what's on the plate
Espetada, bolo do caco and the Madeiran table
The three dishes that actually define this dinner, and where each one comes from on the island.
Check availability ↗The menu, course by course
| Course | What it is |
|---|---|
| Welcome | A glass of Madeira wine |
| Starter | Tomato soup with bolo do caco |
| Main | Espetada with fries, vegetables, salad and milho frito |
| Dessert | Coffee mousse or fresh fruit salad, then coffee and a digestive liqueur |
Espetada, and why it's skewered
Espetada is the Portuguese technique of cooking meat on a skewer, and Madeira's version — beef cubes seasoned with salt, garlic and bay leaf, grilled over hot coals — is usually traced to the strait by Câmara de Lobos, where the tradition of grilling on bay-laurel skewers is said to have started. On this ticket it's served with french fries, vegetables, salad and milho frito, fried cubes of maize, rather than left to stand alone.
Bolo do caco, cooked on stone
Bolo do caco is a round flatbread specific to Madeira and neighbouring Porto Santo, made with sweet potato worked into the dough and traditionally baked not in an oven but on a caco — a flat basalt stone slab. On this menu it's served alongside the tomato soup, the table's first taste of Madeiran bread before the main course arrives.
Milho frito, the maize on the side
Milho frito — fried cubes of maize polenta — sits alongside the espetada as one of the classic accompaniments to Madeiran grilled meat, the island's answer to the rice or plain potatoes that espetada is served with elsewhere in Portugal.
A fixed menu, not a buffet
Every course here is plated and served in sequence rather than laid out to help yourself from — soup, then the main, then a choice of two desserts. If a specific dietary need matters to your table, it's worth raising it through GetYourGuide before the night rather than assuming the fixed menu can flex on arrival.
What this menu commits to
This menu — a welcome glass of Madeira wine, soup with bolo do caco, espetada with its sides, and a choice of dessert — is what the ticket commits to serving on the night, at a restaurant reached by pickup rather than an address you'd book yourself.