When It Gets Cold, Head to Warm Macau for a Food Guide
The north is already hit by blizzards, and the south is gradually cooling down. Even Shenzhen is at ten to twenty degrees. At this time, what reason is there not to visit warm Macau? Today I recommend a few delicious shops that you can check out on your first trip to Macau!
This tea house with over fifty years of history has shed its ostentation, nestled in a noisy market yet remains peaceful amid the bustle, like a true hermit in the city. It opens every day at six in the morning and closes at one in the afternoon. The owner, in his fifties, has a transcendent detachment. The shop was passed down from his ancestors, and he has no ambition to make money, simply and honestly receiving guests from all directions.
This tea house still retains its decor from many years ago, with antique items on the shelves, calligraphy and paintings covering every wall, and old-fashioned overhead fans cutting the morning light into colorful shadows. When I was a freshman, if I had a report or presentation, I would definitely sit there early, holding my manuscript, ordering a basket of dim sum and a pot of fragrant tea, and my anxious heart would gradually calm down.
Before nine in the morning, the tea house is filled with elegant old-school gentlemen, regulars of this shop. They come every now and then carrying bird cages, greeting each other with good mornings, holding newspapers, ordering 'one cup and two pieces' (dim sum) and chatting about life's trivia, with listeners never tiring. After nine o'clock, young people in their twenties and thirties wake from sleep and come here to feel the remaining peaceful times, but the old gentlemen have already finished their morning tea and gone downstairs to buy groceries.
Tourism College Teaching Restaurant
The Tourism College is one of the most prestigious universities in Macau. Its hotel management program ranks among the top three in Asia, and the teaching restaurant has been recommended by the Michelin Guide every year since 2009. Every student majoring in hotel management and event management will undergo a two-month service internship course here in their freshman year. The restaurant's kitchen team consists of professional chefs and part-time culinary management students, and the kitchen teachers are all old-timers in the Hong Kong and Macau food and beverage industry, with extremely strict requirements.
It is worth mentioning that this restaurant has been operating at a loss since it opened, because all dishes are provided at cost price. The steak is imported American Angus, scallops and other seafood are imported from Hokkaido and Kumamoto in Japan, and even the cream used is the ever-unchanged President brand.
This is a small lakeside shop famous for its desserts and sweet soups, but unexpectedly it also managed to make its main courses affordable and of good quality. Now it has opened a branch in Shuikengwei, an area crowded with tourists.
The more famous dishes are Hell Chicken Cartilage and Wasabi Chicken Shred Lo Mein. Hell Chicken Cartilage is made by lightly battering and deep-frying chicken cartilage, then stir-frying it with salt and pepper, dried chili, and celery shreds. It is served with a spoonful of mayonnaise sauce for those who cannot eat spicy food but are obsessed with the crispy and chewy texture of chicken cartilage. Wasabi Chicken Shred Lo Mein is a very simple dish: shredded chicken thigh meat mixed with cucumber, lo mein, wasabi oil, and mayonnaise sauce. The key is to balance the rich taste of mayonnaise with the refreshing flavor of cucumber and wasabi oil. It is undoubtedly a dish that whets the appetite. The excellence of the desserts lies in the sweet and fresh mangoes used by the shop, which is also thanks to the huge customer traffic.
For shark fin, the Tan family cuisine is considered the best. Macau's Tan's Shark Fin is a restaurant where both commoners and tycoons can find satisfying dishes. The price range includes everything from a few dozen dollars for a fish maw and shark fin pot to tens of thousands for a bird's nest, abalone, and shark fin set meal. I have always agreed with the saying 'expensive dishes have their reasons,' but I do not think cheap dishes are worthless.
The standout feature here is the shark fin soup base, simmered with shark fin, old hen, and fish maw over low heat, resulting in a very sticky texture. Even the cheap shark fin priced at a few dozen dollars uses this same soup base, which reminds me of the saying 'ingredients are not distinguished by price.' I recommend ordering a bowl of plain white rice to go with it. When the stone pot arrives at the table, stir it while it's still steaming. If you find it too greasy, add a few drops of Zhejiang vinegar, and your taste buds will be awakened again.
