Drinking in Macau

I tried to stay “local” during my stay in Macau with Portuguese wines mostly…

Something I picked up at “New Yaohan”.

There was no Portuguese bubbly available that came in a small bottle.

A Sweet Experience

The first time I ever tried a Portuguese “egg tart” was at the main bus depot in Lisbon, Portugal while making a transfer there on our way from Obidos to Evora.  It came from a casual juice-stand type of pastry shop right there at the arrival/departure area and I found it to be so good.  The second time was in Lisbon at a more proper establishment, Casa Brasileira.  That was great, too.

I found print pictures in my photo album from Casa Brasileira.

And this past weekend, I had this egg tart in Macau.  The texture wasn’t quite what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting anything as the Portuguese trip was so long ago that I don’t really remember what it was like.

It just tasted great.  Happy me.

 

Lunching in Macau, Day 1

I had decided early on that I was going to do a Portuguese meal while in Macau though I did not realize then that there was a more varied Macau-Portuguese cuisine.

The restaurant I picked for my first lunch boasted to be Portuguese but it was also famous for its “African chicken” which is a localized Portuguese dish.

I did not get that but I did get myself a very good chicken dish, full of garlic and soy-sauce based gravy with what seemed like star-anise aroma.  The cod croquette was excellent as well.

 

Cod croquettes with homemade potato chips

The white Portuguese wine was unfortunately very bad.  The water I was served was hot.  A friend who lived in Malaysia told me it was the same there; that if you didn’t ask for cold water it would normally be served hot like tea.  I guess it’s a Chinese thing as they traditionally don’t drink anything cold.

My chicken which the menu said would take 30 minutes to cook and be served. It was worth the wait.

Restaurante Fat Siu Lau

Drinking in Malacca

Malaysia being an Islamic country, I knew that drinking wasn’t going to be easy especially for anything harder than beer.

I had the foresight (?) to stop at the Duty Free on Arrival Shop upon my arrival in Kuala Lumpur so that I would not feel frustrated upon checking in at my hotel well past 10 pm on the first day.

At lunch the next day, went to a Nyonya restaurant (Buddhist rather than Islamic) so this was not difficult to get.

I was offered a “welcome drink” by the hotel so went up to the top floor lounge only to find out that the “drink” was a fruit juice.

At dinner time, I was not hungry and decided to stay in although I went out in search of a liquor store which is non-existent in Malacca. Found a bar in the bldg adjacent to the hotel and asked if I could take away whatever I did not finish drinking in the bar if I ordered a bottle of wine. They told me if I just bought the bottle and took it away, it was 30% off the bar price. Ha!

The following day, I took a long walk to a northern part of the city to see a church and a museum.  By the time I was done looking around, was quite exhausted from the heat and decided a visit to this hotel bar would do me good.

And in the afternoon after lunch, I stopped by a Seven-Eleven wondering if they sold any alcohol as in Japan and they did!

Well obviously…

And the Portuguese-Malay restaurant had wine and it was the reason I went to eat there.

On the final day after lunch (or two lunches actually as I had satays and duck noodles – more on the noodles later), stopped by a hotel bar to feel refreshed.

And finally as I was leaving the country from KLIA, the Malaysia Airlines lounge offered drinks but they do not make it as easy as the Japanese or the French!

Eating in Malacca: the Portuguese-Malay Kitchen

This Portuguese-Malay fish dish was the best meal I had while in Malacca, Malaysia although it was totally unexpected as I did not seek this restaurant but just wanted to go somewhere where they served wine.  There was a whole complex mixture of flavors and aromas for the sauce and the fish was baked just to the right tenderness and juiciness.  Banana leaves are laid underneath the fish and they seem to enhance the entire dish by adding another layer of aroma.  I asked when ordering what made this  “Portuguese style” and was told it was the spices which taste much more Asian than Portuguese but apparently that is how the style of cuisine localized and developed.  Read about the “Kristang” cuisine here.

It was way too big for one and though this looks almost finished, it’s not. There is still a lot more meat there.

Eleven Bistro & Restaurant