The Ritz

After our stop in Funchal last week, I would love to visit Madeira again. One of the highlights of our time there was lunch at The Ritz. The views of the island were breathtaking and the food was excellent. I had a salad that came with tuna, sliced mango and pineapple, corn salsa, and cole slaw. British food generally isn’t the best but The Ritz makes it seem pretty terrific. We finished lunch with an Americano for me made with good espresso, and some sort of alcoshake for Mike, which I just had to sample.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and our waitress, Mariana, was extremely kind. She wished us the best of luck in life. When we travel, we come across many people we’ll never see again, but she seemed so earnest. I wish her the same… and that I will return to The Ritz sometime in the not so distant future.

puttin’ on the Ritz, indeed!
after enjoying some free samples at Old Blandy’s winery across the street, we walked around a bit, and looped back to Arriga, settled on having lunch here. the menu looked affordable, and the 2 other Unilocal reviews were brief but glowing, so we gave it a try.
the menu is very British-​influenced — no surprise considering Madeira’s history. I was intrigued by the beef and stout beer pot pie, but was informed they were out; however, the chicken pot pie was available. flavorful and with a perfect texture, this was clearly not something thawed out of a freezer. it was large (maybe 6 or 7 inches in diameter and 2 inches high) too, and came with a generous portion of sauteed vegetables AND some well-​seasoned french fries. talk about carbo loading! in stark contrast to my gluttony, Caroline had a salad, but she quite enjoyed it.
a glass of 15-​year Madeira wine was quite cheap too, so I had to imbibe… oh yes, it was great!
the homemade gelato looked so good, but I decided that drinking my calories would be faster, so I got the vanilla gelato and coffee liqueur shake. Caroline’s coffee came with a small brownie, which I devoured.
lunch, drinks, and dessert ran us 45 Euro, which was excellent. I honestly expected higher but was pleasantly surprised.
we also sat on an outdoor terrace upstairs, looking out over a beautiful park and listening to live music downstairs (mostly classic rock hits, which I enjoyed, including a fairly good rendition of «Heroes» in tribute to the recently deceased David Bowie).
our waitress, Mariana, was incredibly helpful and polite. she also informed us about the Saturday dinner show, which we sadly had to miss because our cruise boat was leaving in the afternoon. anywho — they have a cabaret show that’s 39 Euro a head for a three-​course meal and unlimited drinks. I feel that’s a deal too good to pass up, and hopefully when we return to Madeira we’ll be able to check it out!

A wonderful street café with live guitar music. Both food and drink are sensibly priced and the quality is excellent. A great place for a snack lunch. Staff are attentive and quick. If you can’t stop, have an ice cream, superb!

This is the perfect venue to pause for drinks or snacks to the accompaniment of live guitar music. On Fridays and Saturdays the famous singer Sian Lesley hosts an excellent value show time evening entertainment and meal (booking required) not to be missed!