Macau Day 3 (Taipa Crab Porridge)

At 12pm sharp I plonked myself right outside Seng Cheong Restaurant. It was not a moment too soon. The crowd arrived in droves and by the time we were ushered upstairs, the restaurant was already half full.

We ordered a large bowl of the famous crab porridge. The porridge is made by simmering the rice with whole river crabs and crab roe, hence the light yellow tint. The rich taste of crab and roe is richly infused into the porridge and the crab retained its fresh sweetness despite being stewed in the porridge.

This eel dish was just plain weird. The eel was steamed in a wonderfully fragrant garlic and black bean sauce but it was tough, chewy and had the taste of river. It also had a tough skin that was difficult to remove.

I didn't take to the deep-fried fishballs either. Food reviewers described it as bouncy and fresh. When I excitedly took my first bite, it was like no fishball that I've ever tasted. The inside was grey and the fishballs were slimy. There was also a very strong, almost overwhelming fishy aftertaste.

Luckily, the Black Pepper Lala was spicy enough to wipe away the taste of the fishballs and eel. Cooked wih onions, capsicum and green chillis, the delectable little critters slipped right off their shells and into our tummies.

The deep fried prawns in salted egg yolk was right up there with the crab porridge. The prawns were slathered over with generous dollops of salted egg yolk and deep fried to a crisp. The combination of sweet prawns, crispy shell and salty yolk was a winning combination.

The deep fried squid with with chilli slices was another dish that I enjoyed very much. The batter was light and crispy and the squid retained a soft chewiness.

Seng Chong delivers what it promises. It's definitely a place that I'll return to (sans the eel and fishball)

Seng Cheong

30 Rua do Cunha, Taipa

Macau Day 3 (Taipa Pork Buns)

We took a side trip to Taipa today to try Macau's famous Pork Chop Buns and Crab Porridge.

Taipa is a suburban residential area without the claustrophobic chaos of the Peninsular. It possesses a laid back charm and the main street is lined with varied and interesting restaurants.

The Pork Chop Bun has been billed as a must have in Macau. Put very simply, it's a slab of pork placed between 2 slices of toasted bun with no dressing whatsoever. When I first heard about it, I wasn't too keen. The snack sounded dry and gamey. But, when I had my first bite at the Festivita Market at the Venetian, I was pleasantly surprised by how tender and flavourful it was. So it was with keen anticipation that I looked forward to the 'die die must try' pork buns in Taipa.

The buns are sold at Tai Lei Loi Kei. Everyday at 3.00pm. Again, it's a dingy, outdoor eatery. It seems to be a disturbing trend here: the more questionable the premise, the more delicious the food.

Special soft crusty bread is baked for the buns. Queues are so long that the buns are sold out by 4 plus. I was there at 11.00am, much too early to try the special buns. Nonetheless I placed a order to their regular buns just to give it a try.

I must say that the buns here beat those at the Venetian hands down. The pork is grilled to juicy perfection and the warm juices seep into the bread, doubling up as a tasty dressing. There is literally a huge piece of pork chop in between the buns.

Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kei
Taipa

Macau Day 2 (Dinner @ A Lorcha)

After the heavy seafood lunch in Wanchai, we continued with our shopping. By late afternoon, we were game for a good Portuguese meal. Restaurante A Lorcha was purportedly the best Portuguese Restaurant in Macau. It was also the most crowded, according to many guide books. Hence, after a quick wash up, we took a cab to the eatery.

It's a small, quaint restaurant nestled within a row of shophouses. White-washed walls and low arches greeted us when we entered.. As for the food, I felt that though it was good, it wasn't great. Having read so many positive reviews of this restaurant, perhaps my expectations were a tad too high. Or maybe my Singaporean sambal-numbed palate was just not used to the mild taste of the dishes.

One popular Portuguese started is the stir-fried clams which came steep in it's own juices. It was slightly salty but went well with the crusty warm loaves.

The seafood risotto was a hot favourite. It was cooked in a rich seafood broth, together with mussels, prawns and chunks of crab,

We ordered 2 types of chicken dishes, a Per-Peri Chicken for the adults and plain grilled chicken for the kids. The grilled chicken was a tad too dry and the Peri-Peri Chicken came with a mild tomato-based dressing. I was hoping for something as zingy as Nandos' so Peri-Peri sauce was quite a let-down.

The Codfish was truely an acquired taste despite it being a 'must try' dish in many reviews. I took one big bite that realised that the fish was preserved. It was extremely salty and had an almost chewy texture. I decided that one bite was more then enough.

