Restaurants

Ah... the smell! The taste! The sights! So many choices and only so many meals? Which to choose? Where should I go? If you're in Macau, just consult this page! I plan to soon have all... err, most... well, some restaurants listed here, along with prices and reviews! The new entries will be posted on the front page of the blog, but will be permanently entered here as well for easy finding. So, sit back, relax, and read about all that food you wish you could eat right now!

That's right! I LOVE LUNCH TOO!

Price Legend
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$          MOP $0-$49
$$        MOP $50-99
$$$      MOP $100-149
$$$$    MOP $150-$250
$$$$$  MOP $250 and above
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Number of restaurants listed: 43

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Restaurant: Restaurante Fong Fong Kei
Communication: Chinese and some English.
Location: Macau. On Rua de Cantao near the Av. da Amizade
Prep time: 20-45min
Price: $$$$-$$$$$

Description: An upscale seafood restaurant in the downtown Macao area. In the midst of hundreds of shops and nearby several casinos and hotels - also across the "freeway" from the Wynn and MGM resort hotels.

 Outside the restaurant.

Inside the private dining area

Suckling pig, red wine, and coke is featured on this picture. The meal involved many courses. We started out with peanuts and a salty "pickled" vegetable. Then came the many courses. We started with suckling pig skin - succulent, fatty and delicious - and bland white bread cakes. After we had finished the skin, the pig was cut up into pieces and served. This was followed by a vegetable soup that included huge mushrooms accompanied by another bean-like vegetable and cabbage, relatively little broth but actually tasty. This was followed with a fried seafood roll that was to be dipped in a sweet mayonnaise sauce and eaten. The next dish was fried octopus - had to be - spicy with vegetables. The shark fin soup was then brought to the table and the waitress filled up the soup cups while we played  several rounds of bingo. At the end, I thought the meal was over and was slightly disappointed since I had eaten sparingly to save room for the rest. Then the rest did eventually come... a massive boiled fish at least two feet long was served out to the table of ten people. The meat was white and quite delicious. Next came out another vegetable soup and Chinese BBQ goose. Several more dishes were served to the table, which I fail to recall, and finally we came to the final course. A dish of perfectly cooked seafood fried rice was brought out, a slightly spicy purple dessert soup, fried bread covered in sesame seeds, and watermelon and cantaloupe. The meal was quite satisfying. After a walk around Macao, I headed back to Taipa, tired but filled and happy.

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Restaurant: Ide Restaurant
Communication: Chinese and basic English.
Location: Macau. On the Av. de Almeida Ribeiro near the intersection with Rua Central
Prep time: 10 minutes
Price: $-$$

Description: Small restaurant beneath McDonald's and adjacent to Pacific Coffee Co. near Senado Square. The main fair appears to be fried chicken - Asian fried chicken - accompanied with Udon noodles or the like. This leads me to believe this is most likely a Japanese restaurant or possibly part of a Japanese chain. However, the food is quite good and besides the chicken and pork chops, the restaurant also offers various fried dumplings - which, incidentally, look delicious!

Inside the restaurant

Fried pork chop with noodles in a curry broth with seaweed and other vegetables. The drink is a strawberry ice drink that is also filled with small tapioca-like bubbles - quite unusual but also quite delicious! It was cold today - around 50F - so the soup was quite refreshing. Sometimes it is also quite relaxing to simply sit back, eat a good meal, and people watch.

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Restaurant: Snack Stand
Communication: Chinese and some English.
Location: Taipa. Western entrance to the Venetian (by the buses).
Prep time: 1-5 minutes
Price: $

Description: Small food stand located outside the Venetian. The stand offers small food snacks as well as gelato ice cream. The snacks are delicious - tried the hot dogs and the miniature donuts myself - and can be a tasty treat if the wait for the bus appears to be long. In the evenings, especially on the weekend, this area teems with Cinderella's  from the Mainland who are waiting to get back to Zhuhai by the midnight. FYI, Zhuhai is a Chinese city adjacent to the Macau region's border.

Stand outside the Venetian's west entrance (by the buses)

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Restaurant: Estabelecimento de Comidas [basically says "Establishment of Food"
Communication: Chinese
Location: Taipa. On the R. de Coimbra near intersection with R. de Tai Lin.
Prep time: 10-40 minutes
Price: $-$$

Description: The exterior is bright and cheerful, with Chinese BBQ duck, chicken, and pork hanging in the window. This had, in fact, driven me away from trying the establishment because I have had Chinese BBQ for lunch at work at least thirty times since my arrival in Macau. Inside, the atmosphere didn't seem very professional, with the waitress loudly chatting with her consorts and the cook. However, the place seemed popular for some of the locals and the food ended up being fairly good. Not a good place to take Westerners or friends to impress them, methinks, but good for a quick bite with familiars (for "quick", don't order the baked dishes)

Outside the restaurant

Pork chops with tomato sauce and rice, accompanied by a walnut-honey tea. I survived a narrow escape from the dreaded seafood dish while ordering! This baked dish was quite good, with sliced tomatoes, rice, and the pork chops. The time required to cook this dish is about forty minutes, similar to both the seafood dish (which I have developed a loathing for) and the coconut chicken (seen somewhere below).

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Restaurant: Starbucks
Communication: English and Chinese
Location: Cotai. The Venetian.
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Price: $$

Description: The prices of Starbucks in Asia match the USA prices. This makes it quite an upscale establishment (i.e. pricey) for the majority of the locals. The menu options are also varied to the tastes of the popular local cuisine. In this Starbucks, for example, various meat pies were offered in the food displays and various tropical fruit smoothies and teas were offered for the beverages.

Starbucks inside the Venetian!

