Madeira Cook Experience

What an amazing experience! Luisa is lovely and so knowledgeable - it was like having a tour with a friend who is an expert in the local cuisine. We learned about the history of the marketplace itself, and learned about local fruits and vegetables and how to use them. But the spice stall upstairs was incredible. We could have spent all day there. The tour of the fish market was so interesting too. Learning about the different types of fish and how they are used, and even how they catch the espada fish. We then got to choose our fish for our meal. We ended up with a block of fresh tuna larger than my head - for three people! Then back to the cookery school. The meal itself was delicious and so much fun to make. We had a watermelon salad, smashed sweet potatoes, tuna ceviche (in poncha) and pan fried tuna with a cherry sauce. Then a delicious cheese and passion fruit desert. Thank you so much! What a great experience.

We had a wonderful experience in our cooking class. She made us all feel at home and we learned a lot, not just about cooking. The meal was great and she showed us different flavors to use together that we would have never tried otherwise.

The cooking course was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it very much. At first, we went to the market together with chef Luisa. There we selected the products for our menu and could choose the fish of the main course. After that we went to the cooking school where we prepared the meals together with Luisa. We had an avocado salad with pomegranate, bolo do caco from the market with self-made garlic butter, tomate inglés sauce, tuna ceviche, tuna steak and sweet potato fries. For dessert we made a sort of cream cheese and passion fruit pudding/cake. Luisa also prepared a traditional Madeiran Poncha, which we liked best during our whole stay. Overall, a very nice experience. We also learned a lot about traditional products and Madeiran cuisine.