The new McCafé opened its doors at the Arkadia Complex, Victoria, ten days ago.

Offering a wide selection of gourmet coffees, teas, pastries and desserts at great value, McCafé is situated next to the McDonald's restaurant. It was officially opened by Melo Hili, McDonald's Malta managing director, and blessed by Bishop Mario Grech.

"McCafé adds a new level of comfort to McDonald's," Mr Hili said. "Its character is warm, down-to-earth and unpretentious and demonstrates that McDonald's is in tune with the shifts in attitude towards food and eating, by meeting the wants and needs of its grown-up customers. We are confident that McCafé will prove to be more than just a coffee place for all Gozitans and the Maltese visiting the island."

The menu offers customers a variety of choices such as the Cafe Blend coffee, brewed from 100 per cent Arabica beans - a rich, dark roast regular and decaffeinated - as well as specially blended espresso, café latte, latte macchiato, latte caldo, American coffee and Vienna coffee as well as classical frappé (blended ice and milk) with a choice of caramel, strawberry or capuccino flavours.

The preparation of the high quality coffees creates in-store "theatre".

In addition to coffee McCafé offers a selection of cakes, pastries and snacks.

The McCafé concept was first introduced in Australia in 1993 and has evolved into a successful enterprise with more than 300 McCafés worldwide, including Brazil, Italy, France, New Zealand and Argentina. Each country has adopted a unique variation of McCafé to best suit traditions.