Does Malta Have Halal Food?

📅 Updated: November 2026 — re-verified and expanded with our full restaurant directory, halal butcher list and FAQs.

If you’re planning a trip to Malta and searching “does Malta have halal food” before you book your flights, you’re not alone. It’s one of the first things Muslim travellers ask about this small Mediterranean archipelago — and it’s the most-searched food question on our own site. The honest answer is: yes, but you need to know where to look.

Malta isn’t a Muslim-majority country, but it has a genuine, growing Muslim community and a slowly expanding halal food scene shaped by tourism, migration, and a wave of new Middle Eastern and South Asian restaurants. This guide is our honest, research-backed answer — no fluff, no invented claims, just where the halal food actually is and how to judge it.

The Short Answer: Yes — With an Honest Caveat

Malta has dozens of halal and halal-friendly restaurants, a network of verified halal butchers, and halal grocery stores — mostly concentrated in Valletta, Sliema, St Julian’s, Gżira, Msida and Marsa. What you won’t find is a halal option on every corner. This is still Catholic-majority Malta, so a bit of planning goes a long way.

And one caveat we owe you upfront: Malta has no government-recognised halal certification body. A Turkish or Pakistani kitchen is not automatically halal-certified, and a “halal” sign with no certifying body named is a claim with nothing behind it you can check. We explain exactly how halal certification actually works on this island — and the three questions worth asking any restaurant — in our guide to how halal certification works in Malta. Where a restaurant on our site makes a specific halal claim, we attribute it to the source that made it (the venue itself, Zabihah, HappyCow, Halal Gems and others), so you can judge it yourself.

Where to Find Halal Food in Malta — Town by Town

Valletta (the capital)

Fewer dedicated halal restaurants than the tourist strips, but a solid, growing cluster — see our full Halal Food in Valletta guide. Standouts with explicit halal declarations: Falafel Street, whose own listing declares “ALL OUR FOOD IS HALAL” (also listed on Zabihah and HappyCow); Naan Bar, which states on its own site that “all our meats are Halal certified” (also on Zabihah); and Annapurna at Is-Suq tal-Belt, which Zabihah lists as fully halal on staff verbal assurance.

Sliema & St Julian’s

The tourist-seafront cluster — Middle Eastern grills, Indian restaurants and late-opening kebab spots. Our Sliema & St Julian’s guide covers the best of them. Millenium Kebab in Sliema is listed by Halal Gems and HHWT, which notes that all meat served there is halal; MY WAY in St Julian’s appears on Wolt as “Best Burger in Malta — Halal — French Tacos”. Browse the full locations list for more.

Gżira & Msida

Just across the water from Sliema: Ali Baba is listed on Zabihah as fully halal and also appears on HalalTrip and Halal Gems. Moo’s Kebab in Gżira advertises “Halal Food with Certification” and carries reviews on TripAdvisor.

Marsa, Ħamrun & the island’s South Asian kitchens

Marsa and Ħamrun host some of the island’s most authentic — and most affordable — Pakistani and Bangladeshi halal eateries, popular with Malta’s migrant community. Our guide to Malta’s Indian & Pakistani kitchens covers the dhabas, curry houses and biryani spots island-wide, including Lahori Dhaba. Always ask before ordering: not every restaurant that “looks halal” is certified, and staff in these areas are used to the question — they will usually tell you honestly.

What You’ll Actually Eat: The Cuisines

Malta’s halal scene leans heavily toward South Asian curry houses, Middle Eastern grill houses and Turkish-style kebab shops rather than fine dining. Expect kebabs, shawarma, falafel and fatayer; biryani, karahi and tandoori; Lebanese meze; and halal burgers and fried chicken at spots like MY WAY and Hugo’s Burger Bar. For the full spread of what these kitchens serve, browse our cuisine pages.

Halal Butchers & Groceries (for Self-Catering Visitors)

Staying in an apartment or staying longer? Malta has a small but reliable network of halal butchers — our Halal Meat in Malta page lists 10 verified butchers, mostly around Marsa, Ħamrun and Sliema, selling fresh halal chicken, lamb and beef. For everything else — spices, lentils, halal-friendly frozen goods — see our Asian grocery and Arabic grocery pages, or the full grocery index.

Worth knowing: mainstream supermarkets (PAVI, Lidl, Welbee’s and others) increasingly stock halal-labelled packaged goods in their international or world-food sections — particularly around Paola, Marsa, Birkirkara and Msida, where Malta’s Arab and South Asian communities are concentrated. A halal logo on packaged food points back to a genuine international certifying body even though the certification didn’t happen in Malta — which is more traceable than a verbal restaurant claim.

What About Fast Food?

Short version: McDonald’s Malta has no halal certification, and KFC Malta has no official halal certification — so neither is a safe default for a halal traveller. We re-verified both chains in November 2026 with full source-by-source detail in our refreshes of Is McDonald’s Halal in Malta? and Is KFC Halal in Malta? — read them before you trust a travel-site claim.

Mosques, Prayer & the Muslim Community

Malta is home to the Mariam Al-Batool Mosque in Paola, the country’s main mosque and Islamic cultural centre. It’s a good starting point not just for prayer, but for word-of-mouth recommendations on where locals actually eat — the community here is tight-knit and generally happy to help visitors find halal options. Our Muslim-friendly Malta guide covers mosques, prayer spaces and practical tips, and where to pray in Malta maps the prayer options.

Tips for Muslim Travellers Visiting Malta

• Book accommodation near Sliema, St Julian’s or Marsa for the easiest access to halal food.
• Use a dedicated Malta halal directory rather than generic map apps, since certification status often isn’t listed there.
• Vegetarian and seafood dishes are widely available everywhere and are a safe fallback in areas with fewer halal options.
• During Ramadan, some restaurants near the mosque adjust their hours — it’s worth calling ahead.
• When in doubt, ask directly whether the meat is halal-sourced and where it comes from. A confident, specific answer is a good sign; a vague one isn’t disqualifying, but tells you to dig deeper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still planning your trip? Start with our Muslim-friendly Malta guide, browse the full restaurant directory, and read the latest guides on the halal blog.