Quest for Macanese Cuisine (2)

Once again, our goal in visting Macau was to try some good Macanese Food

I booked two restaurants we'd not tried before - which turned out later to be the first 2 entries in the Michelin guide to Macau - and the best restaurant from last time.

For Saturday lunch we went to Antiono's in Taipa village.  The restaurant is a lovely traditional building and richly decorated with Antonios many awards.   We sat under a portrait of chef Antonio and played it safe by ordering the recommended specialities highlighted on the menu.

Salada de Polvo Português - Portuguese Octopus Salad.  This was wonderfully tender and beautifully flavored.   A very promising start...

The obligatory Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato - Sautéed Clams with Garlic, Coriander, Olive Oil and White Wine Sauce.   Very nice.

Mariscos Diversos na Cataplana à "António" (Caranguejo, Camarão, Ameijoas,Vieiras, e Mexilhões), servido com Batata Cozida – Assorted Seafood Stew “Antonio Style” in a Portuguese Copper Pot (Crab, Prawns, Clams,Scallops, Mussels) and Served with Boiled Potatoes.   Actually rather a strange dish but the soup was very tasty.

Bacalhau à Braz - Fried Codfish mixed with fried onions , “Allumette” Potatoes and scrambled eggs and green salad.

Galinha à Africana com Batata Gratinada e Salada Mista (Importado de Portugal) - African Chicken with Garlic, Onions, Chili, Ginger and Desiccated Coconut Sauce, served with Gratinated Potatoes and Mixed Salad.    This one was a little disappointing - the chicken was quite tough and the sauce was unexceptional and the 'salad' very small.

Coelho Recheado servido com feijao branco estufado (Imported Rabbit from Portugal) - Stuffed rabbit served with white bean stew.   Very nice and flavorsome (and prompted fond memories of Peter Rabbit and Watership Down).

Mousse de Chocolate - Chocolate Mousse.

A very nice lunch.   But I was a bit disappointed in the seafood stew and cod, so perhaps it didn't quite justify the high-end bill of  MOP 2,500 including 4 glasses of wine.    But I would like to come back again and try ordering the special menu in advance.

International sign-language for 'Mousse'

For dinner I'd booked A-Lorcha.  This is a well known and well regarded neighborhood restaurant near the A Ma temple on the other side of Barra hill from our hotel.  It was busy with a people outside queuing up for 'standby' tables.

We were still fairly full our from lunch and didn't order much, andpassed on the speciality of clams which every other table ordered.   We had fried sardines, Galinha a Africana (African chicken, again), Arroz de Marisco a Portuguese (seafood rice),  minute steak & eggs for Hannah, broccoli fried in garlic, all washed down with Sangria.   .  The bill seemed fairly reasonable at about MOP 950.

The food was more basic but tasty and good portions, and the staff were very nice despite the crowd.   But Rika's sardines were undercooked and she sent them back to be finished-off.   My chicken was also undercooked and raw in the middle so I didn't finish it (and I had mild diarrhea for the next few days).

For Sunday lunch I booked Auberge 1601 where we'd had a memorable meal on our last trip (blog link).

Portuguese 'Happy Hens'

We started with cod fish-cakes

and spicey clams which were excellent.

Followed by duck rice - just as good as last time

creamy cod with mashed potatoes (ditto)

Portuguese chicken stew.

The stew very nice but not as wonderful as the african chicken we had last visit.

We agreed that Auberge 1601 was once again by far the nicest meal of our stay.   The bill seemed very reasonable MOP1,200 including 3 glasses of wine but without desert.

Macau Tower Sky-Jump!

On Sunday we walked from our hotel round the lagoon to the Macau Tower.

Macau Tower from our hotel

The Macau Tower is apparently modeled on Auckland's sky tower.  Just a little bigger.

Long way down

From the observation deck we could enjoy spectatular views across Macau, the harbour, Taipa Island and the neighboring mainland coastline.

Barra hill from Macau Tower

Macau from the Tower

Macau Tower is also home to the worlds highest commercial bungee jump, which is run by AJ Hackett, the NZ bungee pioneers.    Many years ago Rika and I did their bungee jump from the Shotover Bridge at Queenstown.

Tampa Island from Macau Tower

The height is 233m or about 61 floors!    Every 15 min or so we could watch someone jumping off the platform and falling down towards the plaza below.

Hannah surprised me by asking to do a 'sky-jump'.   A sky-jump is like a controlled bungee-jump - not free-fall and not face-down, but still looks pretty scary.  

We hadn't suggested the possibility of doing a jump.   But Hannah seemed pretty confident so I 'sold' it to her for 50 'smily tokens' (that is a serious amount of good behavior at home).

Hannah says she wanted to do it because she has a dream of being able to fly.

After being safely harnessed-up and clipped-in, she calmly jumped off the platform by herself on the count of three.

After she first jumped she swang to the side and was scared she would hit her head.

But then she says she felt like she was really flying, and the breeze was so nice!

She wasn't scared to be so high.  I think we were more worried than she was!

The descent lasted about 25 seconds (compared with about 5 seconds for a bungee jump)

When she got to the bottom she showed no signs of nervousness.  

She seemed pretty proud of herself.    I certainly was.

Hannahs comment:   "mummy was crazy and was scared of heights even though Hannah is not".

Video: Hannah's sky-jump (2min - may take time to load)

Video:  from Hannah's arm-camera  (2min - may take time to load)

Video:  the short version (30s)