The Westin Dragonara, San Giljan, Malta – Date fritters for Afternoon tea

Nothing beats sunshine, blue skies and the sounds of church bells…….

Your mood is lifted, you smile and intrinsically believe and choose to have a good day. This was the mood for this paricular Sunday. The sun was out, so you know we were going to be out doing the most in these Malta streets 😀. After a nice homemade lunch courtesy of Neal,

we took to the streets and made our way to San Giljan which is across the bay from where we are. It has more of a social scene than Sliema which is very much residential, enjoying the sun and what not.

We made our way to Westin Dragonara, there is a ‘private’ beach, so we went to have a look and see what all the fuss was about. The Reef club is alright, you can either have a membership or pay as you go with a day pass. The day pass does get you drink and food vouchers as well, not a bad look eh? Since the sun was in the high heavens even though it was towards the later part of the day (Malta is HOT people), we decided to stop at the hotel, grab a drink and some nibbles. Well, turns out, the hotel offers an afternoon tea menu, so you know we had to ha!

Unlike the Gin afternoon tea, this was pretty much a traditional afternoon tea experience, but this afternoon tea had Date fritters? And OMG!!!!  As per usual, we had a single three tiered tea tray which had a selection of tea finger sandwiches, mini pastries & cream in glasses, freshly baked raisin scones & date raisins, selection of tea pastries & cakes

as well as freshly brewed tea and coffee. The tea finger sandwiches were regular – ham and cheese, some beef and mustard, curry fillings served with a bowl of crisps.

The middle tier is what we were keen on diving into because it had some really interesting savouries. I have mentioned before that I like a good ol’ sponge cake with nothing in the middle, just plain sponge. These cats, in this here Malta, got that down to a T! The cakes had the right balance of moistness and sweetness, 🥰. The raisin filled scones served with a dollop of clotted cream … yum!

The date fritters? This was the most unsuspecting and scrumptious surprise. I don’t know how this is made, but it is so good. It is baked with the soft crust and the dates are kinda mushy but it works! Since dates are very sweet, this was more savoury sweet and tasted lush. Did I mention that it was good? no seriously, it was so good, had to have extra portion. D E L I C I O U S!!!

The top tier had mini pastries and cream in glasses. Mini macaroons, mini tarts and yogurt with strawberry on the top composte type thingy magig. Yep, sweetness overload!!! Neal was in heaven with this, his sweet tooth kicked ALL the way IN!

I really liked that the tea was loose leaf tea. Plus, it looked like stalactites (is that my geek coming out?) in the tea pot. Loose mint tea is THE one!

All in all, it was a nice way to spend the afternoon!

Cheers

Ndidi

p.s. since having the gin afternoon tea, you know we had a cheeky one too. Guess it might be a thing from now on? 😋😀