Inside the restaurant

Mango-Passion fruit smoothie with a Chinese BBQ pie! The BBQ pork pie was delicious. The pastry shell was buttery and flaky, the inside pork was suspended in a gelatinous filling (pork fat and other ingredients) with suspended pieces of pork.

The remains of a vanilla frappuccino and a lemon pie. Delicious!

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Restaurant: Cafe Esplanada
Communication: English and Chinese
Location: Wynn Macau, by the main entrance and the courtyard
Prep time: 0 minutes for the buffet
Price: $$$$$

Description: The dress is closer to casual elegant than business casual, the booth-seats are nicely upholstered and have that expensive look about them. The dinner buffet is elegant as well, nicely-matching the niceties of the white and dark chocolate fondues, the chef-prepared deserts and entrees, and the selection of choice Chinese BBQ. The selection includes sashimi and sushi, traditional Chinese dishes, and European dishes. The price matches the food quality, however, and MOP 268 can be on the steep side for most people (including myself)!

Outside the restaurant. After retrieving my first plateful of food from the buffet, which was quite full, I was too embarrassed to take a photograph the plate in front of all the guests. After satiating a part of my hunger (finishing the first plateful), I regained my courage and decided since I'd paid for the food, I had the right to photograph it!

Second Plateful. At the front, left side of the plate is an assortment of goodies obtained by and dipped in the chocolate fondues. Among the items I dipped in the fondue were several biscuits, pretzel stick, and dried apricot. At the front-right is Chinese BBQ - duck, goose, and pork. At the rear, right-hand side is roasted lamb. At the rear, left-hand side of the plate is a small olive loaf. At the far back is a chef-made strawberry puff. All of it was phenomenal.

Third Plateful. At the front, left-hand side is broiled sole with parsley. In the front-center is curry ox-tail with rice, at the right-hand side is a dry-spiced pork rib (tastes similar to dry American BBQ). At the left-hand side in the white bowl is a delicious peach pudding. At the rear, right-hand side is American-style sushi. At the back, behind the white bowl, is freshly-sliced pineapple and cantaloupe. The pineapple was quite fresh and very juicy.

Fourth Plateful. At this point I was getting quite full - even though the quantity of food I am able to consume has, unhappily, increased since my arrival in Macau five months ago. Therefore, the selection was is more sparing than otherwise desired. At the front is a slice of the white french bread, crispy as french bread should be, and a cracker. Along with this was a selection of five cheeses, ranging from the mild Brie cheese and bleu cheese to a sharp cheddar. At the right-hand side in the orange dish is a caramel pudding with peaches - whipped to provide it with a nice, airy feel - at the rear is Black Forest cake. At the left-hand side, below the white dish, are a shrimp and mussel from a Mediterranean salad (this seafood by itself was excellent). In the white bowl is a whipped cauliflower dish adorned with smoked duck. Does anything more really need to be said?

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Restaurant: 7-Eleven
Communication: Chinese, sometimes English too
Location: Just walk around for a few blocks, and you'll find 'em...
Prep time: about 0-5 minutes
Price: $

Description: Personally, I haven't been that impressed with the chain in the USA, but in Asia, these stores are everywhere and doing a booming business! 7-Eleven backs and sells a stored-value card that can be used to ride the bus, purchase groceries, and buy or pay for many other services for larger services (i.e. local restaurants won't accept the card's use). The cards are region specific, so you can't use a Macau 7-Eleven card in Hong Kong or China. That goes for vice-versa as well. The stores have the usual - magazines, chips, drinks, frozen treats, and microwavable treats (with microwave). Asian stores also have additional food items that come piping hot and cooked for you by the attendants - anything from good spicy noodle dishes to fish xiao mai dumplings.

Outside the 7-Eleven in Taipa

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Restaurant: 3 Monkeys
Communication: English, Chinese, possibly Portuguese
Location: Venetian. St. Mark's Square.
Prep time: About 15 minutes
Price: $$$-$$$$

Description: "American, Mexican, Italian & Asian Cuisine." This decorative restaurant resembling a jungle sits on the left side of St. Mark's Square.If you time your meal correctly, you can catch one of the shows going on in the square. The staff is very professional and have excellent command of speaking and understanding English. Everything from the decor to the seats reminded me of the jungle - a jungle that I've only read about and seen on TV, I must add. Please note that crowds of camera and video-recording tourists throng through the square occasionally, and some of them appear to love to use the "3 Monkeys" as a backdrop. Therefore, if you desire more privacy, you can sit back further in the restaurant and take no more notice of them. Or, you can pretend that you're a movie star and they - the crowd - are your star struck fans. I chose the latter for this evening and I'm sure I'll show up in at least two or three dozen family photos that adorn mantelpieces across China.

3 Monkeys is the restaurant on the left, right behind the security guard.

The restaurant extends to the right as well, but I wanted to get a shot with the title!

 The inner sanctum of the restaurant

Three monkeys on a pedestal!

The meal was delicious! Steak and onion burger - topped with lettuce, tomato, thin slice of cheddar, and mayonnaise placed between two toasted buns. The burger was accompanied by some good french fries, hot but not too greasy; and a coleslaw that was perfect. The banana mango smoothie was quite delicious, made with real banana and mango, very smooth and thick. I'll end the summary with the beginning sentence - isn't that what they say to do when making a point in a speech or anything like that? - the meal was delicious!

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Restaurant: Fruitarian
Communication: Chinese, some very basic English
Location: Taipa. On the R. de Coimbra, near the intersection with the R. de Evora
Prep time: About 10 minutes
Price: $$

Description: This restaurant caters to the best of cold desserts and tasty fruitarian type treats. Fruit platters, teas, smoothies, milkshakes, puddings, and salads. Additionally they have fried appetizers small sandwiches and other tasty morsels to accompany the meal. I hold stock in what one of my relatives generations ago said: "I'll die happy and eat what I want to now". So, grudgingly, I entered the establishment, but emerged a thoroughly satisfied and enthusiastic customer. The food is quite Western friendly.

