About Nieklu

"It all starts with the childhood memories of being at Nannu & Nanna's house after school. I can still smell Brodu wafting into my nostrils as I open the door, orange blossom lingering in the air, and the taste of cold left-over Pulpetti for a snack before dinner. 

Crunchy, flaky, literally mouth-watering Pastizzi that my Dad used to bring home when he'd find someone who could make them good, along with punchy olives, Ġbejniet tal-bżar, and a whole box of figs... Because you have to buy the whole box. 

Ħobż biż-żejt that my Aussie Mum used to make me for lunch after doing her research, and I could never forget my Aunty's Timpana at Christmas lunch or my other Aunty's Biskutini tal-lewż (Yes, both aunties are named Margaret of course). 

Besides eating my families food, the other best part of growing up with a Maltese culture is the giant box of home-grown goodies we get every time we visited my Nanniet or my Uncles. 

When my Nanna passed away miskiena, it seemed like we suddenly didn't know this stuff anymore. 

When I was 26 I moved in with Nannu, and man, did my cooking game change after living with him.

I'd been a professional Chef for 13 years at that point and my whole career so far I was taught that cooking meant manipulating food into something unrecognisable on a plate... Living with my 80 year old Nannu completely threw this on it's head. 

He taught me about food as a survival strategy after the war, food as reward for labour, and how to appreciate it once it was finally here after it was grown... Why change it so much? It was the most eye-opening experience, and the closest thing we can get to time travel. 

Obviously my Nanna did all the cooking when she was alive, and of course none of her recipes were written down, so between the two of us and our beautiful (tasty) memories of her, we recreated her magic. I cooked, and he tasted (and judged harshly whether it was right or wrong). As we sat down at the old table covered by the same red checkered table cloth that's been there for over 20 years, accompanied by a jar of capers, a bottle of olive oil, and anchovies - It was from this moment on that my whole life goal changed. I didn't want to be a Chef anymore, I wanted to be a cook. There is something money can't buy about picking the fruit off a tree that's been there since you were a kid, and putting it into a pastry that you made from scratch using flour and the eggs that your chickens laid that morning. Learning how to brine olives, harvest grain with a hook-shaped knife, and how to preserve everything by drying it out in the sun instead of an air-fryer - You can only learn this stuff through our ancestors and history.

Nieklu was created after life had fast-forwarded a few of years where I'd met my amazing Partner and we had our beautiful boys together. It was the daunting realisation that they'll never know these things if we don't keep them alive that founded what is our regeneratively-focused Maltese Street Food Stall, serving our customers with an authentic taste of Maltese cuisine going far beyond sustainable tactics.

Cassie

Founder of Nieklu Maltese Street Food