The courtyard of one of the most historical palaces in Mdina – Palazzo Vilhena, managed by government agency Heritage Malta – has been turned into an open-air restaurant without any call for tenders or expressions of interest.

Sources at Heritage Malta have told The Shift that the five-star restaurant has been in operation for the past weeks by a private third party, which is offering a seven-course set menu which sets back patrons, mostly tourists, some €120 per head.

The Shift is also informed that Heritage Malta, and various ministers, have already received several complaints about the sudden and unexplained use of this public space for a commercial restaurant and questioned who had decided to allow it.

Claims of abuse of power were also directed at the highest echelons of Heritage Malta, mainly at Chairman Mario Cutajar and CEO Noel Zammit, as no call for tender or expression of interest was issued for the courtyard of the Natural History Museum to be turned into a restaurant.

Investigations by The Shift show how the museum is being used as a restaurant by the owners of Rabat’s Grotto Tavern, who also manage a similar restaurant at another Heritage Malta site in Valletta, the Museum of Fine Arts, known as MUZA.

While the owners of the Grotto Tavern had competed for and won a public tender to operate the restaurant at MUZA, the same cannot be said in the case of Palazzo Vilhena.

Instead, The Shift is informed that someone at Heritage Malta decided to grant the use of the historic public space through a direct order, and no one at the agency knows what arrangements are in place between the owners of the restaurant and Heritage Malta.

“At the moment, there is absolute total secrecy on this deal, and no one knows whether Heritage Malta is sharing the restaurant’s profits or whether it is receiving some kind of payment.”

Questioned about the development, Heritage Malta’s politically-appointed CEO Noel Zammit completely avoided entering into any of the deal’s details.

Insisting this was a “temporary” experiment, Zammit confirmed that a tender had not been issued, even though adopting such an approach might render the catering operation illegal.

“The National Museum of Natural History has for the past couple of weeks hosted a food and snack service. No food preparation or cooking takes place on site.

“It is managed by third parties; however, no tender was issued since the said third party already has a contractual relationship with the Agency following a public call.”

While refusing to name this “third party”, Zammit added that, “This is a trial for a temporary period, which will enable the Agency to assess the potential of such an undertaking and eventually consider issuing a public expression of interest.”

A ‘snack service’ or a ‘unique gastronomical experience’?

While the public agency’s CEO dubbed the initiative as a “snack service”, the private website marketing the new restaurant labels it “a unique gastronomical experience”.

Also, while Zammit insists that no cooking takes place on site, the restaurant owners are even offering patrons the opportunity to “peer” into the on site open kitchen.

So far, Zammit is refusing to say who authorised this unique arrangement, whether the restaurant is covered by a permit, what Heritage Malta is being paid for the use of the public space and whether it was normal for the public agency to use a tender it had already previously adjudicated for a new project outside the original tender’s remit.

When contacted, Grotto Tavern owner Jonathan Pace said he could not remember whose idea it had been to open the ‘temporary’ restaurant at the Heritage Malta museum. He confirmed that there had been no tender, and he could not discuss whether he has shared profits with Heritage Malta.

Just a few weeks ago, the Heritage Malta chairmanship was assumed by Mario Cutajar, who was unable to retain his post as the head of the civil service after having reached retirement age. Instead, the government had given him what is considered a token appointment at Heritage Malta.