The best restaurants Madeira

Located in the historic area of Funchal, this restaurant owes its reputation to its quality service and tasty cuisine based on fish and seafood from the local market. The recently renovated interior offers a modern, intimate and family atmosphere. Among the specialties are the épée, a typically regional dish, rice for seafood or "cataplana", a mixture of fish and seafood. This restaurant is recommended by numerous international guides.

On the ground floor of the recent Porto Mare Hotel, close to the Lido seaside The, a rather contemporary decor welcomes us for a suitable stage at lunchtime and even dinner: fine salads and fine dishes for Italian influences (pasta, pizza, risotto…), without surprises. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

In this vast space with woody tones and an intimate atmosphere, we surf the tapas (portions) trend by offering typical dishes to share: octopus, squid, tuna, fried corn, lapas... You can also enjoy more hearty dishes, such as espada fillet with potatoes or pepper steak with homemade chips. The service is pleasant and the waiters explain the portions to be ordered according to your appetite. Not bad to try several specialties during the meal. The products are fresh!

A new management at the helm, but maintaining the formula that has made the success of this popular restaurant: friendly service, delicious typical cuisine and very gentle prices. You will taste one of the best bolo do caco tested in the capital. On the menu: grilled limpets, espada with garlic and white wine or banana, beef brochette with laurel, fresh fish from the market and homemade desserts (special mention for the passion fruit flan!). The decoration has remained frozen in time... Among the best addresses in the old town!

One of the best addresses in the old town (a big hit!). A few tables elegantly set up in the rua Santa Maria, a friendly welcome and service, and above all an excellent cuisine with fresh and typical products, prepared with talent and finesse. A la carte, octopus carpaccio, wood-fired grilled red tuna ventresca, banana and passion fruit sabre, seafood spaghetti, tender beef brochette flavoured with laurel (irresistible!). Homemade desserts to fall down.

An address with glass bay preparing simple and cheap regional cuisine: inevitable skewers and fish black sabre.

Here is an establishment that lives up to its name. You will come to eat or drink in this modest churrascaria preparing skewers, grilled meat and fish and, above all, enjoy the literally spectacular view that opens onto the ocean. The impression of infinity is well present. The food is nothing extraordinary, but it will do very well for a simple meal based on fresh, local products. You can eat on the terrace or in the dining room, behind the bay windows, if the weather is windy.

This refuge, renovated and decorated with taste, is run by the same team that manages the Cais do Sardinha snack bar at the tip of São Lourenço and applies the same demanding criteria that made their reputation. Everything is prepared on the spot: sandwiches, pastries, salads and quiches. Several drinks for sale. Formula to consume on the spot or to take away. And on clear days, from the terrace, you will enjoy the superb views of the sharp peaks of the central mountain range.

Funchal's oldest fish restaurant combines flavour and freshness. Every morning, the manager chooses the fish at the market and favours everything that is caught locally (sea cicada, parrot fish, pink sea bream, ballista fish, black scabbardfish, red tuna...). The latter is carefully grilled with salt and olive oil to preserve the aromas as well as possible and accompanied by fresh vegetables from the region. Afterwards, enjoy a homemade dessert. Friendly welcome, in French, and professional service. A successful regional cuisine.

Facing the municipal market, this friendly place, recently renovated, is perfect for tasting seafood and fresh grilled fish, without forgetting the inevitable bolo de caco. All this while enjoying a good wine or a draft in front of the blue waters. Among the other specialities: sopa rica, açorda, mariscada... When the weather is bad, you can also eat inside, behind the large bay windows (tables a little too close to each other). We thus prefer the terrace. A small canteen of the sea which smells good the sprays to two steps of the downtown area.

This large informal room resembling a canteen produces a cuisine without originality (steak with banana, fresh fish...), but very correct and at very affordable prices. At lunchtime, the complete menu proposed at low prices is a good option for small budgets. At the back of the establishment, a pretty terrace opens on the ocean. Simple, copious, perfect to get your strength back after swimming! If one prefers to taste a more elaborate cuisine, one can as well be satisfied to have a drink.

A great appointment for tourists as with a suitable restaurant (buffet plus regional cooking). The 4-star hotel (plus 2) has 40 rooms (plus 3 suites with balcony and even an indoor pool), pub, terrace, souvenir shop.

Close to the taxi station, with its relaxing white decoration, the hotel offers fresh and fresh fish dishes. You can eat from 11 am until 4 am, which is possibly practical, for example if you have a party or you are fishing! Prefer the terrace on the floor…

Facing the ocean and next to the pool, this well-frequented tourist establishment has a terrace and a pleasant veranda. The varied menu offers fish (by the kilo) and seafood, but its various soups, salads, tapas, meat dishes, pasta or rice can also make up the meals. Also on the menu are the typical meat skewers and banana espada fillets. Hearty, simple and good. Don't hesitate to finish on a sweet note by ordering a good homemade bolo or a maracujà pudding.

Between the church and the old fort, the old courtyard decor of the old market of the city is of exquisite taste. Whether outdoors or indoors, it's perhaps the most charming restaurant in Machico. On the menu, since 1972: a good grill palette (meat and fish). In fact, it's also the most tourist address, which may sometimes prove painful when a large group of travellers happens, because the service is often overstretched.

The name does not make the table, rather a peaceful, flowery and romantic place than a snack bar. There is a service to the card for lunch or dinner of international cuisine based on quality products. Joe's Bar, on the back, in the rich decoration, invites you to prolong the evening with a refreshing cocktail.

Certainly one of the most popular Chinese restaurants in Madeira. Located in the heart of Lido, the tourist and hotel area in the west area of Funchal, it is unanimously appreciated. Both the premises and the travellers are attablent every day. Two richly decorated Asian ornaments or a small covered terrace provide a pleasant setting. At the map, a varied choice: Sesame chicken, piri quills quills, beef sauce soy, sweet-sour pork, Beijing fashion duck, curry squid, Chinese spring rolls and famous Cantonese rice arroz chau-chau. An interesting choice of Thai and Japanese dishes completes the offer. You can also count on the good wine list and a friendly and dymanique service. 

In a rustic, kitsch-filled rustic setting with a view and a musical atmosphere, this small restaurant at the corner is welcoming. Without a monsters, it offers good regional cuisine, fish (tuna, espada…) and seafood are generally good and the dishes properly served with generous accompaniments. The rates are reasonable and the nice boss speaks French even. 

We eat rather copiously in this restaurant which simmers a cuisine essentially Madeiran like an excellent fish soup, and the classic banana sabre, tuna steak, octopus with onionade, mixed grilled fish or seafood rice. It's good, it's well cooked and the prices are very attractive. The service is led by a competent and friendly team. In this lively street, the small flowered patio inside the restaurant is a pleasant surprise. Good value for money in the city centre.

Following Rua Dom Carlos I from the cable car station, a happy discovery where the kind waiters do not get you back into the door. Tuna steak and sabre fish are of course honour, but they are not the only options in Alberto's restaurant, ancient Faire. Carpaccio tuna or rice rice rice can be equally delicious without talking about flambés desserts. Warm interior, a few tables on the terrace and a very pleasant and attentive service.