What immediately comes to mind is the spectacular setting of this venue, positioned right on the water’s edge, with an unencumbered panorama of Mellieha Bay in front of you.

I wasn’t quite sure whether they would be open, being off-season, mid-week, and lunchtime, due to their location, however upon arrival not only were we informed that they will be open throughout Winter, but they were also extremely busy. So they must be doing something right.

Being a day with exceptionally clement weather, their large outside terrace and adjacent balcony were in fact full, so we were seated inside. However this took absolutely nothing away from their wondrous positioning, as much of the seaside facing wall has been very cleverly replaced by clear glazing. There were few occupied tables inside, which also made for a nice, quiet and intimate setting for us.

In spite of the restaurant being so busy, I must say that the service was of a very high standard. A large part of it was definitely based on the fact that they had a generous staff compliment. This contrasts sharply with so many establishments where you are faced with virtually a full house of customers, with only one or two staff members swept off their feet, trying desperately to cope, or worse still, having visibly long given up on even trying, taking their time to serve at their own pace, probably even hoping that patrons will tire waiting and leave.

But besides a hefty team of servers, there were obviously a couple of people there who were superior to the rest and who were running the show. Probably a restaurant manager and a head waiter or two, yet another sign of good management. I think that it is essential to have a hierarchy in place, rather than just a number of servers with no one for customers and for the staff themselves, to refer to when in need.

Lastly, on the point of service, every single staff member was courteous, polite and helpful without exception, denoting either good professional training, or simply a situation where they are led by example to act in this manner by their superiors.

We were only in the mood of a very light lunch, so we only had one course. Not like us, but exceptions exist in every rule. We had deep fried calamari rings which were excellent and if you might be thinking that this is something pretty much hard to get wrong, then I really beg to differ, as few places are able to produce this to such satisfactory standards. We also had a Munchies Special Burger which is one of those burger dishes with everything in it. The pure Angus burger was tasty and of obvious high quality. I did however find it ever so slightly overcooked and therefore slightly dryish.

We complimented our light lunch with a lovely Californian Woodbridge Chardonnay, presenting flavours of cinnamon and apples, ending in a distinctive oaky taste. The meal itself was finished off with coffees and cognacs.

I would much rather dine at such an establishment in Winter, well outside the Summer madness, and will definitely return in the coming months.