The Duchess, Amsterdam - beluga caviar and royal sweets? A Christmas afternoon tea

I know, I know, you read the blog title and thought? Christmas? Ha ha ha! yes! I am currently in between countries and miss my family especially my munchkins in London. Malta has gone back into a lock down due to an increase in the number of Covid cases, so what is a girl to do but scroll through pictures and reminisce.

You lot know, we take our food tasters and adventures SERIOUSLY right? Afternoon tea is serious for my munchkins aka my nieces! it is their thing and best believe when i say, they have a thing or two to say about the best and worst afternoon tea experiences ever ha! Christmas is their favourite time of the year (I mean which Kid doesn’t love Christmas 😜) It’s not just Christmas day but December is quite a month for my family, both my oldies were born in December and we miss them the most during this time!

Any ho’ for half term in 2018, we decided to take the munchkins to ‘Dam (Amsterdam) to explore the Christmas markets. I was tasked with making reservations for Afternoon tea so I had to bring my ‘A’ game! After much research, settled for The Duchess why? because not only did they accept bookings in advance but their location and customer service were spot on! Not going to lie, whilst I was confident with my choice, the munchkins still had the final say😱. We arrived in Dam and stayed at our favourite hotel, and the munchkins could not wait to have afternoon tea once checked in!

I have to say, the Duchess is nay to shabby! We were seated in a grand ball room with high glass ceilings and what not. It was nice!

We decided to try all that was on offer and went for the Christmas afternoon tea which was just ahmazing! Items listed on the menu included scones, sandwiches, quiche?!, Royal sandwiches with three, yes 3, sweet categories! I mean talk about spread! Interestingly not all the items were served in a tiered tray as expected, we had sandwiches which were 6 different items – air bread filled with guacamole and chicken salad, Vol au vent with Bonito salad, capresse sandwich, smoked salmon roll with cream cheese and horse raddish, truffle brie waffle and golden egg potato foam and beluga caviar. As you might have figured out, these were miniatures but very scrumptious miniatures.

The golden egg potato foam and beluga caviar? Phew! That was the pierce de resistance! We were not READY! it literally was a golden egg! Filled with potato foam and caviar and tasted light, creamy and salty! It was delish!

Then came the sweets! OMD!!!!! Meringue with champagne and bergamont, apple tarte, pistachio chesse cake, spicy chocolate mousse, cookie stars, vanilla maddeline, marshmallows, guava pate…The trays were colourful, looked delicious and was delicious! I mean it was a spread and a half! And we were HERE for ALL of IT!