doughy goodness and inside, this one has a ricotta cheese but you can get different
fillings and are you ready for it?
You can get them all over the country by the way.
Make sure it's warm and delicious and - oh my god, it's dripping!
Oh yeah...
Yammy.
Oh my god!
The pastry is like warm queso, buttery delicious gooeyness, flakiness, creaminess fresh.
And then inside the ricotta is really delicious and not overpowering.
The combination is like perfection...
Mmm mmm mmm and warm.
Mmm, mmm, you gotta have it warm.
Guys, this is real good.
This is like one of those things that you sit on a park bench or in a square, and you
just don't talk and you just eat.
So that's what's I'm gonna continue doing...
with the rest of this pastizzi.
Now I'm going to try Pastini.
So this is a little pastry and it's made with crushed up almonds, with vanilla, they can
put you know, orange peel in here, lots of sugar and margarine and - oh it smells so
good, just smells like a handful of fresh almonds.
I could probably eat like a hundred of these.
It's just like buttery goodness mmm and it's crumbly.
It's like in-between like pastry and a cookie.
Maybe more in like the cookie side.
I'll have one.
I wanna bite!
I know Kristen wants a bite.
I'll save you a bite.
I'm having a hard time not finishing this because Kristen wants it.
Okay.
Spare it for coffee and tea too right?
Yeah, great for coffee and tea.
Oh it's good!
Mhh!
Oh my chocolates!
Okay, I thought I was getting a hot chocolate, it's literally a cup of melted delicious chocolate
at the chocolate district in Valletta, and it's so good.
You got to come here...
Hmm, if you like chocolate of course.
But if you don't - who - who doesn't like chocolate?
I ordered a Maltese coffee and this is what came out.
It is a blend of coffee with brown cloves, chicory and a Anise seed and typically you
can get it with booze.
I think that is the way to drink it but we - it's 11 o'clock so, we decided to pass on
the booze today.
Oh my god, how do I get in there with all this - yep, that's gonna happen.
Oh my god it's good though.
Uhh, it's all over my nose, isn’t it?
It's a little bit more on the sour side with beans I guess.
Yeah are more sour rather than the bitter.
I don't really taste the cloves or - I taste chicory though, I definitely taste chicory.
I would say that's the most overpowering flavor, the coffee and the chicory.
And I guess every restaurant is different too and every brand is different but it's
really good, that's for sure, I highly recommend trying it.
We just took the Valletta train and it was a really nice experience.
It's like a half an hour tour around Valletta, six euros per person, baby of course is free,
and it gives you like a brief history lesson as you're passing through different areas
and we got to see like some cool like cafes and shops and learn just about Valletta, the
place we are at because that is part of travel, to learn about where you are, highly recommend
it.
Kai, did you have fun on the train?
We're currently trying to chase sunset and we are like going down some bumpy roads, I
don't know if we're actually going the right direction.
Locals like that we've being passing are looking at us like "uhhh, are you supposed to be here?"
which makes me like doubt that we're going the right way.
What do you think Siya?
I have no idea.
I've not seeing anyone on this road yet.
It's just like barely taken care of and there's stones and potholes but we're headed to the Dingli
cliffs.
Dingli cliffs?
Dingli cliffs.
Kai does not care, she likes the bouncing, force her to sleep.
You made it little car.
We made it!
Doesnt look promising though.
She almost turned back.
I just almost puked.
This Cliff looks like way there.
But look at this!
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we're at a restaurant called Nenu - the Artisan baker.
We're gonna try some traditional Maltese food.
There are a lot of restaurants in Valletta that offer traditional Maltese food.
I came across this one just looking online, seeing really good reviews and like the entire
menu is all traditional food.
So we went a little crazy because we want to try as much as possible when we're here,
in the short time we're here, so we have quite a few dishes coming that have been highly
recommended and I cannot wait to taste these new flavors.
This is a Maltese beer, it's called Cisk Chill and it's infused with lemon, so it's like
a lemonade and a beer.
So perfect for like Mediterranean summers.
Oh wow!
Wow, that's good!
Kai is getting excited, we're gonna try some widows soup it's called.
So it's chopped greens, we got poached egg, we got potatoes and cheeselets.
It looks it looks like a really simple, healthy, hearty soup, great for like cold weather.
It's a little chilly outside tonight, so perfect.
You gonna try Kai, well I'm gonna try, you're not gonna try.
It's really good.
It's like clean vegetable broth, it's really good.
It reminds me of a soup my mom would make for me when I had like a stomachache and I
feel healthy eating it.
Delicious!
I have Maltese sausage with tomato sauce and it looks like cut-up carrots and green peas.
It's like larger chunks of like herbs and spices within the sausage which is really
nice.
If was living in Malta as a kid, this would be my go-to meal.
I'm trying Ftira, it's very traditional.
It kind of looks like pizza where they got a flatbread but not so flat, bread is a little
bit thicker.
You can get all different types of toppings, I got potato, capers, anchovies, black olives,
onions, tomato, I don't know if I said that, it's a potato not tomato and fennel and sesame
seeds.
Oh my god!
The fennel was a great touch because it's got a very distinct flavor, it's perfect.
And then the anchovies are on the salty side, though the tomatoes are sweet, the onions
and the bread, and so fresh and soft mmh.
It's amaizing!
That is - that is a good version of a pizza.
I have the traditional rabbit and it's marinated in a gravy.
I haven't really eaten too much rabbit in my life.
I don't want to drop gravy on baby's head.
And it tastes like chicken with gravy.
So, you rabbit lovers will correctly.
Tougher meat and a little gamey.
Not quite like venison but definitely more gamey than like a chicken.
I would probably get it again.
I'm not a big like rabbit fan but - but this is delicious.
This is very well cooked.
We have arrived to Mdina and it's protected, you're not allowed to drive around there.
So, there's all these parking lots that are out front for you to park in and the parking
was by donation, so we didn't even like have a flat fee, we just gave the guy five euros
and he's like sure, be here all day, it's great.
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I have to say I'm a little bit of a pizza connoisseur, I've got pizza all over
the world and I love pizza.
This is one of the best pizza I've ever had.
Are you sure about this?
I'm sure, I think it's top five.
For sure, top five.
Where are we?
I'm kind of in a pizza days, can't remember.
We're in like Rabat area in Mdina and this pizza has like Maltese sausage in it, it's
like Meat Lovers with peperoni and amazing like local cheese and everything just tastes
local.
That's what happens when you're on an island.
Take a bite.
Mmm...
Oh yeah.
So good?
Meaty cheesy, doughy goodness.
Everything, everything.
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