Family run Tal-Furnar on Gozo – the kind of restaurants we like!

You all know that we love eating 🙂 We eat everyday stuff and some more festive food. Usually out – on the one hand we like it, and on the other we don’t have too much time to cook something delicious at home in this fast-moving world. Where do we like to eat? I guess there are plenty of places we like going to: in Warsaw, Poland, Spain and also in Italy, Hungary, Bruges, Europe and in the world in general.

We have our favourite spots that we come back to, but we also have specific preferences when it comes to choosing new places to visit. You can say that we like extremes. On the one hand we love “good restaurants” (elegant, with delicious food and a chef that’s more an artist than a cook)… but let’s be honest, if you tell me that you never wanted to eat in such a place I won’t believe you 🙂 As a popular advert stated: “everyone likes to give themselves a bit of luxury”… At least from time to time! 🙂

But we also like different kind of places.. small restaurants, joints and bars that are charming, simple and offer delicious local, home-made-like food. The local element is usually strong in such places and sometimes you can feel like at home there. I guess these places work best if they’re run by a family and you can feel it in every meal. We enduringly seek for such places on our every trip. And what’s important – we usually find them.

Why do we like them?

– the food – simple and delicious, with no unnecessarily weird and artistic looking meals

– the service – usually it’s less efficient than in “the good restaurants”, but most of the time it’s friendly and nice

– the owners – who often ask how we like the food, join us for the meal or want to have a glass of wine with their customers..

– unpretentiousness – in such places we’re not afraid of Maks running around, laughing too loud, playing, etc. as such behaviour is acceptable…

– flexibility – such places are usually very flexible and happy to answer unusual demands – there’s no chef to shout at them for it!

While we were on Gozo, we found a place called Tal-Furnar Bar & Restaurant  in Xaghra that may serve as a perfect example of an above-mentioned place. If you want to feel the atmosphere we just wrote about, check it if you ever end up anywhere near.

The restaurant specialises in Maltese cuisine and …Gozitan? :). Tal Furnar is a bakery that’s been established more than 100 years ago! And it has been run by the same family ever since… It’s known for its wood-fired oven which is used to prepare the delicacies served there. They bake bread and Gozitan ftira which is a kind of flat bread stuffed with some spicy filling (sausage, vegetables) or with something sweet (fruits). Unfortunately we didn’t try those, but you can see how they make it here.

The restaurant, which was established only a few years ago is located near the bakery and looks quite modest. A few tables on the pavement, just by the street… I was a bit afraid to go and have a dinner at Tal-Furnar Bar & Restaurant as I imagined myself not eating but chasing Maks and saving him from the imminent death under the passing cars. But the crowd  in this “shabby” restaurant every day was a clear sign that we have to go there. So we went there, and then again. We would have gone there even more if it wasn’t for the flight back to Warsaw…

In the restaurant you will surely meet Tony, an old guy and the owner of the place, who starts sitting next to people and talking to his wife and daughter after 11 pm. They all bring the food together, look after the guests and make sure that everything tastes good… but they have some time for themselves as well, when the guests start to leave, they sit at one table and have dinner on the spot. Credibility and trust – two more things we like this kind of places for!

Tal-Furmar sometimes hosts special events such as pig roast in their famous oven, which you need to book a table for in advance. Unfortunately we were already on our way to Warsaw when this even was taking place.

What is there to eat in Tal Furnar?

I’ll start with simple garlic bread served with sundried tomato salsa which me and Maks reaaally liked. Nothing special, the bread was a bit burnt, but it tasted heavenly! Maks knows what’s good as he devoured the meal vigorously!

Another must eat is called furnaretti. These are large dumplings stuffed with rabbit and served with caramelised onion. You can treat it as a starter or a main course. You’ll surely remember the dumplings as they are quite unique yet delicious. We still talk about them with our friends that we spent time with on Gozo. You can see them in the top of the entry. They deserve this honourable place!

Fish soup and seafood fans should try a light and delicate aljotta, a Gozitan fish soup with seafood and rice.

Maks recommends penne (or spaghetti) with rabbit for children. A “starter” meal is so big that it was enough for me and Maks (even after we ate that garlic bread!:)), and for a take away lunch for Maks on the next day. Spicy spaghetti with Maltese sausage and tomatoes it’s also very tasty, not so original though. The menu also includes ravioli with Gozitan cheese.

For main course at Tal-Furnar you can have both delicious meats (pork, lamb) or typically Maltese bragioli beef chops. The chops at Tal-Furnar are delicate, the bits of meat thin and stuffed with meat and olives. Łukasz’s mouth still waters when he is thinking of them.

I fell in love with the fish meal: fish with delicious tomato sauce with olives, calamari and shrimps. Unfortunately it’s impossible to eat a whole meal yourself. It was absolutely delicious even though it looked like a pile of fish on the plate 😉

Big meals and delicious house wine at Tal-Furnar made us quite full and partly unable to eat anything more. But we managed to try banoffee pie for dessert. An English dessert as Malta and England where linked in the past 😉 and there’s still lots of English people there. Banoffee consists of bananas, toffee and cream (as the name says: banana + toffee). Łukasz said it tasted “homespun yet nice” (I was too full to try + I don’t like bananas!) – just like Tal-Furnar!

Tal-Furnar seems like our kind of place on Gozo. If we ever get back there, we will definitely have lunch or dinner there. It’s also very cheap. A pasta-starter costs 5-6 Euro! It’s the same pasta that I ate with Maks together and took home for the next day! 🙂 Remember about the place while visiting Malta/Gozo.

Practical info:

Tal-Furnar Bar&Restaurant

136 Gnien Xibla Str

XRA 2401 Ix-Xaghra, Malta

tal-furnar-restaurant@gozoliving.com

open daily 9 am-11 pm – remember about siesta!