Being that I’m the new guy in town, one of my co-workers has volunteered to organize a weekly dinner outing with some of the folks from work, and the first place on his list was Madeira Restaurant.
Madeira is a 25 years old Portuguese restaurant in East Providence. Its a large beautiful restaurant from both the inside and outside, as you walk though the main entrance area there is an outdoor seating garden with a fountain that reminded me of an amusement park kiddy boat ride. Except these boats were actual dining boats with tables in the center! It looks cooler than it sounds really.
The restaurants interior decor feels upscale and high quality. My dining companions and I sat by a window in the main dining room, since it was a Monday night, things seemed a bit quiet, all the better for talking and eating.
The wine list had several great inexpensive by the glass options, I opted for a glass of Portuguese cabernet to go with the olives and fresh bread at the table. The small olives had a similar taste to that of a kalmatta but were half the size with what seemed like twice the flavor, needless to say we demolished a plate of them.
We ordered three appetizers; Chourico `a Bombeiro, Camarao Alinho , and Ameijoas a “Bulhao Pato”. The Camarao Alinho are shrimp sautéed in butter, wine and garlic, the sauce was quite outstanding. Chourico `a Bombeiro Flame is a grilled house made Portuguese sausage with tasty chunks of pork meat making up its composition. It was brought out on a small metal serving pan with small flames licking at the skin of the sausage and gently charring the meats outer casing. Ameijoas A “Bulhao Pato” , Littlenecks in a garlic oil and wine sauce, was fresh and flavorful, and while shellfish are typically not one of my favorite seafood's, I still enjoyed these.
The main courses showed up; Paelha `a Valenciana an impressive platter of seafood on rice, the seafood consisted of Lobster, shrimp, mussels, littlenecks, squid, crab meat, fish, chourico & pork, pretty much everything you can grab with a net was in this dish! The Bife `a Casa was a sirloin steak with a slice of ham & fried egg. Lastly was my dish; Espetada `a Albertino II, the 18 oz fillet mignon looked like it was weighed after cooking! it came with Portuguese fries, fried cornmeal & vegetables. The presentation left us all at the table speechless, at the center of 3 ft tall wrought iron stand with a 2-1/2 ft long skewer that resembled a massive tuning fork, was the steak. Charred, tender and wonderful. I easily had the winning meal at the table, and more than I could force down.
I loved the food and enjoyed the experience of this high end restaurant. Best of all, this was a great value and each of felt we really got a great bang for our buck.
Taste: 7
Experience: 8
Value: 8
Score: 8
I have never tried any of these Portuguese cuisine but I really love to taste some of their dishes based on your restaurant review.
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