Outside the Fruitarian

As you can see, I didn't feel rushed on this day!

 Ahhh, now this is the life! It's been really COLD here in Macau the last several weeks (early January 2011), so the hot subtropical tea is delicious! The pot of tea is sitting above a candle, so it stays piping hot throughout the meal. In the small glass is a peach sugar concentrate that I placed into the tea once it became very hot. Inside the tea pot is something that appears to be an orange cinnamon tea bag (possibly with a hint of apple flavor) and pineapple pieces. The tea was fabulous, if I may steal the word from Tony, owner of the best delicatessen in eastern Pennsylvania - the "Goosey Gander". Anyway, getting back to the meal, the Japanese style fried dumplings were quite good, accompanied by a sweet and sour sauce. The toasted club sandwich had bacon, grilled chicken, egg, Swiss cheese, and lettuce. On the side is lettuce and bean sprouts.

For this meal, I tried the dried rose tea, which looked quite interesting. The main dish was bologna pasta, and I also had a side of loaded baked potatoes. The dried rose tea wasn't quite to my liking, but the bologna pasta was quite good, with bologna, cheese, tomato sauce, and pasta. The loaded baked potatoes came with freshly-sliced tomatoes, cheese, and sauce... quite healthy and as such came as a surprise to me; quite different from what I'm used to!

Here is a pork chop sandwich along with a lavender honey tea; This was delicious! The sandwich was a good snack, healthy too, with just the toasted bread, lettuce, bean sprouts, and pork chop. The tea was quite delicious: lightly sweet and fragrant with a soothing taste.

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Restaurant: Japanese Cuisine
Communication: Chinese
Location: Taipa. On the Rua de Nam King, near the intersection with R. de evora (and Bank of China)
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Price: $$-$$$

Description: The staff was friendly and accommodating and the decor was very much like a Japanese restaurant (I thought). The restaurant is rather small - befitting the Japanese theme - and the dishes offered included various types of sashimi and sushi. However, not wanting to risk any food illness, I opted for the baked options. The dishes available for people who don't eat raw meat were also plentiful, including boiled (noodles), fried, and baked entrees. I opted for a combination of a fried dumpling appetizer, baked/grilled prawns with sea urchin sauce as the main entree, and sesame ice cream for desert. The complementary seaweed-flavored tea provided a mild, pleasing drink to wash these dishes down with.

Outside the restaurant

Japanese fried dumplings with a light seaweed-flavored Asian tea. The dumplings were quite good, but slightly on the greasy side! Vegetables and pork appeared to be the primary ingredients.

Grilled prawns in sea urchin sauce. The prawns were covered in a very rich cream/butter sauce with an additional, rather odd flavor that I didn't recognize (the sea urchin, perhaps). The taste wasn't especially pleasing - to me as a Westerner - but when sprinkled with the lemon juice, it tasted somewhat better.

To top it all off, some sesame ice cream does the trick!

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Restaurant: Cozinha Pinnochio
Communication: Chinese
Location: Taipa Village. Near the intersection of R. do Regedor and R. Do Delegado
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Price: $$$

Description: Portuguese style cuisine. Slightly on the pricey side, depending on the taste of the customer. The atmosphere is quite nice, with a huge selection of solid wood tables capable of accommodating parties as few as two or as many as thirty. Inside is also a bar and, as expected, the restaurant has a huge selection of alcoholic beverages. In fact, there is one menu for the drinks and one more for the food. The waiting staff supervisor speaks English is from Zhuhai, and he is quite friendly. However, if he's not around, the rest of the staff only speak Chinese. Hence, for communication I've decided to only list the latter.

Pinocchio's restaurant! 

Inside the restaurant

Yessiree! Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket (the front cover of the English menu).

 The meal consisted of grilled (I suspect broiled actually) black perch steaks with vegetables and french fries, lemon squash (the drink), and a mango pudding for desert. The black perch steaks were delicious! While the outside had a nice buttery, grilled texture, the inside - the white, fleshy part - was juicy and almost felt that it was melting in my mouth. They served the fish with a olive oil, onion "sauce" to place on top of the fish (seen in the upper left). The lemon squash, despite the name, was also quite good and very bubbly. I loved it, and will definitely look into making it myself! Lemons and ice were at the top, and the main part of the drink appeared to be squash with carbonated water. The mango pudding was also quite good and not too sweet, with shredded pieces of mango mixed with an egg-based fluffy custard that was perhaps whipped before chilling.

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Restaurant: Dumbo Restaurant
Communication: Chinese and some English
Location: Taipa Village. On the R. do Regedor near its intersection with R. Do Delegado
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Price: $$$

Description: The restaurant is located on the second floor of the Hei Loi Tanq Plaza, adjacent to the Mercado Municipal Da Taipa building. The restaurant is more "upper-class" and the prices are therefore slightly higher.

Outside the Dumbo Restaurant

Close-up of the sign. I wonder if Disney knows about this!

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Restaurant: Bobo Tea
Communication: English and Chinese.
Location: Venetian Macau. Ground floor, near the west entrance and the Cotai Convention Center
Prep time: About 5 minutes
Price: $

Description: The location is across from the "blue frog bar and grill" and "McSorley's Ale House", but apparently there is no connection between the establishments. The drink selection is excellent, with all types and flavors of boba tea and the accompanying bubbles (everything from the traditional tapioca and grass jelly to Thai coconut and other additives). The place is also a gelateria, with the frozen treat offered in all sorts of tropical fruit flavors.

Bobo Tea, view from inside the sitting area

Homemade gelatis come at a high price!

