WATCH | The secret ingredient to a good pastizz? Patience

Ever wondered what the number one skill you need to have to make pastizzi is? According to the founder of A Pastizzi Experience, Michela Cammarota Cefai, the number one skill is patience.

Michela began her journey eight years ago, first working with her nanna, before setting up her own business: A Pastizzi Experience. As of April 2026, she began welcoming guests to her atelier in the heart of Birkirkara. As one of Malta’s oldest towns, the location, with its cobbled streets, goes hand in hand with teaching the art of making pastizzi.

She has recently also added imqaret and ġelat tan-Nanna to her teaching repertoire.

Pastizzi are a traditional savoury pastry, usually with a filling of either ricotta (pastizzi tal-irkotta) or curried peas (pastizzi tal-piżelli). They are a popular, well-known traditional Maltese fast food sold from a pastizzerija—a street food shop. And these outlets can be found across the island, on practically every corner.

In recent years, flavours have been expanded with the inclusion of chicken, Nutella and minced meat. But many people will tell you they still prefer the original, with their own twists, such as adding both sugar and cinnamon to the ricotta pastizz for a mix of sweet and salty.

MaltaToday sat in on a class Michela was teaching, which for that session happened to be an American family. They had no ties to Malta, but had heard about the street food and wanted to learn how to make it. One of them likened it to a dumpling, stating, “I guess every country/culture has their own take on a dumpling!” And it’s true; across many different countries, you will find different takes on the dumpling. From China, where they are called jiaozi, to Poland, where they’re called pierogi.

Michela Cammarota Cefai (centre) teaching a class (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

After class was over, the surfaces had been cleaned and the American family left, thoroughly happy with what they’d made. Even if the kids were very sceptical, they all gave it a good try. Michela sat down with us to discuss opening the company: “I realised there was a lacuna in Malta. There was nobody really teaching Maltese food in general and I did study tourism studies, so it helped. It’s like, let me just give it a shot. And the shot became my full-time job.”

Regarding the recipe she uses, Michela says she taught herself. “I looked at many different recipes online and they all say something different. They’re all skipping a step, they all have their own twist to it.”

Practice makes perfect and after a few failed times, she now can confidently say that her “pastizzi are pretty good”.

She adds that people booking her classes can expect two hours of messy play. “Their hands are going to get dirty; they’re going to do the dough from scratch.”

Michela enjoys the experience because she also gets to meet people who like food. And her clientele is 50% Maltese and 50% foreigners. Regarding the latter group, she says she gets a lot of clients who are part of the Maltese diaspora.

“Most of them, their grandparents would have made pastizzi and they never learned. That’s something that we all do. We never learn from our grandparents and then we regret it later. So, they come and they’re like, oh, I just want to make it like nanna or just like nannu and continue the family tradition.”

Reacting to the expanding flavours, Michela replies: “I think everything tastes good inside a pastizzi! It’s difficult to not find something that’s tasty with pastry… I’ve seen ham and cheese, spicy salami, and pistachio ones. There was even a smash burger one not long ago. Sometimes they do them with truffle as well.”

Freshly baked pastizzi (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

For someone with so much experience, we asked her if she had to go out to buy pastizzi, if she would choose a particular shop. However, Michela admits she hasn’t had them outside her own kitchen in a long time. She says, however, that a lot of places she’s tried have hit the same spot.

She’s also expanding. Michela says she plans to expand her repertoire of lessons because she feels Malta is losing a bit of its culture. “You know, you go out there and you can find so many different foods nowadays but Maltese food is slowly dying out. Like, if you think of Maltese restaurants, you can count them probably on one hand.”

For example, imqaret, which she recently added to her menu, used to be something you could find as you walked into Valletta. But now, the traditional Maltese sweet is harder to find.

“To the point where you get excited to see them. And if you know how to make them at home, at least you're maintaining and you’re preserving our food.”

She also wants to teach Qagħaq tal-Ħmira, Ottijiet, as well as the pink coconut cake. The latter of which I questioned whether was Maltese. Michela isn’t sure but “it is us,” she says. “You can find it at every confectionery across the island,” she adds.

For anyone interested in taking classes, please visit apastizziexperience.com for more information.