MADEIRA – Food & work & plants – ✼ LENKITA'S world ✼

FOOD & DRINKS

Although I’m no foodie and I definitely don’t follow any lists of “Top restaurants and cafes” and so on, I got to visit a lot of great places with great food during my month in Madeira. Especially local places, because most of the people I explored the island with were people born in Madeira. The best part is that I followed the motto “Don’t chase, attract” the whole vacation, so I didn’t plan ANYTHING and let all the things and activities come to me. There was probably not a single day that I planned earlier than the morning of that day and I just let everything flow purely. And it was wonderful!

PONCHA & BEERS

On the very first day of my arrival, I went with Daniel (who I was staying with in Funchal) for a drink called a “Poncha”, which is a typical alcoholic drink in Madeira. It’s freshly squeezed juice with white rum. It’s really good! I don’t like drinks, but I quite liked this one. It’s pretty strong. We were served by a guy from Venezuela and he gave us 2 more free drinks, so I was pretty drunk within about 10 minutes. Otherwise, there are a lot of people from Venezuela in Madeira. They are fleeing here because of the crisis in Venezuela. Most of them are second or third generation Portuguese who moved to Venezuela for a better life. Now they are moving back.

First beer in Madeira in Curral das Freiras – for 1 € you get 0,2 beer. Very local place. Everywhere around Madeira are small festivals in summer so basically every weekend you can have a local party somewhere around the island. This was rather a small one.

PREGO NO BOLO DO CACO & CHEESECAKE

Typical Madeira food is also “Prego no Bolo do Caco”, which is a sandwich (with typical Bolo de Caco bread) with beef, egg, tomato, lettuce. I had them at different places and my absolute favorite was the one I had with Nuno after paragliding. I also had the best cheesecake of my life at that restaurant. I really love cheesecakes, and I’ve had a lot of good cheesecakes, but this was out of this universe.

Some other Pregos and Sandwiches:

Prego which we had with Tiago after our hike to Pico Ruivo. I loved talking to the waiter when he tried to rob us again and then found out I was there with a Madeiran. In the end, we had the normal price and not the touristy one.

Sandwich with fish as a snack while I worked in my favourite beach bar

Dentinho

Then I also loved all the tapas (in Madeira called “dentinho” – little tooth) I got with every beer and drink. They do a lot of Lupini Beans. But often olives, chicken, beans or peanuts. I drank a lot of beer here this month. It’s called Coral and it’s very weak compared to Czech beer, but it was just right for hot days. The restaurants here often have 2 prices – one for Portuguese and one for tourists. Luckily I was always with someone from Madeira all the time, so the prices didn’t affect me that much. When I was alone, I pointed it out to them that I knew about it and they immediately gave me a better price. I also tried to speak Portuguese, that usually worked ( even though I only know a few words).

Reward after freeride at night – chicken breast, fava beans and beer

Garoto & Pastel

For my work I usually drank “Garoto” coffee, which translates to girl/girl. It’s actually an espresso macchiato. With Pastel de Nata in various versions. The best one I had was right below my house at the Viana cafe.

Most common type of Pastel de Nata – tiny with a very crispy dough (costs usually 0,80€)

Espetada Madeira

In Arco de Calheta, the owner of the house made me a typical Madeira dish for dinner – Beef Skewers (Espetada Madeira). The meat was super tender and I was grateful to be cared for like this and to have such a beautiful view.

Baababa plantages are just everywhere in Madeira

Fish

Madeira is an island in the middle of the Atlantic, so they generally eat a lot of fish everywhere. The best fish I had was at Kouve by Chef Júlio Pereira. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo (because I thought the place was too sublime to take a photo – I came there dirty from my bike, though, so it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway). The fish was called Red Snapper, and not just the fish, but the whole service at the restaurant was great. And the conversations were great too! A lot about relationships and understanding yourself. And then about New York. Then about the age difference and how some people just stay in our hearts forever. About finding your own worth and your own contentment. About silence. And stillness. About big life changes and spontaneity.

Other fish that I tasted in restaurant was fresh tuna with potatoes and vegetables for 6€ after a visit to the tropical garden. It was super good, but I was so hungry before that I almost passed out, so I would have liked just about anything. Then I also had fresh tuna with potatoes and vegetables for 6€ after a visit to the tropical garden. It was super good, but I was so hungry before that I almost passed out, so I would have liked just about anything.

On the second to last day of my departure, I invited Tiago over for dinner. Just above Formosa beach was one of the best local restaurants that specializes in Picado da Madeira (consists of beef meat which is served on an oblong platter on a bed of fries or circled by fries). We didn’t have beef but scabbard fish and it was soooo tasty. Instead of fries we ordered fried corn cubes.

This time non-alcoholic beer since my body needed to rest a bit after the Purple Friday’s party in Ponta do Sol

Fruits

I ate a lot of fruit from trees and bushes on the hikes. I was probably most impressed by the blueberries on the tree. They were a little different in shape than the ones we have in Europe, but the taste was similar. I ate them mainly on one of my last hikes on Pico Grande. The name in latin of these blueberries is Vaccinium padifolium.

Fruts that we picked in Sao Vicente with Hector – one tastes like a mixture between zucchini and watermelon and the other one tastes like a mixture between potato and pumpkin. We wanted to cook it but unfortunately in Hector’s guest house where he volunteered was no running water at that day.

Soups

They eat a lot of soup in Madeira. In fact, all the local people I know eat soup. The most typical is chicken soup and then various combinations of that.
I had one local chicken soup at a religious festival in Machico and the other one was from my mother Tiago.
And then we also had the typical Sopa de Couve (Cabbage Soup).

WORK

After a month in Gran Canaria, from where I worked “remotely” for the first time in my life, I learned that having a laptop stand, an external keyboard and also an external mouse are essential for work. Otherwise the back pain will catch up with you, which is the last thing you want to experience on a “working holiday”. Thanks to these gadgets, I was able to create an office pretty much anywhere. I drank and ate at my work a lot, which is why this post includes a workstation. I loved working from the balcony of my apartment, but I also loved working on the beach, in a cafe at the local supermarket or at my favourite bar in Barreirinha. Just to give you an idea, here are a few photos from my working days:

FLOWER & PLANTS

I’m dedicating the last part of this random post to flowers in Madeira. That’s something I’m really excited about. It’s like one big endless botanical garden and I can already say that I’ve never seen such a variety of flora as here. I couldn’t stop marveling at all the different kinds of flowers and plants. It’s really amazing what all grows on this island and how incredibly pristine the nature here is. Just so I don’t forget, I’m going to drop off a little herbarium here: