Fun in Funchal
One of the best towers or cities I visited in 2019 was Funcahl, capital of Madeira.
It is a truly magical city and one of the best ways of exploring it is to go on a food tour, like the half-day adventures around the old town of Funchal led by the enigmatic Sophia Maul of Wine Tours Madeira (www.winetoursmadeira.com).
We begin a tour with guide Sophia Maul
We ate and drank our way around the island capital one very long lunchtime, enjoying a snifter of old fashioned Madeira wine in the historic HQ of an English family’s wine house one minute, tasting a sensational handmade chocolate or two (flavoured with tropical island fruit) the next, then pushing our way through the crowded central market filled with the most dazzling fruit and vegetables stalls to be found anywhere in Europe.
Sophia Maul hosting out lunch in a Madeira alley
After that it was down a cobbled side-street to a restaurant where we consumed the local version of tapas known locally as “petiscos”. Next was the main course in yet another cobbled street - this one narrow and dark but full of history and character. Here we shared a couple of plates - one of which I intend making soon. It was a pork dish in which the meat had been marinated in a mix of wine, vinegar and herbs for at least 24 hours. You’d expect such a dish could be overly vinegary but the additional orange juice and peel gave the ultra-tender meat a balanced richness.
Poncha making in central Funchal - a punchy and delicious pick-me-up
Next we stopped at a small old fashioned grocery shop where the proprietors sold me some of their home mixed spices before serving us a glass of poncha - which is the island’s preferred poison. Strong and rejuvenating, this mix of aguardente de cana (local rum), honey and lemon juice is a great pick-me-up as long as you keep it to a single glass or two.
We ended the tour in what looked like an old fashioned English tearoom next to the port, where we drank a tisane made of the herb which gives Funchal its name (fennel) and slice of excellent Madeira cheesecake.
Each night our hosts took us out to some of the best restaurants on the island like the Hostel Santa Maria in the old town, Estalagem da Ponta do Sol dramatically perched on the top of a high cliff and the amazing Nini Design Centre at the top of a converted warehouse in the modern port.
In these pleasant watering holes we enjoyed treats like the season’s local tuna catch in all its fresh glory and the delicious scabbard fish, which is a speciality. This black and ugly creature lives thousands of metres down in the deeps, so that no one has ever seen a live scabbard fish - but they take the trouble to catch it by hook and line because it has a tasty firm texture that reminded me of monkfish, another dweller of the deep.
