Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Madeira Restaurante .

Yesterday was Deborah's 38th birthday and she decided to celebrate it by going out for a meal with friends. She chose the Madeira Restaurante, which is located at 2 Guildford Crescent in Cardiff. This is a small street just off Churchill Way in the city centre and close to the Queen Street train station. The Madeira Restaurante specializes in Portuguese cuisine and Deborah booked a table for 10 people. She was right to book in advance because the Madeira Restaurante is a very busy and popular restaurant.

I had Deep Fried Scampi at £4.25 for my starters. There were 7 pieces of scampi in batter on my plate together with some salad. This was a delicious, quality starter to my main course and worth the money. I then had the Lamb Espetadas - a Madeira Special Kebab at £13.95 - a very popular dish with other diners. What you get are lamb chunks kebabed on a skewer that is suspended above your plate from hooks in the ceiling. If you wish they attach some tissue with garlic butter at the top of the skewer, which then drips down over the lamb chunks adding even more flavour to your meal. We all know what a gamble lamb, as a meat, can be and you only get what you pay for. The lamb sold at the Madeira Restaurante is really, really good - what I would describe as lamb fillet. It reminded me of the gorgeous food I enjoyed in a restaurant at Gumbet in Turkey , where they do a lovely, quality kebab on skewers with only the finest cuts of lamb. My meal last night was on a par with the Istanbul kebap at the Aloah in Gumbet. To compare last night's meal with the memorable meal that I enjoyed in October 2005, shows just how good the Lamb Espetadas at Madeira's really are. The Lamb Espetadas is served with a little salad and for everyone to share, regardless of their choice of meal, are bowls of cauliflower in batter, garden peas and saute potatoes.

Waiter service is good and very discreet. I did not notice our waiter remove from the table our starter crockery or the finished kebab skewers hanging from the ceiling. Another nice touch is the bar at the front of the restaurant where you can march up, select your drinks, pay for them with cash and walk back to your table. This enables the waiters to concentrate on food orders and makes splitting the bill between friends easier, especially when some people drink more than others.

We all enjoyed our meals and it was a nice birthday celebration for Deborah. We paid more than we usually pay for eating out but it was a special occasion and the quality of the food reflected the event. We got what we paid for and we can recommend the Madeira Restaurant for that special occasion. You will be asked to sing and clap to "Happy Birthday" in Portuguese, if the staff know it is your birthday. We were the 3rd table to sing the ritual song, complete with an obscure moving puppet dance last night. I wonder who will be next to choose the Madeira Restaurant for their birthday meal?
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