Fish and shellfish are excellent as can be imagined, but the food in the Madeira archipelago is full of other unique flavours.
GRILLED LIMPETS
These are not to be missed. Prepared with butter, garlic and lemon, these molluscs are truly delicious. Order them as a starter or as a snack and accompany them with good white wine or vinho verde.
BOLO DO CACO
This bread is not sweet. Although it has a slightly sweet taste, it is more like a bread than a cake, and owes its name to the fact that it has always been cooked in a ceramic pot (caco).
BEEF ESPETADAS
This dish of beef skewered onto a stick of bay has a unique flavour also due to the exceptional quality of the local meat. Made with beef loin, they are seasoned with salt, garlic and bay leaves and accompanied with the traditional Milho Frito (fried polenta) and Bolo do Caco bread with garlic butter.
BOLO DE MEL
Made using spices, dried fruit and molasses, this cake is an icon of Madeiran sweets.
The cake is traditionally made on 8 December, the day of Our Lady of Conception, to be included in the Christmas menu. It will keep for one year and the last pieces of the previous year’s cake are often eaten when the next year’s cake is being made.