Traditional Madeira food and drink

Espada com banana (black scabbardfish with banana)

The island's signature fish: a long, black, deep-water fish caught at night on lines hundreds of metres down, with soft white fillets. It is usually fried and served with fried banana, often with a passion fruit (maracujá) sauce. Local tip: always ask for the maracujá sauce on the side. The banana is fine on the fish, but the sauce can be very sweet and easily overpowers the delicate fillet.

Where to try it: A Traineira

Espetada (beef skewers)

Chunks of beef rubbed with garlic, salt and bay, grilled over embers. Traditionally it is threaded on a laurel (bay) stick, which perfumes the meat. Today most restaurants serve it on a metal skewer hung from a hook above your table. The real laurel stick version is wonderful but much harder to find now, so it is worth seeking out.

Where to try it: As Vides

Picado

Beef cut into small cubes, fried with garlic and served in a big sharing dish with chips or fried milho, with cocktail sticks for everyone. A classic for a group with a few beers.

Prego no bolo do caco

A thin garlicky steak in a warm bolo do caco roll. The island's everyday sandwich, often with cheese, ham or egg added (prego especial or prego no prato on a plate).

Carne de vinha d'alhos

Pork marinated for days in wine vinegar, garlic and bay, then fried. Traditionally eaten at Christmas, but some restaurants serve it all year.

Atum (tuna steak)

Fresh Atlantic tuna, usually grilled or pan-fried with onions, very often served with fried milho cubes.

Lapas (limpets)

Grilled in their shells in a cast-iron pan with garlic butter and lemon, served sizzling with bread to mop up the juices. A must at a seaside restaurant.

Where to try it: Tropical Seafood

Polvo (octopus)

Grilled or stewed, and served in most fish restaurants around the coast.

Caramujos and cracas

Sea snails and barnacles, eaten as petiscos (small plates) in coastal villages. More common in local tascas than tourist menus.

Bolo do caco

Flat, round bread made with sweet potato and baked on a hot basalt stone (the caco). It arrives warm, split and spread with garlic butter, and it comes with almost every meal.

Where to try it: Quinta do Furão

Milho (cornmeal)

Milho comes in different ways. Most visitors meet milho frito, crisp fried cubes served as a side. Locals love it served hot and soft straight from the pan, or left to set cold and sliced. If you see it on the menu in a local place, try it the local way.

Where to try it: Sabores da Andreia

Caldo verde

Kale and potato soup with a slice of sausage. It comes from mainland Portugal, but you will find it on many menus here.

Sopa de tomate e cebola

Tomato and onion soup, usually with a poached egg on top. A real home-cooking dish.

Bolo de mel

A dark, spiced cake made with sugar cane honey (mel de cana). Traditionally broken by hand, not cut with a knife. It keeps for months, so it travels home well.

Queijadas and broas de mel

Small cheese tarts and honey biscuits, sold in bakeries all over the island.

Tropical fruit

Madeira bananas are small and sweet. Also look for maracujá (passion fruit), anona (custard apple) and the many passion fruit varieties at the Mercado dos Lavradores.

Poncha

Sugar cane rum (aguardente de cana), honey and lemon, stirred by hand with a wooden mixer. Strong, so pace yourself.

Madeira wine

Fortified wine from dry Sercial to sweet Malmsey. See our full Madeira wine guide for styles and tastings.