FT wasn't feeling too good so she ordered a familiar staple - Spaghetti Bolognese. Although it was meant for FT, it looked and tasted so good that we all took a serving. The secret behind this delicious pasta was that the entire dish was baked in a wood-fired oven, giving a moistness and intensity that you won't find over a gravy-ladled spaghetti.

The verdict? Good but not great. There's a underlying uniformity in taste that left me 'jelak' after a few dishes. Perhaps I'll pop down to another famous restaurant 'Litoral' just down the street during my next trio to Macau.

Restaurante A Lorcha

289 Rua do Almirante Sergio

Macau Day 2 (Lunch @ Zhuhai Part 2)

The seafood feast begins!

First the freshly opened sea urchins, all briny and quivering. Taken with a dip of lemon and soya sauce, they tasted wonderful.



The abalones were served in oyster sauce. Personally, I've always felt that abalones are over-rated. They are basically tasteless mussels, taking on the flavour of whatever soup or gravy that they were cooked in. But since they were so cheap in Zhuhai, we thought, "What the heck! Let's go for it."

The baby Geoducks were stir-fried in garlic. The opened shells revealed flesh that was sweet and firm.

One of my favourite dishes was the deep fried yabbies. The shells were paper thin and were fried to a crisp. They cracked opened easily, yielding fresh, firm and sweet flesh.

Next came the lobster feast. First, delectable pieces of lobsters were stir fried simply in garlic with minimal seasoning to bring out the sweetness of the fresh crustraceans.

The rest of the lobster was cooked in flavourful porridge. Just look at the generous serving.

The final dish, baby octopus, was my least favourite. Caught live from the tanks and cooked in spicy bean paste gravy, I expected it to taste like jellyfish. Instead, there was a very strong cockle-like taste and an almost squishy texture that was very unpalatable to the tastebuds.

This meal for 8 set us back by S$200, an amazing price for an amazing meal.

Macau Day 2 (Lunch @ Zhuhai Part 1)

We're off to Zhuhai, China for makan and shopping. The Zhuhai area that's adjacent to the Macau northern border is called the Gongbei District. When we passed immigration, this was the sight that greeted us.  Zhuhai is a modern town, with high end condominiums and many office buildings.

Just beneath that sprawling courtyard is a huge 2-storey underground shopping mall. Goods from electronics to clothing to accessories to food are sold. The quality of the goods is not bad, almost comparable to what one can get in shopping malls. Prices are unbelievably low but be prepared to bargain insanely, slashing 60% off whatever price is quoted.

The highlight of the trip was lunch at Wanchai seafood district. It's an entire street lined with seafood restaurants and an outdoor seafood market. You go to the market, pick your live seafood and select a restaurant to have your meal. Selecting live lobsters, sea urchins, abalones at rock bottom prices is an experience I definitely won't forget.

These guys were active and kicking...come to Mummy!

It was hairy crabs and sea urchins galore! Stall after stall displayed these live critters and the stallholders were aggressively trying to get us to buy them.

We couldn't wait to plonk ourselves down at a restaurant and begin our seafood feast.

Macau Day 2 (Breakfast)

Woke up with my stomach rumbling in anticipation of today's meals. But first, there's breakfast to settle. We went down to the Festivita Food Court again to have some Dim Sum.

There was a long queue in front a stall named Imperial Ocean which sold selected dim sum. The Zhu Chang Fen seemed to be the most popular dish ordered. It was smooth, soft and drizzled over with sesame oil and light soya sauce. My favourite was this deep fried sweet sesame ball that was cut into thick slices. It was piping hot and the fragrant sesame seeds gave the chewy dough an interesting texture.

PT was checking out the other food stalls and succumbed to several delectable Xiao Long Baos.

Macau Day 1 (Dinner)

It's back at the Venetian for dinner. FT and JT were pretty tired, having hardly slept on the plane and being on their feet from the early morning. Thus, we decided on a relaxing dinner at the Festivita Food Court, which is quite an amazing place. The architecture and clear blue skies gives you a strange feeling of al fresco dining along the streets of Venice.

 Hearing so much about the Pork Chop Bun in Macau, I went over the the Macanese booth and ordered one to try. It was quite yummy. It's a large piece of pork chop placed in between 2 slices of toasted bun. The sandwich was moist and tasty, even without any dressings.

Afer sharing the bun with PT, I still felt greedy. So I walked over to the Mexican Stall (No way was I going to eat local food at the food court when there are so many wonderful options outside) and ordered a Vegetarian Quesadilla. I didn't have too high an expectation (Mexican food in Macau?) but was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The cheese was rich and creamy and the guacamole was freshly made.

PT stayed conservative and ordered his familiar Chicken Cutlet on Rice. The chicken was sweet and juicy and deliciously seasoned.