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Restaurant: Square Eight
Communication: English and Chinese
Location: MGM. Near the main entrance.
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Price: $$$$

Description: A nice, upper-scale place in the MGM. The environment is quite pleasant, with modern decor and a relaxed elegant look. The music was light jazz and contemporary, which fit the meal nicely. Washcloths are provided before the meal, and the napkins were really thick. What seemed slightly odd was that I was provided with a menu that had little circles to select which dishes we liked. Traditional Chinese dishes - including Chinese barbecued goose - are included along with American and European. The beverage selection is also excellent, with many alcoholic and non-alcoholic options.

Outside the "Square Eight" Restaurant

View of the restaurant from my table

My delicious dinner! What I didn't realize is how many drinks I would have! The meal combo came with coffee or another tea, and the Oolong tea comes complementary upon being seated. The main dish - on the black "ceramic" plate - is an onion pork chop with tomatoes, french fries, carrots, and gravy. Sumptuous. At the right is a tomato soup, slightly spicy, but quite good and very warm. A sesame bun - regular, hot roll with sesame seeds on top - was out of this world. The drink is a thick mango milkshake - and I mean thick, made from genuine mango. Altogether, a totally satisfying and winning combination for a meal.

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Restaurant: Elephant (the Chinese name means "BIG stupid Elephant")
Communication: English and Chinese
Location: Taipa. Near intersection of Rua de evora and Rua de Coimbra
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Price: $$$

Description: Nice, upper-class restaurant located near several large apartment buildings and across the street from McDonalds. There are two hosts near the door, and one - maybe the owner - walks around the restaurant every once in a while. The cuisine definitely has some Indian dishes, but they also have a selection of Portuguese and Macanese cuisine as well.

Outside the Elephant!

Inside, the decor is very nice! To the left is a brick wall adorned with many old photos.

Lunch is served with a hot dinner roll - quite crispy and good - and Oolong Tea. The appetizer was garlic bread, which came out quite soon, as well as the "mango juice with aloe" (the drink on the right). The main dish is curry chicken in a bread bowl, which turned out quite nice. Inside were potatoes, carrots, boneless chicken pieces, as well as the curry sauce. Near the end, the spiciness did begin to feel a bit overpowering, but overall, a nice meal!

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Restaurant: Pizza Pizza
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Cotai. Venetian Food Court.
Prep time: about 10 minutes
Price: $$$

Description: This restaurant serves good Italian-style pizza and nice appetizers. The menu also lists an assortment of pastas and other Italian dishes. At first, I avoided the place because of the relatively high cost - relative to the other restaurants in the food court - as well as the wait time I anticipated. As it ends up, the wait isn't long at all and the food is quite delicious!

Out in front

Logo on the wall. I like a name that is straight-forward.

 Whole dinner is shown here! Tomato onion mushroom garlic thin-crust pizza. It was quite good, and a nice variant from the deep-dish pizza I enjoy from Pizza Hut! The onion rings were quite good as well. On the side is a mint yogurt desert I purchased after attending "Disney On Ice" at the Cotai Arena

Naples panini - toasted - with fresh mozzarella, tomato, and lettuce. I also ordered a side dish of garlic bread, which was quite thick but not quite as warm as I would have liked (think healthier version of Texas Toast). Orange soda didn't quite seem to go with this combo!

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Restaurant: Shanghai Pearl Restaurant
Communication: Chinese
Location: Taipa Village.
Prep time: about 30 minutes
Price: $-$$

Description: Small restaurant in Taipa village with plenty of character. Pictures of Hong Kong celebrities who have visited the restaurant adorn the walls along with full-color pictures of the food from the menus. The food is quite delicious! But then again, I was also brought up on the Shanghai-style cuisine.

On the path through Taipa village

Small table in the restaurant.

On the left, sugared deep-fried dumplings covered in sugar and filled with red bean paste. On the right, xiaolongbao! Needless to say, the dumplings disappeared quickly.

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Restaurant: Little Ox
Communication: Basic English, Chinese
Location: Taipa. On R. de Tai Lin near intersection with Av. Dr. Sun Yat Sen
Prep time: about 15 minutes
Price: $-$$

Description: A very small but cute restaurant adjacent to the road. The place is brightly-lit and has cable LCD TV (don't all the restaurants here!). Going to the restaurant with a small group of friends (i.e. four or less) would be fun; however, I seriously question if a larger party would be able to be seated together there!

Little Ox restaurant.

Udon noodle seafood dish with honey-walnut hot tea. In the to-go box are fried shrimp dumplings. The udon noodles were extraordinary, but again, the seafood aspect had some oddities that I personally don't favor! Nevertheless, the udon noodles and the dish were good (I would rate "great" if I had ordered the pork-chop instead of seafood!). 

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Restaurant: Modern Shanghai Cuisine
Communication: Very basic English, Chinese
Location: Venetian: St. Mark's Square
Prep time: about 30 minutes
Price: $$-$$$

Description: This restaurant has several nice perks about it. Firstly, it offers Shanghai cuisine, which consists (as far as I am concerned) solely of Chinese dumplings and dim sum. Secondly, it's located in St. Mark's Square of the Venetian - basically the major room that connects the canals together around the perimeter of the building, where shopping tours begin, and performers conduct shows occasionally throughout the day.

 Modern Shanghai Cuisine nestled in the corner of St. Mark's Square.

 Xiaolongbao with a pineapple colada (with coconut milk and ice). The dumplings were delicious, just as xiaolongboa should be! Xiaolongboa is special in that it is usually steamed, and once complete, the dumpling contains both the meat and vegetable center along with a sizable portion of broth which has been simmering along with the meat inside of the dumpling. Upon plopping this construction into the mouth, the dumpling skin bursts, releasing this delicious broth which is then eaten along with the dumpling.

 Wonton soup. Quite good as well, very tasty.

