Text José Silva

In a warm and sunny day at Funchal, Olga and I sat down at a terrace table in one of the most sheltering restaurants in this Madeira town, for a peaceful meal. Chalet Vicente, a manorial house with several spaces and corners, between interior rooms and the big terrace.

Right at the entrance of the main room, there is a huge grill, where a variety of fish and meat pass through. But the menu has a great variety, between starters and main courses, and at lunch time there is even an interesting buffet.

All that is ran by a master of Madeira’s gastronomy, a man with great experience and good taste, Nélio Ferreira, who not only received us, but also guided us through a wonderful meal, a trip through very well prepared morsels, a Madeira taste parade in our table, that tasted so good.

The “bolo do caco”, that delicious soft bread, toasted and covered with garlic butter, was always present during the meal. It started with some unusual but superb black sward fish eggs, very well seasoned, juicy and crispy, a very good surprise.

Followed by a stewed octopus with sweet potatoes, an enticing, thick sauce, very tender octopus, excellent. By then, our friend Nélio had already opened a bottle of table white Madeira wine, from a small producer, named “Vai de Cabeça”, from Verdelho grape variety. At The correct temperature, it was very well, secure, fresh, very good acidity and that intense mineral touch that performs great matchings. As was the case with the small veal liver steaks, with onion and a lot of laurel, delicate and extremely tasty. Then came some delicious black sward fish fillets, soft and appetizing, covered with banana and passion fruit sauce, wonderful.

During our meal, a small fresh tuna arrived at the restaurant, from which they showed us some parts, already cleaned and prepared. We didn’t resist Nélio’s proposition, and we enjoyed small tuna steaks with villain sauce, in the company of toasted sweet potatoes with sugar cane honey, something very special. The tuna loin meat melting in generous slices, a spicy and thick sauce, the sweet potato with exotic taste, very, very good.

But we didn’t finish without trying one of the house specialties, breaded frog legs, very well done, with their white sauce, delicious. And we couldn’t reach desert…but we could delight ourselves with a Madeira wine from Barbeito, a 10 year old Verdelho that was very good. Intense on the nose, with great freshness and dry fruit notes, tangerine skin and caramel. On the mouth it’s an explosion of minerality, fresh, with vibrant acidity, involving, toasted notes, dry, delicious.

Along with coffee we didn’t resist another glass of this delicious Madeira’s nectar, chilled as it should be, a perfect final for this meal worthy of a Chalet!!

Thank you my friend Nélio.

Contacts
Restaurante Chalet Vicente
Estrada Monumental, 238
9000-100 Funchal
Madeira, Portugal
Portugal
Tel: (+351) 291 765 818
Tel: (+351) 967 793 903
E-mail: chaletvicente@sapo.pt
Website: chaletvicente.com