Regional Flavours — Restaurant in Funchal

I went there with my girlfriend to have the best seafood in Funchal. We were taken to a table by a very joyful guy. He kept coming to our table to offer us some local gin. When we asked about food he kept telling us that a waitress is going to come and take our order. Meanwhile I decided to try the gin and my girlfriend decided to try some special wine. She didn’t like it and asked for another wine he recommended. Unfortunately she didn’t like that one and either the next one and the guy just gave up. He left the table and didn’t suggest anything else. It looked like he was offended. All this time no one came to take our order. We had to wait over 30 minutes for a waitress to come. We asked for an octopus with potato mash which the guy had suggested us. The waitress told us that the octopus wasn’t actually served with potato mash but plain boiled potatoes instead. Then we asked for sword fish and she said that it’s finished. I would expect to be informed about finished dishes as the first thing. All in all it didn’t look like a Michelin guide restaurant as advertised. We left without ordering anything...

My boyfriend and I visited because of the amazing reviews we had read and were not disappointed. The restaurant has a lovely atmosphere, on a cobbled street. The food was presented simply but was absolutely delicious. The sirloin steak was one of the most tender steaks I've ever eaten. The staff were extremely polite and attentive, making sure to pull out our chairs, top up our glasses and even serving up the meat from my partner's skewer onto his plate. We asked to split a dessert between us and they served the passionfruit pudding up on two separate plates both with garnish. The owner and the waiters were all very friendly and willing to offer suggestions for our trip.

We walked away super happy and left a good tip.

The only thing that put a dampener on our visit was both ourselves and the staff forgot to make sure the 30% discount for online booking had been applied so we paid 16 euros more than we should. But we would...

We had read about Regional Flavours as a must-visit in Lonely Planet so made it our last meal out in Madeira as a treat. Due to a full day of hiking and adventuring we did not make reservations and walked right up. No surprise, on a Saturday night, they were full when we arrived, however the host immediately pulled out another table and sat us right down outside. The service was quick and warm. They recommended a stellar white wine blend from Alentejo, and the Scabbard fish and Espetada blew our minds (we had already had these at other restaurants in town, here they were by far the best). Don't overlook the pineapple flambe for dessert, which also was spectacular. The staff is so friendly we felt like we genuinely connected with them and made friends. I felt the prices were fair and on par with other highly rated restaurants in town. 5/5 stars, this place is...