Peanut fried roll. Tasty, but not good as a leftover. This light but tasty treat is slightly greasy. The construction of this confection appears to be like that of a cinnamon roll; diced pieces of peanut and peanut "dust" is placed on a layer of a rice-based breading that is then rolled up and lightly fried.

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Restaurant: Panda: Portuguese Restaurant
Communication: Chinese
Location: Taipa Village. On R. Direita Carlos Eugenio, near the intersection with R. do Delegado.
Prep time: about 30 minutes
Price: $$-$$$

Description: One of several restaurants in the area featuring Portuguese cuisine! The setting is in the midst of the dreadfully-narrow streets in Taipa Village. The decor is rather dim but tastefully done. I could almost imagine being in a corner restaurant in Portugal while dining there. The choices are many and very Western-friendly. The cuisine is primarily Portuguese in style, although some Macanese choices are also thrown into the potential selection.

Outside the Panda

Fresh coconut milk - as fresh as you can get! Along with it is the traditional 

Chinese tea and a side-order of garlic bread, which was very good.

My dish arrived... I had been waiting only about ten minutes, and I noticed the people who had been there before me were still waiting for their food. "Well, I guess they just don't know what to order!" Then I looked at my dish. It looked suspiciously like sushi. "But beef? No way!" Then I poked a piece with my fork. "Hmmm. Very suspect." Then I looked again at the name on the menu. Portuguese Style Beef Carpaccio. "Carpaccio... what did that word mean again?" Then I tried several pieces. "Yep, raw meat in a slightly spicy vinegar-wine brown sauce. Wine must be there to kill the germs." It actually was palatable and somewhat tasty. After trying several pieces doused in the sauce I decided I did not have the bravery to finish the rest and risk some terrible disease. So I sheepishly set my dish aside, and informed the confused hostess - who, again, couldn't speak English - that I would like to have another dish, which I then pointed out to her.

This selection was a real hit and positively delicious. Portuguese Style Baked Mussels. The mussels were placed over mashed potatoes. The sauce  on the mussels consisted of some mashed potatoes, oil, and large amounts of garlic. Simple and absolutely delicious. I'd go back again for that dish!

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Restaurant: Tasty Pulled Noodle
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Hong Kong. Macau Ferry Terminal.
Prep time: about 15 minutes
Price: $$

Description: Small restaurant in the Macau Ferry Terminal of Hong Kong. I asked the waiter, and it is a chain restaurant from Japan. The food is good!

Japanese chain restaurant

 The menu was just too tempting to pass by! At 2:00pm local time, then, I stopped by for a snack. The drinks is mango juice next to Japanese tea. The dish is scallops with mushrooms and other seafood, braised together in a dark soy based sauce. For the record, it was very good.

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Restaurant: Kentucky Fried Chicken
Communication: Basic English, Chinese
Location: Hong Kong. Macau Ferry Terminal.
Prep time: about 2 minutes
Price: $

Description: Kentucky Fried Chicken is a popular destination for locals in Asia. Again, like most fast food chains when they reach Asia, this one is fairly expensive by local standards but is also well-decorated and upscale than what is typically found in the USA. The options also vary - especially in terms of side dishes and options. I sampled the maple egg tart on this visit!

Kentucky Fried Chicken 

Fried chicken, two pieces, and grilled chicken, one piece. I still say fried is best! The maple egg tart was OK, but tasted processed, I thought. The drink is coke... by default in Macau, if you don't say anything about the drink, you ALWAYS get coke. Coca Cola was smart in that during WW2, they shipped the beverage with the US troops at greatly discounted prices and large quantity for free. It is said that for the duration of the war, Coca Cola provided one free bottle of coke to every US soldier. After the end of war, Coca Cola was available in much of the world.

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Restaurant: Pizza Hut
Communication: Basic English, Chinese
Location: Macao. Near intersection of R. Central and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro
Prep time: about 30 minutes
Price: $$$-$$$$

Description: Pizza Hut in Macau is not like the Pizza Hut in the USA! Leave behind almost-empty, somewhat stale buildings for the upscale, well-decorated, gourmet-style eateries of Asia!

Inside Pizza Hut

Lobby of Pizza Hut

Festive Christmas menu at Pizza Hut!

Various soups offered on the "gourmet" appetizer menu!

Basic appetizers!

Stuffed crust regular Super Supreme with the BBQ ribs and waffle fries appetizer. The drink is a Christmas "hot fruity tea" that was phenomenal. The tea tasted of honey and had a strawberry aroma. Inside of the tea were diced apple pieces, several cinnamon-soaked apples pieces, and several strawberries. It was very hot at first, but very good as well. The stuffed crust pizza was also quite good... ribs and waffle fries, well, you know the drill!

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Restaurant: Double Star
Communication: Basic English, Chinese only!
Location: Hong Kong. Admiralty Building
Prep time: about 20 min
Price: $$$

Description: This is a small restaurant built into the mall near the Admiralty station. The menu is quite attractive, featuring such succulent options as:
- Rack of lamb provencal
- Grilled seabass fillet with black truffle cream sauce
- Pan-fried salmon fillet with coriander butter sauce
- Pan-fried pork chop in French red wine and onion sauce

Needless to say, I was excited! European cuisine!

 

The Double Star

Creme Brulee, topped with powdered sugar and a strawberry! The beverage shown above is, of course, water. Delicious!

Now arrives my favored beverage, the honey latte. The picture on the menu 
had latte art on it... I was slightly disappointed when mine did not!

Finally, my main course arrived. Rice with seafood in lobster cream sauce with cheese in stone pot. Sounds good, eh? However, after the first bite, I realized I'd met my arch nemesis in disguise! A seafood dish Macau style, with prawns with the shell still on, and many tiny prawns saturating the mixture, making every bite crunchy and revolting. I could hardly stomach it, but luckily I had an excuse to leave early... my movie at the AMC Cinema was beginning in five minutes! Hastily, I ate what I could, paid the bill, and left for "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" in 3D.

