Lampuka
Dolphinfish, in season to December
Off the Santa Marija, kannizzati lines south-east, landed
Pan-fried with capers and tomato, or baked into torta tal-lampuki.
€26 a plate14 left
Fish from the boatsyou can seefrom your table.
Lampuka sits on Xatt is-Sajjieda, across the road from the Marsaxlokk fish market. What the luzzijiet land at dawn is on our board by half past eight.
The Farrugias have fished out of Marsaxlokk since 1962. In 2019 we carried the catch across the road and opened a kitchen.
Toni still skippers the Ġużeppina three mornings a week. His son Karl runs the kitchen, and his sister Rita runs the room.
Read our storyToday's catch
Priced by the plate or by weight. When a tile says gone, it's gone: we don't top up from the freezer.
Ċerna
Dusky grouper
Line-caught on Hurd's Bank, landed
Baked whole in a Gozo salt crust for two, or sliced thin as carpaccio.
€9.50 per 100g4 left
Qarnit
Octopus
Pots off Delimara Point, landed
Braised for the stuffat, or charred on the grill with lemon and oregano.
€24 a plate9 left
Pagru
Red porgy
Nets of the Ġużeppina, landed
Grilled on the bone, finished with żejt, lemon and wild fennel.
€8 per 100g6 left
Gamblu aħmar
Red prawns
Deep water south of Filfla, landed
Raw with lemon at the bar, or seared hard in garlic oil.
€12 per 100g3 left
Spnotta
Wild sea bass
Rod-caught off Xrobb l-Għaġin, landed
Grilled whole, or baked in paper with cherry tomatoes and capers.
€8.50 per 100g5 left
Pixxispad
Swordfish
Longliners at the market, landed
Cut thick, grilled pink and spooned with salmoriglio.
€27 a plate11 left
Want first pick of the board?
Book lunch for 12:00 or 12:30 and every tile is still up. By two, the lampuki and red prawns are usually gone.
Book lunchSwipe the board to see every fish.
What the regulars order
The menu turns with the boats, but these four rarely leave it. Ask for them by their Maltese names and Rita will be pleased.
Stuffat tal-qarnit
Octopus stew
Octopus from the pots off Delimara, braised for three hours with red wine, black olives, capers and a bay leaf from Nanna Rita's tree. Comes with warm ftira for the sauce, because you'll want it.
€24From the sea
Linguine bil-gamblu u l-arzell
Red prawn and clam linguine
Red prawns from the deep water south of Filfla, their heads pressed into the sauce, with clams, cherry tomatoes and a fistful of parsley. The plate the kitchen eats on a Tuesday.
€26Pasta & rice
Ħuta fil-melħ
Whole fish in a salt crust
Pick a fish from the board and we pack it in sea salt from the Xwejni pans in Gozo. Forty minutes in the oven, cracked open at your table, served with lemon and green oil.
€8.50per 100g, for two or more
Gajdri u lumi
Oysters, lemon and bajtra mignonette
Six oysters on ice with Gozo lemon and a mignonette sharpened with prickly-pear vinegar we make each September. Order them while you choose the rest.
€21for six, raw bar
A terrace facing the luzzijiet
Twenty-two tables under a canvas awning, a few steps from the quay. In the morning the boats come in. At night their lamps go out one by one.
Shade until three
The awning covers every terrace table. On August afternoons we drop the side sails too.
Ask for the front row
Tables 1 to 8 sit right on the water. Mention it in your booking notes and we'll do our best.
Winter evenings outside
From November we close the sides and light the heaters. The view of the harbour stays.
Sunday: walk the market, then sit down to lunch
Every Sunday the whole quay turns into Malta's biggest fish market. Shop it from eight, then come back for a set lunch built from the same stalls.
- To shareĦobż biż-żejt, bigilla and a cup of aljotta
- RawOysters and red prawn crudo for the table
- MainWhole fish from the stalls with patata l-forn
- SweetImqaret, vanilla gelato and coffee
€38per person, 11:30 to 16:30. Children under 12, €18.
From the boat to your plate by 1pm
Most of what we serve was in the water yesterday. This is how a Tuesday morning goes.
Boats head out past Delimara Point
The Ġużeppina leaves with the other luzzijiet to haul nets set the evening before.
Landed on the quay
Crates come off the boats straight onto ice, twenty metres from our door.
First look at the market
Ġorġ walks the stalls and buys what our boats didn't bring: red prawns, sea urchin, the odd ċerna.
The board goes up
Every fish gets a tile, a weight and a price. The board on this site changes at the same time.
Scaled, filleted, into the stock
Heads and frames go into the aljotta pot. Anything that can be cooked stays out of the bin.
Kitchen opens
First tickets usually come from the front row of the terrace.
On your plate
About seven hours from the net. The lampuki are usually gone by two.
Book a table on the water
Lunch Tuesday to Sunday, dinner Tuesday to Saturday. For 11 guests or more, have a look at private dining.