Macanese cuisine : Macau and Portuguese Fusion Food

There is a tiny area called Macau in the Pearl River Delta of the South China sea. This bit of the world was colonised by the Portuguese Spice traders in 1557 long before the British came along in the 17th century to HK. They were allowed to stay as long as they did not bring in weapons or women and they did a roaring trade in exotic spices with the Chinese. The Portuguese continued their traditional cooking in China but their Asian wives were the ones who injected the old school dishes with spices, coconut milk, etc and formed the first fusion food! So was born Macanese cuisine and as you can imagine I was very curious about it. We decided to take a ferry over to check it out but agreed that we would go to the sleepy village of Taipa where we could experience the Mediterranean China instead of Macau itself which is now known for housing some of the biggest casinos in the world and luxury hotels, malls and restaurants - not my scene I'm afraid!

What we failed to realise is that, even though they are now one nation, China still considers HK a separate entity. We needed passports. We had to queue through passport control and fill out irritating little forms on each side explaining our visit and giving details of residence and so on and so forth. Sigh! 1 hour of freezing cold air con ferry travel followed by 1 hour of queuing in passport control then another 15min in a taxi from the port into the village really got on my nerves! Needless to say we were starved by the time we finally got there so we made a bee-line for a recommended restaurant to sample some of this Macanese cuisine!

My guide book said that this was a Macau Institution since 1903 and had some of the classic dishes like Curried crab, Roasted Pigeon, Baked Coconut Chicken and all sorts of seafood. It sounded as though a lot of the plain Portuguese dishes had been jazzed up with North African spices like saffron, cinnamon and tumeric. So on to the review... well we ordered some Clams Portuguese style and Grilled sardines to start with, followed by a mixed grill and African Chicken.

The clams and sardines were simply prepared but fresh and really tasty. Unfortunately the restaurant decide to bring our mains before we had time to finish the seafood entrees which was very odd and so we got side tracked. Luckily the African chicken I ordered was amazing! The sauce was rich with tomatoes, spices, garlic and saffron. But strangely it was served up with pineapple chunks as well as some boiled potatoes! I did not bother taking a photo of the mixed grill when it arrived because it looked AWEFUL! It was served with cold french fries and a square piece of processed ham draped over some overdone grilled lamb with no seasoning what so ever! It was okay but nothing to write home about.

I was annoyed that we were served everything together but even more irritated with the waiters who kept pacing single file next to our table watching our every move, offering to change a plate every few minutes for a fresh one and generally making us feel like we were in prison being patrolled by guards. I actually asked them to stop circling our table so that we could have a private conversation! Intrusive is not the word - I felt violated! It ruined my lunch experience. I could not wait to get out of there!

Verdict: Food : 3/5 service: 2/5 Total 5/10 = NEVER AGAIN.

Wine list was rubbish. Food was average to poor. Service was intrusive and oppressive.

We then decided to have a wonder about this village to shake off the trauma of lunch. It was truely a lovely little place with cute little street lamps and flowers, piazzas with terraces and wooden shutters over windows in balconies.. very old narrow cobbled streets and tavernas! Really picturesque until you spotted the giant Venetian sky scraper resort gilded and gaudy in gold, looming over the village..YUCK.

Taipa in Macau certainly has a very different feel to HK and its sky scrapers. I was glad we got to experience a new place. Was it worth the 4 hours travel and rubbish lunch experience? Maybe not. As for Macanese cuisine my verdict is [big shoulder shrug] ..."meh".. I won't be going out of my way again to find it but will give it another go if I ever come across it .. You can take it or leave it - It's not really that exciting!