Restaurante Requinte do Rochão — Restaurant in Calheta

After going for a walk along the 25 Fontes (25 waterfalls), we decided to search T. A. for a recommendation for lunch.

Requinte do Rocha was just under 3km away, downhill towards the coast. A nice easy drive. On arrival, it truly is a hidden gem! A wonderful courtyard with ample parking places, which were nice and wide, so we could easily get our baby out in his car seat.

We were greeted outside, in English, which is always lovely, if sometimes a little embarrassing that we don't speak much Portuguese. The gentleman offered us seats outside or inside. We chose to sit inside, as we'd got a bit chilly being up in the hills.

The menu is perfectly sized, and the prices amazing for the comfort of the place and the service level. Some of the meals are pre-ordered and for two people, so we are aiming to go back before the end of our holiday and try one or two of these.

The staff were all amazing with our 10 month old son, making great eye contact, waving and plenty of smiles!

The food was fantastic! My husband had the beef kebabs, which were brought out in a huge skewer and hung in front of him. I picked the pecado, a local dish of beef and mushrooms in creamy sauce served with chips. My father had the swordfish and banana, which for someone who is quite 'stuck in his ways' and doesn't often go for the more adventurous sounding meals, was a great accomplishment, and he had any the praises of the food and the chef ever since!!

We also had some yummy garlic bread to start with, and a small plate of cheese, meats and olives. With drinks the entire meals came to €45, which we all felt was extremely reasonable for the...

Worst customer experience in 22 years traveling all over Madeira. Announcing ourselves at 12.15 hrs today for some drinks and food were welcomed with the rude words we have to wait at least until 12.30 hrs to get serviced with some food. It got really rude when I kindly asked if I could charge my battery of my e-bike: "we have no plugs for this, even outside not since I have to turn on the lights in the shed outside. You better go back and ask in the other snack bar at the other side of the road to get your battery charged". That was it. I told the guy it was a pitty he could not make that small effort to get my battery recharged while we would drink and eat for lunch. End result for me: 0 out of 5 ... and we left to find a better place 300 meter downhill where the lady served us a wonderfull hamburger and sandwich! Score for his rudeness: 5, score for his service: 0. I guess we would need in very bad situation to stop by here again ... Really a pitty since the place looks very nice but if you tour with your ebike and you need some battery recharge, you better avoid this place and...

went there at 12:15 (was open) only to be greeted with a disclaimer that there is no food for at least another hour since it is not usual to eat at this time (is it? other restaurants serve food at this time in madeira). ok, lets have a coffee then: another disclaimer by the stressed staff (owner?) that it takes a while to heat up the coffee machine. they boiled the milk of the cappuccino so wasn't nice at all. couldn't use the toilet at 12:30 either as they were cleaning it :( lots of 'buts', didn't feel welcome, like guests are sort of a nuisance or something. to the owner: if you are not ready to accept guests the advertised opening hours, why not postponing those until you are or you show up earlier to work?

addon: google maps led us to your off-the-beaten-path place at 12:15 (do you know the 'open now' button?) - we were super hungry after a hike. anyway had a nice lunch at 'unusual times' 5mins down the road lol...