For Absolute Perfection: Festive Afternoon Tea at Villa Corinthia 🍰

With the Festive Season comes a rush; a rush in workload, a rush in social appointments, a rush in making time for everything. But when we’re always on the go, we forget to stop and enjoy Christmastime; watching the season swish by faster than we ripped our presents open Christmas morning. 🎁

What if we could take an hour or two out of our Christmas schedule to eat, drink and be merry in the most stunning of surroundings? What if you could sit at an elegant round table, dressed with teapots, champagne flutes, a tier of petite sandwiches, petit fours and freshly baked scones? What if you could book your table right now? 😲

If only Afternoon Tea always looked like this!

We’re talking about a Festive Afternoon Tea like no other held at one of Malta’s most glamorous spots - Villa Corinthia.🎄

We were lucky enough to be invited to try The Afternoon Tea at Villa Corinthia and opted for the Festive Afternoon Tea to entice you all with the delicacies prepared by Chef Stefan Hogan and his team; served daily from 15:00 – 16:30.🧑‍🍳

What a view... this is what you'll get at Villa Corinthia's Festive Tea.

The Festive Afternoon Tea Menu at Villa Corinthia

As we made our way to a private dining room at Villa Corinthia welcomed by friendly staff who led us to the green room, our table was dressed to the nines. We placed our tea orders and carried on jollily in conversation. A few minutes later 4 teapots sat by our gilded teacups and soon came the assortment of delicious food hosted by Chef Stefan Hogan. With passion and pride, he explained the selection, highlighting his favourite items as he moved his attention from one petit creation to the next. 💌

We started off with the Pretty Little Sandwiches that sat on the bottom and top tier of our Festive Afternoon Tea. The conversation of the Afternoon Tea; the Truffle & Dijon Egg Mayo on Wholemeal Bread. 🥪

A beautiful trio with the Egg Mayo as the lead!

From the first bite, the earthy aroma of the truffle bouncing off the sweet yet striking tones of the Dijon hit your senses. First your eyes are mesmerized by the simplicity and pure beauty of the finger sandwich, next your nose catches the balance in tones and finally you bite in and savour every bold, distinct and instantly gratifying creaminess of a good egg mayo. 🥚

The menu also features a Glazed Ham Sandwich with Roasted Pumpkin and Labneh. The thick and creamy labneh coats the humble pumpkin, complimenting its sweet notes with the yoghurt’s tangy spark. Atop the pumpkin and labneh swirls lies a hearty slice of glazed ham, crowned with a wholegrain mustard. This ham sandwich is exactly what every ham sandwich should taste like. 👏

Another stunner that we thoroughly enjoyed was the Poached Turkey and Pineapple Chutney on Rye which surprised me from the first bite. I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t excited about this one before I tried it, but boy was I wrong. It was perfectly balanced in sweetness, savoury qualities and proportion - and if you know anything about sandwiches; it’s all about ratio, layers, texture and flavour balance. 🍍

And if you eat all your sandwiches, you know that the next step in an Afternoon Tea is dessert. Our teapots steamed with a selection of Camellia Teas, we opted for the Earl Grey, China Oolong and White Rose and Raspberry, 3 varieties that very clearly worked with the mini-cakes, French pastries and scones that were presented to us. 🫖

A sneak peek at the Mini-Cakes and Select French Pastries...

Two of the French Pastries and Mini Cakes that graced our palettes, and my personal favourites, included the Spiced Rum and Raisin Cheesecake and the Mont Blanc and Himalayan Salt Macaron. Each of these were simple, bold and prepared perfectly. The sweetness was just right and the creativity in ingredients worked so soothingly. The three other sweet inserts included a classic Stollen, a Mulled Wine Bavarois with a Clementine Sable plus a Treacle & White Chocolate Pecan Tart. 🍊

All your sweet dreams solved in one elegant plate. Mmmm!

The Selection of Freshly Baked Scones were crumbly, buttery and warm. The perfect temperature to have that Cornish Clotted Cream melt effortlessly into the pores of the Orange and Stem Ginger Scones. Slap some homemade Festive Plum Jam onto your baked perfection and dig, right in. Take that final sip of Camellia Tea and daydream of your next visit to Villa Corinthia for an Afternoon Tea like no other. 💖

Freshly baked Scones for the Villa Bakery.

This year you can book your Afternoon Tea directly from Corinthia Palace's website; making your dreams a reality in a few seconds. So gather your clique, your family or your special someone and enjoy a Festive Afternoon Tea at Villa Corinthia where your experience is made special with every minute detail. 🏆