Accessible Gourmet

HAVING WORKED in his native France for 10 years, Benoît Sinthon visited Madeira. He met a three Michelin starred chef at the Ritz Palace Hotel, gave him his CV and asked if he thought he could successfully run a restaurant on the island. Clearly the answer was positive, since Sinthon returned to France, finished his contract, and then took his wife – herself Madeiran – back out to the island to work. And so the story goes on…

Sinthon’s culinary style blends French technique with Iberian and Madeiran products. ‘In Madeira, we have everything,’ he says. ‘We have mountains, we have beaches, we have different climates. It’s easy to grow what you need. The season for vegetables is six to seven months; spring and summer is long. We are lucky. We can produce light dishes with flavours of vegetables and the coast. It’s a perfect place both for a quick holiday and also a bigger trip of one or two weeks. We offer a lot of light and tasty food. We are a gourmet restaurant where you can eat for three or four nights in a row without feeling it is too much.’

His vision is to continue his success with the restaurant – as well as the other two in the hotel – and to hold on to his Michelin star. ‘The team is good,’ he says, ‘and the hotel is working well with good occupancy rates.’

Nevertheless, he also enjoys getting the opportunity to travel, especially to London. ‘For me, London is one of the best cities. I say you have a world of people, who live all together. It’s a good place to bring Portuguese and Madeiran cuisine because everybody is open. They don’t just think about their own gastronomy. They are open and like different concepts of food.’ And that’s precisely why TASTE PORTUGAL is introducing Portuguese food and wine to a willing audience here in London. With great chefs like Sinthon participating in the events to fly the flag, it seems so far to be proving a great success.