It is always fascinating to walk the streets of Mdina in the evenings. It’s quiet, perhaps a little bit eerie too. Without the noise of cars and with the shadows of the old capital city’s narrow streets, stepping into Mdina gives the shivers whether it is winter or summer.

Add the de Mondion restaurant’s tasty and extraordinary food, as well as the view one is given from the topmost point of our little country, and you have an experience that you will keep close to your heart.

If you go once, you will take all this back with you; if you make it a frequent occasion, it will still be like the first time.

Turning right as one enters Mdina, the de Mondion restaurant forms part of the Xara Palace Hotel, an iconic building overlooking the bastions. Entering the place already gives one a sense of tranquillity and serenity, and when one then goes up the lift to the restaurant the sensation is that of climbing high to a peaceful place of relaxation.

That may already be enough for some, but then the thrill is compounded by the delicious food that is provided by a team of well-trained chefs whose only interest is to satisfy their clients’ palate.

Executive chef Kevin Bonello has prepared a tempting menu for spring. The restaurant adjusts its menu for each season, and with the warmer weeks on the way, the dishes are lighter but nonetheless mouth-watering.

Starters, main dishes and, of course, the range of desserts offer a wide selection of food that makes this culinary experience outstanding and, as restaurant manager Anthony Quechon explains, it gives everybody the chance to savour new delicacies.

That the restaurant changes its menu four times a year makes dining here special each time – with clients often very much undecided on whether to want to re-taste a dish they have already had, but at the same time looking forward to what new treats are on the menu. But, whether it’s a dish they ordered the previous time or a new one that they find on the list, they know they’re getting the very best.