De Mondion restaurant was awarded ‘Top Overall Restaurant’ for 2026 at The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants Awards Ceremony, held at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana, on December 8.
The awards celebrated the outstanding achievement of Malta’s and Gozo’s top-rated restaurants as voted by diners out who participated in the online survey at www.restaurantsmalta.com in September.
Based on diner voting, only 150 restaurants make it to be included for free in the The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants in Malta & Gozo and on its official portal each year.
This year’s restaurant survey once again had a large number of respondents: a total of 3,703 participants who dined out on average one to two times a week, equivalent to a total of 288,834 dining experiences in a year.
The latest 2026 edition of the guide, which sees 45 new restaurants included, was launched on the evening. The information in the guide is also included in the online portal.
The top 40 award-winning restaurants were taken from the highest-rated restaurants taking into account their overall rating, the number of people rating, comments and other data from the survey.
The top 40 restaurants winning award plates in order from most highly rated went to: de Mondion, Sole by Tarragon, Ion Harbour, Venus, Muża, Trattoria da Manuele, OyOy, Opa!, Minoa, Galea’s Kitchen, Buonbon Café, Adura, Toro Toro, Caviar & Bull, Palio’s, Scala, Trattoria AD 1530, Step 15, Noni, Ta’ Tona, Lovage, da Luigi, Casa Gringo, Don Royale, Lubelli, Chophouse, Terrone, Village Fork, Ventuno, Root 81, Obi, Bastion, Bahia, Mamachi, Chatterbox, The Golden Fork, Tal-Familja, Trattoria ix-Xatba, Chiaro Birkirkara and Paranga.
Additional awards in different categories were also presented:
• Best food (sponsored by American Express) − de Mondion;
• Best ambience (sponsored by Bookia & Tableo) – Bahia;
• Best service – Sole by Tarragon;
• Restaurant most dedicated to supporting local, best local fish restaurant and best local wine list (sponsored by Malta Food Agency) – Il-Kartell, Sole by Tarragon and Country Terrace, respectively;
• Best restaurant in Gozo (sponsored by The Ministry for Gozo) – Ta’ Tona;
• The best chef award (sponsored by Pentole Agnelli represented exclusively by The Catering Centre) – Sandro Vella;
• Best newcomer (sponsored by Zamco) – Trattoria da Manuele;
• Most children-friendly restaurant (sponsored by the Malta Baby & Kids Directory) – Don Royale;
• Best Maltese restaurant (sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority) – Gululu;
• Restaurant most popular for business entertainment (sponsored by Rummo represented by J. Calleja Import & Export Ltd) – Caviar & Bull;
• Restaurant most popular for romantic dining (sponsored by Victor Azzopardi Jewellers) – Caviar & Bull;
• Best value for money restaurant (sponsored by Horeca) – Village Fork;
• Favourite café (sponsored by Buondi represented by Nestlé Malta) – Busy Bee Mrieħel;
• Most promising young chef of the year – Kimberley Ellul;
• Most promising F&B maître of the year – Hosea Tabone;
• The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants People’s Choice Wine List (from the results of the survey) – Country Terrace.
On the night, the recently launched EcoCook Malta, the first sustainable certification for restaurants in Malta and Gozo, presented trophies to the initial three restaurants to join the programme: Caviar & Bull, de Mondion and Hammett’s Monastik.
The survey results were revealed by Lisa Grech, managing director of the Definitive(ly) Good Guide Co., while the awards were presented by Carlo Micallef, CEO Malta Tourism Authority, Adrian Cachia and Celia Abela from Global Payments, Justin Camilleri and Brian Vella for Malta Food Agency, and Mark Ciantar of Continental Purchasing on behalf of Schonwald, Germany, who supplied the commemorative award plates for the occasion, and other sponsors.
Present for the event was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism & Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, who addressed the guests.
The results of the restaurant survey can be found in the 2026 edition of The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants in Malta & Gozo which is now available to purchase online at www.restaurantsmalta.com. It is also available at leading stationers and bookshops in Malta and Gozo.
The Definitive(ly) Good Guide to Restaurants Awards Ceremony was supported by the Malta Tourism Authority, Global Payments and Malta Food Agency.
