The Crystal Palace or Crystal Palace Bar, also known as Is-Serkin, is a – a bar specialising in pastizzi – in Triq San Pawl in

Rabat, Malta Rabat ( ) is a town in the Western Region of Malta, with a population of 11,497 as of March 2014. It adjoins the ancient capital city of Mdina, and a north-western area formed part of the Roman city of Melite until its medieval retrenchment. ...

. It has been open since 1945 or 1946. It is one of the best-known bars of this kind in the islands. The name Is-Serkin began with the original owner, Ninu Azzopardi, who received that nickname due to the clientele at his business, who frequently rode in on horse carts called serkin. During the mid-20th century, when the British military had a presence in Malta, soldiers from the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

area of London, stationed in nearby

Mtarfa Mtarfa () is a small town in the Northern Region of Malta, with a population of 2,572 as of March 2014. It was considered to be a suburb of Rabat until 2000, when it became a separate local council. History A number of historic silos were disc ...

, regularly gathered at the pastizzerija to eat and drink, leading it to acquire the name "Crystal Palace". The original owner's son, Martin Azzopardi, took over the business in 1969 or 1970 and ran it until selling it in the late-2010s. Its pastizzi are prepared off-site and served straight from an oven in the shop, commonly served with a milk tea. Azzopardi attributes the restaurant's popularity to its hours, location, price, and taste, which comes from a recipe kept secret. The business initially operated 24 hours, first to serve soldiers, then farmers, and then people coming out of parties. It later began closing for two hours a day, between midnight and 2:00 AM. Since 2017, the establishment has included an outdoor patio. When the

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forced Serkin to close temporarily, ''

Malta Today ''Malta Today'' is a twice-weekly English language newspaper published in was published in 1999, and started out as a Friday newspaper. History ''Malta Today'' was first published on Friday, 19 November 1999. It was edited by Saviour Balzan, ...

'' wrote that it was "like closing down church." Malta's Prime Minister,

Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020 and leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2020. Muscat was first elected Prime Minister in March 2013 with 54.83 ...

, hosted three other European leaders (Belgium's Prime Minister

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

, Luxembourg's Prime Minister

Xavier Bettel Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourgish lawyer and politician who serves as the List of deputy prime ministers of Luxembourg, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg), minister for Fo ...

, and Slovenia's Prime Minister

Miro Cerar Miroslav Cerar Jr. (, known as Miro Cerar ;) (born 25 August 1963) is a Slovenian law professor and politician. He was Prime Minister of Slovenia, leading the 12th Government. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs i ...

) and their partners at Crystal Palace in 2017. Rival politician Ann Fenech's criticism of the choice of venue drew a public backlash, including

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s and

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s like # jesuispastizz. Fenech subsequently apologized and appeared in a photo at Crystal Palace with the owner's father.

References

{{coord missing, Malta Restaurants in Malta Maltese cuisine Rabat, Malta