Gozo is 67 square kilometres. You can drive across it in 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, if you know where to look, you will pass a bakery using a wood-fired oven that has been burning since before your parents were born, a fish shop whose owner speaks directly to twelve fishing boats, a delicatessen inside a citadel that has been feeding people since the Knights of St John, and a brewery producing craft IPA that recently won a gold medal.
This is Gozo's relationship with food: dense, specific, and unspectacular in the best possible sense. Nothing is performing for tourists. Everything is simply what it is — the accumulated food culture of an island that has been feeding itself for seven thousand years and sees no reason to apologise for knowing how.
George Attard knows this better than most. The chef at Level Nine at The Grand — the Michelin-recognised restaurant on the ninth floor overlooking Mġarr harbour — grew up here, left, cooked internationally, and came back. When he is not in the kitchen, he shops at the same places his grandmother did. This is his guide.
For a Drink After Work: Gleneagles Bar
Gleneagles Bar in Mġarr is one of the oldest bars of its kind on Gozo. It looks like a fisherman's pub that has been left largely undisturbed by the decades — wood-panelled, harbour-facing, warm in the way that places are warm when they are genuinely themselves rather than designed to feel warm.
Named for the Scottish steamship that operated the first regular boat service between Gozo and Malta, Gleneagles is where Attard goes after a long service. The owners are hospitable in the Gozitan way — interested, unhurried, and not trying to sell you anything you did not want. Locally produced drinks at prices that have not caught up with the mainland. Someone once said Ernest Hemingway would have felt at home here. One of Attard's friends had his wedding photos taken there. These are different kinds of compliment, but both accurate.
On the Waterfront: Ix-Xatt at One80 and Ember at Sea
Walking along Mġarr's waterfront, two more options present themselves in close succession. Ix-Xatt at One80 makes cocktails worth stopping for. A little further along, on a pontoon in the marina, Ember at Sea — run by the same people — is a floating restaurant specialising in Mediterranean cuisine and robata-grill dishes. For Attard, it is a place for a cocktail and something from the grill before the week starts again. The setting — on the water, watching the ferries come and go — makes the ordinary feel uncommon.
Bread: Three Places, Three Traditions
When Attard cooks at home, he is specific about his bread. Gozo produces three notable variations on the ftira — the traditional Maltese bread — and each has its guardian.
Mekren in Nadur is a family business with a wood-fired oven and a reputation for ftira and pizza that has outlasted generations of food trends. Maxokk, also in Nadur, is equally renowned for its savoury pastries — the kind of place where the queue on Sunday morning tells you everything you need to know. Ta' Saminu Bakery in Xewkija has been operating for over 60 years, producing bread and their family speciality: qaghaq helwin, sweet sesame rings that Attard picks up every time he visits. Three bakeries, none of which are competing with each other, because each occupies a specific place in Gozitan food culture that the others do not.
For pastries, cakes, and biscuits, Portelli Confectionery on Piazza Savina in Victoria (Rabat) is — in Attard's words — "perhaps the finest pâtisserie on Gozo." A tiny shop with a wide selection, an obsession with traditional craft, and the kind of quality that makes it dangerous to visit on a diet.
The Delicatessen: Ta' Rikardu
Inside Victoria's citadel, right next to the cathedral — a location full of tourists that somehow maintains its integrity — Ta' Rikardu operates as both shop and restaurant. Local charcuterie, home-made gbejna (the fresh Gozitan sheep's milk cheese), capers, olives, and Gozitan country wine. It is the kind of place where the produce does the work. Nothing on the counter needs selling — it simply needs to be noticed.
Fish: Puxulina Fish Shop
Puxulina Fish Shop in Victoria is run by Samuel Bugeja, who works directly with twelve fishing boats landing their catch at Marsalforn or Mġarr. Seasonal lampuki when available, always fresh, always with Bugeja's knowledge of exactly where and when each fish came out of the water. Attard calls ahead when he wants something specific for home cooking. Bugeja calls Attard when something exceptional comes in. This is how supply chains should work — two people who know each other, and fish in between.
The Markets: Gozitano Agricultural Village, Xewkija
For produce, Attard goes to Daily Fresh in Gozitano Agricultural Village in Xewkija — run by Mario, who sources directly from local farmers. Gozo's fields produce vegetables of a quality that has everything to do with the island's limestone soil and the producers' obstinate refusal to scale at the expense of flavour.
In the same village: Lord Chambray craft beer — the IPA that Attard drinks after work on days when something stronger than water is required. Gozo Cottage for artisanal jams and Gigantija extra virgin olive oil — recently gold medal–winning, and used in Attard's dishes at Level Nine. And the Savina Artisan Centre at the Magro Food Village for Three Hills Kunserva tomato purée, which Attard describes simply as "the best of its kind."
Where to Eat: Three Restaurants Worth Finding
Restaurant Peppina in Xewkija serves contemporary bistro cuisine that makes generous use of local vegetables. The rabbit croquette with pickled carrots and red onion marmalade is worth the trip by itself. Neolitik Kitchen & Lounge in Victoria offers modern dishes that keep the taste of place — the local date roulades are a reason to visit. Maldonado Bistro, also in Victoria, is atmospheric and authentic, serving both local and broader Mediterranean dishes in the kind of room that makes conversation feel easy.
None of these are Michelin-starred. All of them are worth knowing.