Madeira’s top dishes you absolutely must try

Welcome to Madeira, the fascinating island from the northern Atlantic Ocean, which rejoices a lot of popularity and fame from the constant tourists who come every year to spend incredible moments and to enjoy the charm and beauty which Madeira offers.
There are so many things to discover and explore on this corner of green heaven, that you will be carried away and tempted to try all the things in the same time. No worries, there is plenty of time to visit the main attractions of this island and definitely time to taste the fine dishes of the Madeiran cuisine, which is absolutely exquisite and interestingly varied.

Wonderful pieces of culinary art, a multitude of tastes and scents and colorful delights is the signature of this fine cuisine in Madeira. You just can’t stop thinking about food while staying on this island. It’s bascically everywhere and you’ll have the feeling of constantly being surrounded by food, food, food and food again! But I found this great! The heaven of excellent tasty food on Earth, wow, such a blessing!

In the morning, be prepared to wake up embraced by the wonderful scent of fresh flavored coffee next to Madeira breakfast specialties. You have to try the Madeiran Bolo de mel de cana, a dark, circular pastry product, which can be served in many places throughout the island.
This Madeiran cake is known as a honey cake but it’s made from dark sugar cane molasses, hence the deep color and strong flavor. According to custom, the honey cake is never cut with a knife but broken into pieces by hand. I would say it’s even tastier this way.

You will fall in love with Bolo de caco flatbread, the very traditional and signature eat in Madeiran cuisine. Bolo do caco is a round bread that is traditionally cooked on a caco, a basalt stone slab. The bread is usually served simply with garlic butter and is usually eaten as a sandwich with typical Madeiran foods like octopus, meat skewers (espetada), milho frito, and also used as the bread for a typical Portuguese Prego steak sandwich.

Another must is the Espetada or steak skewers, very popular among the inhabitants and the tourists as well, which are made with beef cubes in a laurel skewer and grilled on wood or charcoal. You will find this specialty on pretty much every restaurant menu, but not all espetadas are created equal.
All the tables are fitted with the hooks for dangling the skewers and you order your meat by weight – the servers will advise how much you need.

Another curios combination is the Scabbard fish with Madeiran banana dish. The most typical fish of Madeira Island is the black scabbard fish “Espada“, which swims in deep waters and has a fearsome appearance, at least when viewed in the market.
In spite of its first appearance, this dish is very tasty, especially when prepared the “Madeiran Way”, with passion fruit and banana sauce.

You cannot leave the island without trying the famous Poncha, which is a traditional alcoholic beverage from Madeira, made with sugar cane rum, bee honey and lemon juice. You can get many different varieties these days, with tangerine and passion fruit juice or using other spirits such as vodka but it’s worth sampling the traditional version if you can.

Madeira has definitely a lot of things to offer and these new experiences will surely be remembered. You cannot help to fall in love with the Madeiran cuisine, which is so diverse and unique, so simple, yet so vast and tasty, so definitely worth trying and savored!

You can make your trip even more beautiful, always relying on Funchal Taxi for endless exciting experiences!