While the servings are large, the prices are steep to. A standard order would set you back by at least S$8 - S$10.

Macau Day 1 (Biscuits)

After visiting the Ruins of St Paul's Church, we made our way down on of the many side streets to Senado Square. All of a sudden, I spotted a crowd around a small, dark shop tucked away in a small alley. Stepping closer, I saw a gnarled, old man bent painfully over a charcoal stove. He was deftly making egg biscuits.

The authenticity of the entire painstaking process, the stubborn adherence to tradition and the obvious care of the old man in making each biscuit impressed everyone of us there. The freshly made biscuits were hot, crisp and delicately eggy.

Macau Day 1 (Egg Tarts)

Woo hoo! Finally managed to try the famous Egg Tarts from Margaret's Cafe e Nata. It's a dingy little place tucked in a small alley near the Lisboa Hotel.

But the egg tarts are nothing like the ones in Singapore. They are served oven fresh and piping hot. First, the pastry is crisp and flaky, giving light little crunches with every bite. As for the egg custard, it was the creamiest and eggiest version I've ever tasted. The smooth and sweet custard practically melts and oozes in your mouth with every bite.

Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm!

Margaret's Cafe e Nata
Gum Loi Building, Rua Almirante Costa Cabral

Macau Day 1 - Lunch

We had just touched down and checked into our rooms. Food on the budget airline left much to be desired and we were starving. Without wasting a further second, we went quickly out to the main lobby in search of good Cantonese cuisine.

Thankfully, our search was short. Just along the West Lobby of the hotel was Neptune Restaurant which specialised in roasted meats.

Our first dish was the restaurant's speciality - Sio Bak. Normally, I wouldn't touch this dish with a ten-foot pole. The Sio Bak I had a long time ago in Singapore was oily, gamey and worst of all, had layers of fat that just squished around my mouth. But this dish completely turned my perception around. The piping hot meat slices was firm and the thin marbled layers of fat just melted away with every bite, providing added juciness to the dish. Best of all was the thin crispy layer of fat at the ends,

Our next order was roast duck. The meat was tender and fragrant and the duck was delicious.

This Fish Skin was a fairly odd dish. I expected something crispy but instead a cold, jellyfish like tasting dish arrived. I actually felt slightly icky taking the first bite, expected the plastic taste of scales. Instead (thankfully), I bit into a chewy, well-seasoned slice which grew more addictive with every mouthful. The tangy ginger and spring onion slices complemented the fish well.

This was a hot favourite. The shrimps were spicy and crispy and were highly addictive, somewhat resembling airy keropok.

I didn't quite like the egg dish. While it was tasty, what turned me off were the crushed peanuts that were sprinkled liberally over the eggs.

To round up the meal, we ordered several bowls of tasty porridge - Chicken, Pork and Fish.

A tasty meal, but an extremely expensive one. Total bill for 11 pax came up to almost S$300. When I staggered out of the restaurant, it was due more to the pain of an unexpectedly expensive lunch rather than the heaviness of the tummy.

Old Neptune Restaurant
The Venetian
Macau

Macau Makan Adventure

My recent holiday in Macau was a trip of lavish lodging and epicurean delicacies.

The magnificent opulence of the Venetian Hotel and the gastronomic exploration of Macanese cuisine have made this a truly unforgettable holiday.

Have a look at some amazing shots of the Venetian.

This is a corridor along the Canal Shoppes. The sheer size and frescos on the walls are simply amazing.

The artificial sky darkens and lightens according to the time of day and the canals run through the hotel.

Here's the centre of the hotel which opens up to reveal the Casino on the first floor.

Sob...I want to go back....

Surprise Lunch

Guess what? We had a surprise pot luck at work today. At 12.00pm, a bevy of yummy dishes miraculously appeared on the table. FANTASTIC! All I can say is that my colleagues are fabulous cooks.

The homemade Pineapple Rice was sweet and fragrant and its yellow saffron shade was so attractive.

Now, this Vegetable Curry carried a real kick. Who would have thought that a meatless curry could taste so good? Filled the potatoes, fresh lady's fingers and an assortment of vegetables, it was tasty and filling. Best of all, the gravy was thick and not at all oily. I spooned ladles of it over the Pineapple Rice.

The Fried Been Hoon was refreshingly light and the sliced vegetables gave it a nice textured crunch.

What's a party without Satay and Otak? These 2 favourites were bought from Jalan Kayu. The otak was spicy and had big chunks of seafood.

The famous Polar Swiss Rolls were bought for dessert, but I was too stuffed to eat them. Didn't matter though, they were perfect for tea.

What a wonderful meal and what great colleagues!