Madeira, traditional food and fiery drinks

Bolo de mel and madeira wine

Last week Tam introduced us to her snatched holiday on the Atlantic island of Madeira. Now she gets down to the serious business.

On our third day in Madeira, we met up with chef Octávio Freitas, at his new ultra-sustainable eco hotel, Socalco, in Calheta. Perched high above Calheta harbour and beach, with a 180-degree sweep of the ocean, the hotel has been designed as a minimalist, modern interpretation of traditional Madeira with food at its heart. The little guest pods are built with the black volcanic Madeiran stone and set into the mountain or converted from old agricultural...