I felt this place! Traditional, authentic, small and feels like home. An Italian trattoria owned and managed by Italian people, Vecchia Taranto welcomes you for pizza and pasta. We arrived without having a booking, given the restaurant’s best table and greeted the Italian way. The owner was watching a football match so we joined.
The menu at Vecchia Taranto proposes more than 20 choices of pizza while the other specialties are written on the blackboard. Spaghetti, tagliatelle, pennette alongside salmon, eggplant, salads, and desserts.
The owner went down to prepare our orders, smells started haunting the restaurant, I was so excited to try. Everything they have. I was indeed so excited that I didn’t even care if tonight I’ll be having some hidden garlic in my plates.
The restaurant is spread on two floors. Welcoming happens on the ground floor where pizzas are baked, seating of only 18 seats is located on the first floor. The restaurant occupies a tiny spot on one of Valletta’s calmest streets, few meters from the famous “Sunday in Scotland” chocolate shop.
Tagliatelle Bolognese, one of the best I’ve ever had! Tender minced meat, spicy sauce, tagliatelle cooked al dente... Themis plate made my heart skip a beat. The carbonara is also phenomenal, al dente, tender bacon, no cream, adequately seasoned... yummy! The pasta rolls on the fork in style in a flat plate without the need of bowl or spoon. Two thumbs up! A super recommendation in Malta.
It’s not food from this earth! It’s beyond imaginable creations, it’s food I have never imagined discovering or experiencing. It’s so good! Pasta and now came the pizza. The crust, as I’ve never eaten before, the filling is the richest ever, the textures are indescribable; the pizza itself is out of this world!
I closed my eyes, enjoyed the thick and strongly textured crust, the fluffy borders and the cheese. I enjoyed the lower part of the crust, toasted and smelling the oven heat. Italian cheese on top, milky and fatty cheese, crisp arugula and shredded Parmesan. Today I can confirm the dating: “Pizzas are not created equal”.
If I can rate this restaurant a 6/5 on google maps I would have done it. Visit Malta for the touristic discoveries and to eat at La Vecchia Taranto.
