1962
Nannu Ġużeppi buys a luzzu
He paid for the Santa Marija with three years of wages from the dockyard in Cospicua, painted her blue and yellow, and put the eye on her bow himself. She fished the kannizzati lines every autumn for forty years.
Three generations, two boats, one quay
Lampuka is what happens when a fishing family stops selling the catch to other people's kitchens and opens its own, twenty metres from the moorings.
1988
Toni takes the tiller
Ġużeppi's son had a second boat built in Kalkara and named her after his mother. The Ġużeppina still goes out three mornings a week, and most of what she brings back ends up on our board.
2019
Crossing the road
Karl came home after twelve years in other people's kitchens. With his aunt Rita he took over the old net store opposite the market, opened the walls to the harbour and lit a charcoal grill. Grandfather's rule stayed: if it wasn't swimming this week, it doesn't go on the board.
The boats
Both still moored on the quay outside. Look for the eyes on the bows; they're there to watch for storms.
Santa Marija
- Built
- 1962, Marsaxlokk
- Length
- 7.2 metres
- Fishes
- Lampuki, August to December
- Skipper
- Retired, still painted every spring
Ġużeppina
- Built
- 1988, Kalkara
- Length
- 9.4 metres
- Fishes
- Nets and pots, all year
- Skipper
- Toni Farrugia
The chef
Karl Farrugia, head chef"My grandfather would only eat fish his own boat caught. I'm a bit less strict. I'll buy from the stalls across the road, as long as I can see who landed it."
Karl trained at the Institute of Tourism Studies, then spent six years in Palermo and six in London. He cooks the food his nanna cooked, with a lighter hand and a hotter grill.
Where the fish comes from
Nearly everything on the board is caught within 30 kilometres of the restaurant. These are the grounds our boats and the market's regulars work.
- 1
Off Delimara Point
Octopus pots and rock fish for the aljotta, ten minutes out of the harbour.
All year
- 2
Hurd's Bank
A shallow bank east of Malta. Line-caught ċerna, dentex and red mullet.
Spring to autumn
- 3
The kannizzati lines
Floating palm-frond rafts set in a line out to sea. Lampuki gather in their shade.
August to December
- 4
South of Filfla
Deep water for red prawns and swordfish, landed by the bigger boats.
Most of the year
Who you'll meet
Half family, half people who might as well be by now.
Karl Farrugia
Head chef
Grew up gutting fish on the Ġużeppina. Cooked in Palermo and London before coming home.
Rita Farrugia
Front of house
Karl's aunt. Knows every regular's table and most of their children's names.
Toni Farrugia
Skipper, the Ġużeppina
Out at half four three mornings a week. Decides what the kitchen cooks before anyone else is awake.
Ġorġ Camilleri
Fish buyer
Has bought at the Marsaxlokk market for thirty years. Writes the board every morning.
Elena Borg
Pastry
Makes the imqaret dough at seven and the qagħaq on Thursdays.
Matteo Russo
Bar and wine
From Siracusa. Built the wine list around what goes with a whole grilled fish.
Come and eat what Toni caught
The board goes up at half eight. Lunch starts at noon.