Malta: A dazzling visual treat but an inexplicable culinary disappointment

Large parts of Game of Thrones, Gladiator and Munich have been shot in Malta

There were seven of us from the same family — two from the Netherlands, five from India. We had to meet somewhere for a holiday. And after circling the globe on WhatsApp, we fixed on the tiny European archipelago, Malta. Along with sister islands, Gozo and Comino, it lies in the Mediterranean sea south of Italy and north of Africa. What was not to like?

And then we found Kiostro, a 350-year-old farmhouse in Zurrieq (pronounced Zurray) in the suburbs of Malta on Airbnb. Left to myself I’d have spent the whole week just meandering along its secret stairways, lounging