Madeira Rum House — Restaurant in Funchal

Unfortunately not a good experience. We ordered Premium rum tasting. The explanation was very basic. When the runs were served, the only explanation was “this one is x years old and has this taste”.

During our tastings nobody came to at least ask about our experience. Simple “how does it taste to you?” would suffice. After we were finished nobody cared and nobody asked. Simple “which one did you like the best” would suffice.

We then went inside to pay and only interaction from the staff was “cash only please”.

It was not crowded there and to be honest for the 30€ for premium rum tasting I expect more than “here are your rums”.

I am quite a rum enthusiast and I would expect more personal touch to the experience and much more indepth description (e.g. how the rums aged, in what barrels, what caused e.g. the smokiness and something about history). There was nothing.

I did not feel welcomed there and it felt like a tourist trap to me. We probably were not appropriately dressed for this and had our hiking/sporty outfit but there should not be any prejudice from the staff. Otherwise I cannot understand why we had such terrible experience compared to other positive reviews.

The rums were good though and I was able to take a picture of them to find something about them...

I was rather excited to find this gem of a Rum House. Being used to rum from the West Indies, which is arguably the best on the planet - in my opinion, I was dubious of not finding good quality rum (as most bars in the UK tend to opt for Bacardi or Captain Morgan's - both cheap and nasty). However, I was pleasantly surprised... The rum here is GOOOOOD, the selections available were wide. I tend to really like the reserve rums, and the quality here didn't disappoint at all. The owner/host was absolutely amazing. Very knowledgeable and more than happy to discuss and walk you through his passion for rum, imparting knowledge of; the local distilleries, the ingredients and even the production processes. The bar itself is small, which is not uncommon for the old town in Funchal, and very cosy. My love of rum was catered for, as was my love of vinyl records - which was being played on a turntable. Could have stayed all night, but I value my liver these days. Lol. Great place, nice atmosphere and excellent...

I was lucky enough to find this fantastic little bar at the beginning of our holiday. We returned each night without fail for the next 13 nights, for a couple of hours after our evening meal. The owner Roberto and his friend Victor, who helps out, were both extremely knowledgeable about all the rums they sell and, when the owner of the distillery of the rum I was actually drinking came in to the bar, he was introduced to me. Ironically I didn’t even know I liked rum but found myself drinking various rums neat with ice every night. Both Roberto and Victor were very friendly and interesting to chat to. The bar plays old jazz music, again something I didn’t know I liked and you have a free bowl of popcorn with each drink. I like a drink or two each night on holiday and have visited my fair share of posh flashy bars around the world but I can honestly say this is probably my favourite. It’s laid back and friendly with a great ambience and Roberto and Victor are a couple...