Restaurante Favilla — Restaurant in Funchal

It’s very sad to see how this restaurant has fallen apart. In February we ate here several times and it was the best restaurant experience we had in the whole island. It was true finesse and perfect beef.

This time not so much. The service was good enough, but inexperienced waiters. I ordered a steak that came with a butter sauce (which I didn’t know) and I asked them to bring it with mushroom sauce. Because I remembered that the mushroom sauce they had in February was incredible. When we got the food they just came with the steak and the butter sauce (I’m not a big fan of butter sauce) so instead of telling me that they wouldn’t serve it with mushroom sauce and give me another option to order, they just came with the other option. This is of course just a minor thing, but at this kind of place you would expect the level to be higher.

The bigger drawback was the the beef had clearly been frozen and reheated, I also suspect they use sous-vide to get the beef tender, but it removes a lot of taste from the meat. This was definitely the case this time. The meat was very grayish in color and tasted nothing. In February it was more red with a dark crust and tasted premium.

We were really looking forward to come back and eat at this place, but unfortunately that ended up to be a...

I don’t like giving unenthusiastic reviews to anyone who clearly makes an effort and wants to shine but unfortunately the quality of the cooking is simply mediocre. Between us we had the Tenderloin steak, the fresh Bream and the black risotto so a pretty good spectrum of the offered dishes and flavours. All three dishes were underwhelming. The meat was the best, it was perfectly cooked but under salted, the butter herb sauce tasteless. The bream was drowned in butter and the risotto was bland and dry and forgettable. Everything looked beautiful, it just didn’t taste very good. The atmosphere is hard to pinpoint as the restaurant was virtually empty. It should be noted that you sit outside which we did not know. In late December dinner time can be a tad chilly even in Madeira. They do offer blankets which is nice but do make sure you bring a sweater. The staff is very kind and attentive. Again there is no lack of effort here. Given other people’s reviews maybe they just had a bad night...

Excellent cooking. We came for a lunch near the end of our trip, as we were staying close by and fancied going somewhere else than the hotel that day. We'd noticed Favilla earlier, and chanced a visit. We sat outside on the terrace with the garden and view of Reids. Good range of tables in the shade and sun. We had the octopus, grilled fish and shrimp risotto. All were cooked very well and with clear skill. The octopus was one of the best I've had in all my trips to Madeira, by a long shot. The shrimp in the risotto was very generous. We decided to go for dessert, and the passion fruit pannacotta and the creme brulee were also very tasty. Quite generous portions as is typical for the island. This is an excellent addition to an area that is primarily a mix of hotels and more tourist-targeted restaurants. We would gladly visit again on our next...