PORTALIANO — Restaurant in Funchal

We sought out this place seeing it was the highest rated and with the vegetarian choice. The drive to the place is through quite narrow roads and with hairpin bends. We were starting to regret going out decion on our way. Having arrived at the place and finding easy parking, it was not obvious where the place was as it has a an unnsuming character outside and the the interior with traditional deco and with very few clients, all tourists, eating quietly and hardly any conversation, it seemed a bit downbeat. Despite the place not being busy the food took quite some time to arrive and we sat uneasily trying very hard to make conversation in the eerily quiet atmosphere.The host however was quite welcoming and helped us through the menu happy to discuss what the dishes were. We chose octopus roast with roast potatoes and vegetables, chicken wings, vegetarian fajita, with medium balo de Coco and tap water which came with slices of lemon. The dishes came in their metal serving bowls but no plates. We had to ask for plates as we were going to share our dishes. There were no condiments on the table or any where within site, which was disappointing because the octopus with sauted onion lacked any flavour and could have done with having garlick used with onions and some salt and black pepper and a vonegratte/olive oil dressing. The one wedged of lemon could not lift the taste of the dish costing €19 euro. The roast potatoes baked with the octopus was the only saving grace of the dish The hot chicken wings came with a small receptacle of of garlic mayonnaise wich was not enough for the portion of chicken wings lacking any flavour or heat, despite the description and again could have done with piripiri dressing. The fajita and the balo de coco were the best dish out of the lot.The bill for 3 of us with 3 dishes, garlick bread and no drinks or deserts was €47. The host was quite attentive and open to feedback and gave his full attention. It was not worth the trip and we would not be...

If I could give them 6 out of 5…. So we stuck our heads through the door on Saturday night and didn’t have a reservation, sorry sir, no can do. We smiled and said no problem and went elsewhere. We went back on Monday night and the friendly waiter said he remembered us from Saturday, said they were full but another booking hadn’t arrived so if we could wait around for 5 mins they’d release the table to us. We did and were delighted by a really delicious dinner.

Our starters - Focaccia and tinned fish (the bread was amazing, melt in your mouth and very flavoursome!), plus mushrooms and a poached egg (TBH, this was the weakest part of our meal - it was fine but just fine. I’m not sure if I was meant to have a spoon to drink up the fluid that everything was served in, but the mushrooms, asparagus and the egg were perfectly cooked).

Mains - codfish which was perfect, plus Portuguese steak. The steak came with very, very thinly sliced potato, a fried egg and some layers of prosciutto. It was all utterly delicious. My only suggestion - make sure the steak knife is super sharp because the dish that it’s all served in makes it a challenge to cut through the meat. The steak was perfectly cooked (med rare) and the sauce that it was served in was thick and tasty.

Desserts - tiramisu with berry sauce and panna cotta with passion fruit were both marvellous.

We picked a moderately priced bottle of white wine which was poured by the serving team from an ice bucket - such a nice treat.

The crockery, cutlery and glassware were all well chosen (the steak ‘pan’ aside).

There were small gaps in between courses so you got a nice break.

The serving staff were super friendly and welcoming. Everything was well oiled and they clearly knew what they were doing. Very slick.

As I said at the start - it was a fantastic dinner. Kudos to the entire...

Really lovely little find. Very busy and fully booked by 8pm when we arrived. Book to avoid disappointment. We had garlic prawns and their couvert to start. The couvert consisted of freshly sliced prosciutto, olives, garlic butter, oil and balsamic and warm flatbread. For mains we had prawn tagliatelle which although delicious was slightly too salty for my husband's taste and I had duck risotto...and this unfortunately was very disappointing. Please make it to order not in advance. Customers understand you have to wait 30 mins for a risotto if it's made to order. It needs to be soft and silky, not stodgy and dry. It was a very large portion, but if made correctly only 2/3 of the portion served would be necessary. It would be nice served in a pasta bowl too. If you are going to make it in advance use a little hot stock and butter and heat it through to give it that soft silky texture. It was tasty but I couldn't eat much of it.

Service was outstanding, attentive but not overly so. Really nice setting and value for money. Good choice of wines. Will return but I won't be...