O Calhau - Funchal

After longer walk through Funchal center, early dinner seemed like good idea. This restaurant was within hotel, typically not my first choice, but choosing it was good idea. Well trained waiter helped us to choose tapas-like dinner and tried various delicious bites. White house wine was solid, so my recommendations…

Stopped in for a light bite and was hoping for tapas as advertised but only a regular menu. Not sure what they defined as tapas. I ordered the mushroom soup which was the blandest soup I ever tasted. Basically it was made of water and quinoa with some mushrooms and a few arugula leaves on top. It lacked any flavor with no significant soup base. This is the first time in over 6 weeks in Madeira that I returned food. Since I was famished I next ordered the bruschetta with mozzarella tomato. The bread was a large slice of flavorful rustic but it was a bit soggy from the oil. The tomatoes were not from the garden so lacked flavor. The cheese was creamy and. tasty. Over all it was disappointing and I will not return.

It was second/third visit. I am sure we will come again soon.

Best meal we had while on holiday. Was looking for tapas but not much to choose from so opted gor 3 courses instead. mushrooms on bruchetta to start, good but didnt care for the paprika on top as there was too much of it, chicken supreme, mash and veg. The sauce was tasty and would have liked more, my chicken was a wee bit dry but i still ate it all up, macaroons to finish. My sister had the panacotta pudding but it was too hard, no wobble to it but flavour was good, she also had the pork and not a spec of sauce was left. Setting was good, clean and relaxing, the prices were average and would recommend a visit.

We had a very nice meal here tonight. For our starters, we couldn't fault the homemade tomato soup. It was delicious. The mushrooms tasted ok but had paprika sprinkled over them. Garlic butter would have been better. Our main course, chicken supreme, was excellent, as was the pork dish, the only niggle was, in one of the chicken supremes the chicken was a bit dry. And for our sweets, we had cake, marrons, profiteroles, and truffles, which were all delicious. The panacotta tasted great but was set a bit too hard. Over all a couple of niggles but it certainly would not stop us eating here again. The servers were polite, prompt and well presented.