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Restaurant: May Box
Communication: Chinese only!
Location: Taipa. On R. de Nam Keng, near the intersection with R. de Evora
Prep time: about 20 min, up to 30 min at peak times
Price: $$

Description: The atmosphere here is fairly relaxed, and the menu options are for the most part very Western-friendly. The snack menu - which includes the peanut butter with French toast - is fully available on most days. The selection of drinks is outstanding - pretty much all possible options for various chilled teas and smoothies. The price is higher than average, but then, when you through in the free wireless, so is the service!

Outside the May Box

Udon noodle beef stir-fry; quite tasty! In the background is French Toast with peanut butter and topped with powdered sugar. The honey goes along with it to make a tasty treat! The drink is milk tea, without the bubbles.

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Restaurant: Geezer
Communication: English, Portuguese, some Chinese
Location: Taipa. Near the intersection of R. de Branganca and R. de Tai Lin
Prep time: about 20 min, up to 30 min at peak times
Price: $$-$$$

Description: The atmosphere is more like a slightly-upscale coffeehouse. The leather seats are comfortable and the layout is relaxed. A variety of magazines and newspapers, among them the Macau business news, are available for perusal on a bookcase. The meals are decidedly western in style, with all day breakfast ranging from French toast to eggs benedict. Also on the menu are items like meat pastries - which are out of this world - and sirloin steak. Oh, also, just for the record, the trophies that adorn the side of the restaurant were won by the owner, Jason Broome - a yearly competitor in the Macau Grand Prix.

A view inside the restaurant. 

Meat pasty with mashed potatoes and gravy. Absolutely delicious! The meat pastry is flaky and golden in color, and takes good by itself. The mashed potatoes are REAL - not imitation - with REAL gravy! Excellent. The drink is an iced mocha-latte.

Shepherd's pie with an iced white-chocolate cappuccino

Mega burger! In Asia, burgers sometimes come with an egg on top! Why not? More protein means more filling, which in turn means happier customer! Cheese, beef patty, egg, bacon, red onion, tomato, lettuce, and a sesame seed bun! VERY large burger. Fries are quite nice, and the cappuccino is a good way to relax after a long day at the office.

Eggs Benedict, a Butty sandwich - a sandwich with French fries between two slices of bread that spread with melted butter. A gravy sauce, seen in the dish between the sandwich and the drink, augments the sandwich. The drink is a white-chocolate shake.

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Restaurant: Cafe E.S.Kimo
Communication: basic English, Chinese
Location: Taipa. Near the intersection of R. de Chiu Chau and R. de Aveiro
Prep time: about 10 min, up to 20 min at peak times
Price: $-$$

Description: Cute place frequented by many students and apparently very popular among the younger generations. The waitresses are friendly and willing to provide helpful advice on which dishes to order. It's a very western-friendly menu selection as well! All the nice snacks, such as jam on bread or French-style toast with condensed milk are options.

Cafe E.S.Kimo... brrr, must be chilly inside, because it's 70F outside!

An edition of the Macau Business newspaper

The above selection was delicious! The watermelon drink is sweet, yet not overpowering, and seems to have a milk-like mixture added along with the ice. The result is a creamy mixture that tastes like watermelon yet isn't overpoweringly sweet like a straight fruit-juice and isn't the same thin consistency either. In the front is a basic beef stir-fry with vegetables and white rice. It was also very good. In the back, towards the left, is the French-style toast with condensed milk in the center. Honey is provided to go along with the sweet unhealthy and every-so-tasty combination. As far as I can tell, the two pieces of toast are made in a non-egg batter which leaves the toast crispy on the outside. In between butter and perhaps sugar is placed, which melts into the bread. The sweetened-condensed milk also spreads throughout the toast, making it quite tasty and sweet.

Dinner was quite tasty! The main course is shown here, pork chops braised with white and green onions, a dollop of rice, and bok choy. The drinks at this place area amazing. This time, the drink is Ube milk tea. The taste reminds me faintly of taro, milky and very mild but with a delightful flavor.

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Restaurant: Thai and Vietnamese Style
Communication: basic English, some Portuguese, Chinese.
Location: Cotai. The Venetian Food Court
Prep time: about 10 min
Price: $$

Description: The restaurant itself looks nice, but the displays are not as appealing when compared to some of the other restaurants inside the food court. What caught my eye and finalized my choice was the hollowed-out pineapple stuffed with seafood fried rice. Nothing like eating out of a fruit! Oh, also the iced coconut milk with the red beans was a nice finisher, even before I found out that my selection came with the drink for free. Service is tolerable but seemingly disinterested. The preparation time and food quality makes up for this!

Thai and Vietnamese Style... nothing else!

 Ah yes, delectable! Shrimp, octopus, mussels, clams, pineapple (of course) and rice fried together in a light curry sauce. Not much a kick to it, which for me is a plus. The drink was out-of-this world. The coconut milk is lightly sweetened and thickened. Ice is placed on top and red beans at the bottom. Stirring this mixture together gives the otherwise snow-white drink a pinkish coloring and a really nice flavor. Really nice combination.

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Restaurant: Hundred Tastes Kitchen: Taiwanese Cuisine
Communication: basic English, Chinese
Location: Cotai. The Venetian Food Court
Prep time: about 5 min
Price: $$

Description: The restaurant has a wonderful selection of drinks on the menu and a good dinner selection. I'll update this as opportunity allows, but so far I've tried four types of drinks here and I've only been impressed with one type. Overall, the service is good, but I'm not so certain yet of the quality!

