Macau is not only a place to rule the bank account, but a place to rule your stomach!!! My first trip to Macau is ONLY group meal in local restaurant, both Portuguese and Cantonese (seafood resto), which is not what I want and expect to this small but active tourism city one step by Hong Kong. Finally I was too excited to travel there again, and ALONE, which might be not that ideal for foodie's crazy eating-around plan (limited by stomach space), but at least perfect type to go for...
...a small bite trip.
Some small bites in a western but localized restos in Macau, that always a hit point for not only tourists but also locals!
The perfect Portuguese Egg Tart, super hot and paper-thin crispy tart layers, butter & eggy aroma even spread out the whole lane, and the amazing queue every day in front of the shop, so I guess you will go for check it at least once time!
Not sure the story is true or not, but Margaret's shop is originally run by a couple, well after they separate, wife runs Margaret's in downtown, and the husband moves to another island of Macau and runs his egg tart business continuously, and of course location and maybe recipe makes his business slightly weaker than Margaret's but seems he finds another way to survive by sharing his recipe with KFC :P
Don't just go for egg tart, actually I also recommend their iced papaya milk, not artificially sweeten and really refreshing while milky smoothy.
Margaret's Cafe e Nata
瑪嘉烈蛋撻咖啡
17B, Goldlion building, Rua do Comandante Mata e Oliveira, Macau, China
新馬路馬統領街金利來大廈17B地舖
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Shame on me! I didn't have enough study on Macau F&B's normal business hours, and so naive, to believe Macau's are the same as HK's, which most of them will run till late night!!! Actually most of local restos (Macau) close around 5-6pm, and even some are opening, you probably will be told those famous hard buns/breads are sold out. Soooooo... sad again I missed the chance to try famous Macau Fried Pork Chop Bun AGAIN!
Anyway, at least I find myself Spicy Fish Sandwich at one of the famous local resto. I simply appreciated their perfect baked and heated sandwich, crispy-crispy & fluffy soft.
勝利茶餐廳
新馬路營地大街94號
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The 'very-thick' Egg & BBQ Pork Sandwich is the signature item, which makes them outstanding along the street, even where a lot of other famous local restos are located. I love their milky green front-door very much, giving a kind of classic but old style, recalling old-fashion of 20's or 30's.
We ordered two sandwiches, one with BBQ pork, the other one had extra ham, while I admit simple is the best. They used half-fat pork belly and dressed in traditional Cantonese BBQ pork way, to make this unique but unbelievable yummy 'sweet-meat' flavor, which induces not only locals but also visitors from all around the world. Plus the wrapped pan-fried egg, which just by seeing the color, you can figure out how soft and juicy it tasted.
Nam Peng Cafe
南屏雅敘新馬路十月初五街85-85A號地下
Traveling in Asia, noodle and congee is a must try, so let's change to a slighter bigger bite chapter...
It's a shop named with Curry, but all fame comes from its crab sauce to the noodle.
The elastic and eggy noodle is very firmed and chewy, and perfectly matched to the very-oily and evil crab & eggyolk oil at the bottom!!! The whole dish is almost golden everywhere, with a very strong crab and egg yolk aroma by the toppings. Very rich in taste and crab-y, yolk-y, everything just tooooooo devil but why not just try once or twice when traveling in Macau :P
牛记咖喱
新馬路十月初五街1號地下
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OK, this one is even more 'horrible' to more people, while I shall say after reading my words, you might have more confidence to try.
This resto has nothing to do without PIG, and more about pig's internal stuff, and among the all, brain is the most famous item. What they offer is the simplest, just a bowl of un-seasoned soup cooked for long time with pork ingredients, spring onion, and special thin rice noodle, which is crispier than normal ones. The soup is my 2nd favorite in this bowl for its very original taste from the pork, a hint of natural sweet but nothing, even I doubt how much salt they put in.
To talk about the pig internal organs inside, while my 1st favorite is undoubtedly the brain, which tasted very like to Tofu, melting in mouth once touching the tongue. The stomach and liver, is very crispy and firm in texture and of course full of attractive fatty flavor.
I was reading the media posts about this old & traditional shop, which was titled as the last and precious local resto in Macau insists in pig internal organs dishes, because normally to make a delicious and quality bowl, it involves very complicated and time-consuming process to clean up all the organs, and nowadays, it will be a very big challenge and courage to keep this process under the pressure of rent, cost, labor, and of course the fast money desire.
東京小食館
新橋(三盞燈/白鴿巢)嘉路米耶圓形地1號C
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The beauty of this Congee resto is not only the (rice) congee, but also their handmade beef/pork balls, fish balls and even the raw fish dish! I was so impressed by their Raw Fish dish, very similar to Japanese sashimi, presenting and eating as a very raw and 'wild' style. The fish itself has a very thick oil cover as a natural protection shell around the fishmeat, which makes it taste very smooth and warmly soft, like a marshmallow, and we have it with the chopped spring onion and a little soy sauce, to give a bit more salty and to take out a little raw smell. Must try! (if you accept raw stuff :D)
Congee is everything perfect; perfect cooked, perfectly sticky and smoothy, perfect in mild rice aroma, and perfect flavored to have the most natural taste, warming up the whole body; and the fish balls are awesome, which I was quite enjoying to 'count' how many chopped fishmeat rolled inside.
三元粥品專家
新馬路褔隆下街44號地下
Sweet to be continued......
DQ, is nothing special, but a normal ice cream chain store brand. Unluckily, you can not even find one small shop in HK, and it's cheap, delicious enough to kill my sudden desire for ice cream, especially in an American style.
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Emmmm... I guess not every one will try it, coz it's Durian Ice Cream in the famous souvenir and food/resto street in Taipa, Macau (Rua do Cunha). I shall say if you are a durian-lover, definitely go for this ice cream offered by the last little shop at the bottom of Rua do Cunha.
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There are quite a population of Indonesia-Chinese in Macau city, and they are contributing to the diversity of Macau's local cuisine. I met this little Indonesia bakery and dessert shop by chance. Every piece costs only $3.5 (Macau dollar) and they have at least 10-15 different sweet snacks, mainly made by egg, coconut, lemon leaves... I was a big fan of their golden cake after first bite. It had a very fluffy and glutinous-like texture but still elastic and chewy, as the taste, it's more eggy and milky than sweet. I will for sure go back to them next time to be in Macau.
南洋小食
荷蘭園賈伯樂提督街86號B舖
Something you can take home and to the family or friends!
It's not one of the best Almond Cookie in Macau, it's the BEST!!! Handmade, authentic ingredients, traditional recipe and processing, so that nothing will go wrong for each box of lovely cookies. I bought the original pax and one egg yolk flavor pax. I shall say, it is really worthy to pay double price for that egg yolk one, just cannot put down my hands from the box once I open it.
最香餅家
新馬路夜呣街12號B地下A座
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