Before going to your first “Fenkata” in Malta there is one personal dilemma you have to deal with. If you think of rabbits as pets rather than good, staple food providers, you will understandably prefer to skip it. Many people, however, enjoy this traditional Maltese celebratory meal.
The Fenkata is, in fact, a feast of rabbit, marinated overnight in wine and bayleaf. The first course is usually spaghetti or noodles in rabbit sauce, followed by the rabbit meat stewed or fried in fresh garlic, complemented with home-made wine, Maltese sausage and Maltese cheese.
With rabbit long established as Malta’s national meat dish, the Fenkata is a very popular culinary event, lunch or dinner any day of the week, particularly amongst different groups of people ranging from amateur footballers and office colleagues to families and birthday gatherings.
The word is derived from “fenek” which is Maltese for rabbit. The number of Fenkata-specialist restaurants has been growing rapidly as more and more people, including large groups of curious, fun-loving visitors to the island, opt for the informality and joviality of these occasions.
The best “Fenkata” restaurants are arguably in the North, particularly in the Bahrija/Rabat/Mgarr area, but there are many other “Fenkata” outlets, including village football clubs and band clubs, all over the island where tantalising rabbit dishes are on offer at very reasonable prices. Recipes vary from one restaurant to another and from one household to another, all of them strikingly good.
Treating yourself to a Fenkata is witnessing at first hand the traditional side of Maltese cuisine minus the silver service. After all, rabbit is best eaten using your fingers. And you can’t get less silver service than that.
Ta’ Soldi. This is a traditional Maltese restaurant specialising in serving rabbit. They say the test of a good restaurant is the amount of locals eating in it and Ta’ Soldi is always packed with locals enjoying a ‘Fenkata’. For more info call (+356) 2152 5815 or email
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