Traditional food in Macau

Macau

What food to not miss during your stay in Macau?

Macanese cuisine

The food in Macau is a unique combination of Portuguese and Chinese cuisine. During 400 years of Portuguese rule, traditional European spices and olive oil, which are not used much in native Chinese cuisine, were imported here. Types of cuisine:

Portuguese food - many restaurants report that they offer traditional Portuguese food, but only the better restaurants on the southwestern tip of the peninsula offer true traditional Portuguese food. Try the duck de cabidela (duck stew pot) - it doesn't look very fancy but it's good, bacalhau (salted cod), caldoverde (soup
with potatoes, cabbage and chorizo), feijoada (pot with boiled beans and sausage) and pastéis de nata (vanilla puff pastry cakes filled with egg yolk cream).

On the island of Taipa you'll find António and Miramar, which are traditional Portuguese restaurants but are among the more expensive. Lord Stow's Bakery, the bakery that made Pastéis de nata famous in Macau, is located on Coloane, and Margaret's Cafe e Nata is a popular cafe in the old town.

Macanese food - this is a combination of Chinese cuisine influenced by Portuguese influence, especially in terms of the use of European spices. Many restaurants claim to offer traditional Portuguese food, but it is mainly Macanese food. A well-known restaurant is Riquexó.

Traditional dishes include almond cookies (dried Chinese cookies, a traditional souvenir), galinhas à africana (chicken with piri-piri sauce), galinhas à portuguesa (chicken with coconut curry), pork chop bun (Macanese hamburger - grilled pork in a bun), beef jerky (sliced beef jerky) and minch (minced meat with potato chunks and rice).

Dimsum (steamed cakes filled with meat) or seafood are also very popular, and these are said to be better in Macau than in Hong Kong. In the old town you can find a lot of simple restaurants that offer food for MOP3 0, but the menu is mostly only in Chinese, so you have to choose by pictures or just point at something.

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