Malta’s dining scene is about to get a little more joie de vivre.

French Mediterranean restaurant Bagatelle is opening its first-ever Maltese venue in St George’s Bay, St Julian’s, adding Malta to a list of destinations that already includes Saint-Tropez, Dubai, London, Mykonos and St Barth.

The brand was founded in New York by French entrepreneurs Rémi Laba and Aymeric Clemente, who wanted to bottle the spirit of the South of France and serve it alongside good food. The result was Bagatelle,  a restaurant where long lunches are encouraged, sharing is part of the menu and the atmosphere tends to get livelier as the day goes on.

Expect French Mediterranean dishes made for the middle of the table, plenty of fresh seasonal flavours and the kind of setting that doesn’t rush you out after dessert. If you’ve visited one of Bagatelle’s restaurants abroad, you’ll know it’s just as much about the atmosphere as it is about what’s on the plate.

With 15 locations around the world, Bagatelle has become one of the best-known names in luxury dining, making its Maltese debut a welcome addition to the island’s ever-growing food scene.

Whether you’re already a fan or simply curious to see what all the fuss is about, Bagatelle’s arrival is another sign that Malta continues to attract some of the hospitality world’s biggest names.

Bagatelle recently shared on its Facebook page that the Malta opening is coming soon. We’ll take that as a very welcome invitation, and hope “soon” really does mean soon, because Malta is ready for its own taste of French Riviera flair.