To commemorate Maldonado Bistro’s 10th anniversary, we were planning to print a cookbook. We had a plan. We still had all the menus since the first day Maldonado Bistro opened its doors. We have always enjoyed taking photos to document the many experiences we have delivered in our bistro. Our Instagram account alone is closing in on 1000 posts. Many more photos still wait dormant on the ‘cloud’ to be revisited one day. We have some recipes organised. But others scattered in notebooks, e-mails, website bookmarks and cookbooks.

The only thing we did not have was time. Time to make it happen. Running a restaurant can be very time consuming. Not only were we busy overseeing the day-to-day of Maldonado Bistro, but we were also setting up gastronomic activities in our new open kitchen space which are promoted under the umbrella of Gastro Gozo.

In 2020, when life came to an unexpected halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, our world came to a stop. Everybody’s world came to a stop. Maldonado Bistro closed. All Gastro Gozo activities cancelled until the foreseeable future. What do we do with ourselves? How do we utilise the free time that has been ‘gifted’ to us? How do we rediscover our purpose in the scheme of things?

We made good use of the kitchen quarantine as we found the time to revisit recipes, carry out some research, and keep our patrons engaged with our social media stories. The feedback was encouraging. Some followers asked for recipes. Others asked for tips on their home cooking adventures. And therefore, I decided to continue where I left off and instead of my cookbook project, I started up a new food blog – www.amaltesepantry.com.

This is not the first food blog out there. And it will certainly not be the last. But we have ample content which we would love to share. As they say, sharing is caring. Let us express our love for food.

Therefore we see ‘A Maltese Pantry’ as an opportunity to organise and record the past, present and future endeavours of our kitchen at Maldonado Bistro. A medium which promotes sustainability and the challenges of today’s food supply chain. A space to celebrate local provenance and product. All from our humble Maltese kitchen. Our sanctuary. Our home.

We believe the cookbook will happen one day. Hopefully rather sooner than later. But at least for now, we can keep on documenting our recipes and gastronomic stories through this blog. It is all about appreciating the art of cooking and engaging with those who have a passion for food.

We hope you like it.