Restaurant, near the west-end of the food court (by the canal square)

The quantity of food was MORE than adequate, and the seaweed soup was quite savory (contained seaweed and a fish ball). The vegetable side dish was also nice, but quite on the spicy side. The minced pork (center) with the eggs and rice was satisfactory, but I've had this dish made by some friends, and I must say that they'd beat the restaurant any day or night of the week. The taro root drink didn't taste quite right to me... perhaps there was some dish soap in the container they made it in or too much taro powder, I'm not sure, but I won't be trying that drink again!

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Restaurant: U Fong Un (uncertain)
Communication: Chinese only. Menu has pictures though!
Location: Taipa. Intersection of R. de Avelro and R. de Braganca, adjacent to the bus stop.
Prep time: about 20 min
Price: $-$$

Description: This restaurant has a wonderful assortment of goodies that can entice a Westerner! Dim sum is an option here, at affordable prices of about MOP $18 per dish. Traditional spicy Sichuan/Szechwan dishes are listed on the menu. Additional dishes are serviced in hollowed-out bamboo "tree" pieces for a nice decorative touch to the meal. The deserts and drinks are fabulous, as well. The menu for these can be found below!

Outside the restaurant (apologies for the over-exposure of the photo)

View of the desert/beverage section of the menu (enlargeable)

Pork dumplings with a mango smoothie! Delicious.

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Restaurant: Frangi's Grill
Communication: English is fine (must be slowly spoken)
Location: Taipa Village. Off of the R. do Regedor, near the Hard Rock Hotel.
Prep time: about 40 min or so. Bring a friend to have a nice visit!
Price: $$$

Description: Cute, well-decorated as a up-scale "bar-and-grill" type restaurant, minus the rock music and with a slightly modified menu. Burgers, steaks, and regular grilled fair can be found here. The food is really good, and the onion rings are excellent (as excellent as non beer-battered onion rings go). The drink selection has a great variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Personally, I was intrigued by the fact that (a) I could order spaghetti as a side dish to my beef ribs, and that (b) coke with ice cream was on the drink menu.

Frangi's Grill is the second restaurant on the right (next to the white restaurant)

Beef ribs, side of spaghetti, onion rings, and a coke float! The food was excellent, and, surprisingly, the spaghetti did seem to go! The coke float was also excellent, although the only widely noticeably difference between that and a root beer float appears to be the kick from the caffeine.

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Restaurant: Chinese Kitchen
Communication: Chinese only
Location: Taipa. Off of Av. de Guimaraes, near the intersection of Av. de Guimaraes and R. de Braganca
Prep time: 15 minutes
Price: $$-$$$

View of the restaurant at night.

Oysters sauteed with green onion, big pieces of ginger, shallots, potatos, sesame oil and some other things mixed in. Made for a VERY tasty treat! Also, the decor is much more modern than most of the restaurants in the area! Believe me, this comes with a price... but also its perks! See the round circle on the table, in the upper-right corner of the photo? That's actually an electric burner! You can heat up your own food, if it's not hot enough already! My food came piping hot, hissing and bubbling inside of the ceramic dish.

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Restaurant: Typical Portuguese-Macanese Cuisine
Communication: Chinese only
Location: Cotai. The Venetian Food Court
Prep time: 15 minutes without a line
Price: $$

The restaurant! It even has English names and plenty of pictures on the menus! The food overall seems good. I have tried the chicken sandwich, a specialty of Macau.

 This is curry oxtail with rice... the drink is just sprite so it doesn't count :-)! The food was delicious and the curry was not too spicy when eaten with the rice. In fact, I thought the curry went quite well with the ox-tail! One thing that I have found in Macao is the ox-tail typically comes in a thin broth-like, slightly seasoned soup; the ox-tail itself doesn't have that much meat. Here, it's different. The meat is substantial and the broth itself is thicker. You don't want to drink this broth though! The curry might become a bit overwhelming!

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Restaurant: EOD Cafe
Communication: Chinese unless the one English-speaking host is present
Location: Taipa. Off of the Rua de Evora, two shops over from McDonalds
Prep time: about 40 min or so. Bring a friend to have a nice visit!
Price: $$

Across the street from the cafe!

Everywhere I go, I see this dish. It's quite famous in Macao! Portuguese chicken in coconut milk is what it's often called in the English menu. It's basically like a stewed chicken, with carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, Portuguese sausage and, oh yes, the chicken. The coconut milk  is definitely mixed with something much richer so that it almost appears thick, like a thin corn chowder type of soup. It is delicious, but, as mentioned, very rich. Additionally, the portion serving for this meal is quite large. Here, you see the Portuguese coconut chicken with a hot almond tea and hot traditional Chinese tea. 

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Restaurant: Cafe Quinella
Communication: Chinese only
Location: Taipa. Near the intersection of Rua de evora and  Rua de Coimbra, across from the park
Prep time: about 40 min
Price: $$

This is a Chinese-Portuguese cafe that is immaculately clean with a more modern-style of decoration. The environment itself isn't very smoky, but it can get quite noisy during the heavy-eating hours (12-1pm, 6-7pm) I've stopped by several times and the food has been quite good! The restaurant is situated adjacent to the entrance to a small mall and across from the city park.

 Now, here is where the blend of East meets West really begins. This is a blend of local Macanese cooking with Chinese (i.e. the rice) and Portuguese (note the french fries and the sauce). Pork chop with french fries and drenched in a brown, slightly tangy sauce. Put it on rice and top it off with a chilled almond tea? There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! A winning combination. The result was quite delicious and very enjoyable.

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Restaurant: Porridge and Noodle Place
Communication: Chinese, with one host that can speak a few words of English
Location: Taipa. Intersection of Rua de Coimbra and Rua de Tai Lin
Prep time: about 20 min for most meals
Price: $

Some sort of Cafe, I believe, but the name doesn't make any sense to me (I can't read it for one thing!).

This is very typical in Macao. On the left is a cafe-style menu. The cafe-style menu has various sandwiches (chicken, pork-chop, etc), snacks (jelly with toast, peanut butter with toast, fried chicken pieces), and different types of drinks (ginger coke, almond tea, milk teas, fruit teas, even walnut honey teas!). Unfortunately, while on the menu, I've found that few of these places actually stock the items on this menu, with the one exception being the drinks. On the right is a Chinese-style lunch menu with many various choices.

Ginger beef with rice! Also includes celery, bell peppers, and a light sauce with sesame oil and ginger among other ingredients. When I first saw the concoction, I won't deny I was slightly disappointed. But the taste was actually quite good! When my walnut-honey tea arrived (not shown in the picture), I was more than satisfied and quite happy! The staff is friendly but no one here can speak English.

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Restaurant: The Library Cafe (run by Lord Stow's Bakery)
Communication: Chinese or English (one staff member)
Location: Taipa. Intersection of the Patio da Fortuna with Av. Padre Tomas Pereira (University of Macao)
Prep time: about 40 min
Price: $

The University Cafe. Oh yes, I almost forgot! Because this cafe is geared more towards students, its much more affordable than some other places! This cafe, and all other cafes run by Lord Stow's Bakeries, have a complement of western-style food choices. A mango-chicken sandwich has become my staple of choice, but they also have various lasagnas, breads, and even salads! 

The furniture is all wicker-work which makes the appearance quite cute! This is the view looking out of the big window. The ocean can actually be seen as well as some apartment buildings and one old graveyard built over and into this rocky hill adjacent to the ocean. During regular mealtimes, this place can be really noisy. I enjoy the atmosphere since its what I've been used to... it's incredibly easy to start up conversations or just join into group of students and have fun; when people start working, that's when it seems to get harder!

 This calls for careful explanation. The angleisn't that great, but it's easier to identify the items. At the top, the white frothy drink, is a delicious banana shake. Unfortunately, shakes in Macao are typically room-temperature. To the far left, hiding behind the sandwich, is a bitter-sweet chocolate croissant. The inside is hollow and has a nice fill of real chocolate! It's NOT like the fruit-filled turnovers in the USA... it really has a nice amount of filling. The sandwich is... you guessed it! mango-chicken salad with extra toppings of tomatoes and lettuce. Personally, I recommend not getting the extra toppings since the extras charge is high - about 5 MOP per topping. To the right is the famous Macao egg tart. You rarely find these in locations outside Macao. This egg tart is quite a bit richer and more light and fluffy then the egg tarts found in the Mainland, Hong Kong, or Chinese restaurants in the USA. I realized when I was taking the photograph that I'd made a mistake. So much food! I had some trouble walking around afterwards. Cheers!

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Restaurant: McDonald's
Communication: Chinese AND English (high school students, dontchaknow...)
Location: Taipa. Near intersection of Rua de evora and Rua de Coimbra
Prep time: 5 minutes (that's right, FIVE minutes! Can't beat that in Macao!)
Price: $

Description: McDonald's is usually clean and quite busy! In fact, some McDonald's have a cafe section, where custom coffees, drinks, cheesecake, and other delectables can be purchased... more like Starbucks (which, personally, I always felt was over-rated in the US). The menu changes frequently, unlike in the USA, and various pies (apple, cherry, taro, red bean paste, and sweet potato) and burgers make their way in and out of the menu. The employees can generally have a basic understanding of English, while some are always proficient.

Outside of McDonald's

Sections can be reserved for parties. Inside McDonald's, prior to a party! 

Note that this picture (above) can be expanded.

Employees setting up the balloons! In Macao, all the 

workers at McDonald's wear a special uniform

 

The Big Mac, the King of Fast Food.

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Restaurant: Japanese

Communication: Chinese and English. Greeter can speak English and offer good desert suggestions.

Location: Cotai. Venetian food court

Prep time: about 5-20 min

Price: $$

Description: Good Japanese food, as far as a non-Japanese can tell! They have a large selection of the typical cooked variety of Japanese food (Bento boxes, Tonkatsu, eel with rice - one of my personal favorites, etc). No sushi and absolutely no sashimi, however.

The Japanese Restaurant. The green floor panels around the shop
are glass (or acrylic). Green stones are set below these see-through panels.

This is a melon ice-cream! Even by the standards of the USA it might be a bit expensive, but even at 

MOP 68, I still had to give it a try! I still don't know what it is, but it tasted good! Light flavor and mild in texture.

Just sitting on the plate waiting to be eaten!

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Restaurant: UNK
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Venetian Food Court. Venetian, Macau.
Prep time: about 5 minutes
Price: $$

Description:

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Restaurant: UNK
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Venetian Food Court. Venetian, Macau.
Prep time: about 5 minutes
Price: $$

Description:

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Restaurant: UNK
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Venetian Food Court. Venetian, Macau.
Prep time: about 5 minutes
Price: $$

Description:

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Restaurant: UNK
Communication: English, Chinese
Location: Venetian Food Court. Venetian, Macau.
Prep time: about 5 minutes
Price: $$

Description: Small restaurant in the Venetian food court. After seeing lines of people waiting to get food, I decided to take the plunge and give it a try. I was mildly surprised that, when I tried to place my order, the staff was rather disinterested (i.e. distracted by a phone call that obviously not from a customer) and unfortunately when I got back to my table, I found that the food did not really satisfy my Western tastes.

Congee, a rice "porridge", with Zonza, and soy milk. Zonza is made of sticky rice. Inside the sticky rice, at the center, are some meats, egg, and vegetables. It's usually pretty good, but this meal I thought was so-so. Note to self: remember that congee is always scalding hot, so taste gingerly. The zonza was a nice departure from the usual, but I always say Mom's is better!