The complete foodie guide to Macao

And then there’s the food. Macao is one of the world’s great food destinations – a gastronomic paradise that became a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2017, alongside the likes of Parma in Italy, Belém in Brazil and Östersund in Sweden. Given Macao’s relatively small size, it boasts a remarkable number of Michelin-starred restaurants, including three three-starred restaurants – Jade Dragon, Robuchon au Dôme and The Eight – as well as a wide choice of delicious street food that is popular with locals and visitors alike.

The city’s food scene is also built on its fascinating cultural heritage. You’ll find traditional Portuguese eateries serving bacalhau (salt cod), sardines and chouriço (a traditional Portuguese chorizo) alongside quaint Chinese tea houses and long-established dim sum establishments, and these two traditional cornerstones form the foundation for something very special indeed. Macanese cuisine is one of the world’s oldest fusion cuisines; taking elements of Portuguese and Chinese cooking, but also heavily influenced by the old Portuguese trade routes that ran through India, Africa and South East Asia. As Portuguese traders settled in Macao, they brought ingredients and cooking styles from these regions with them like curry leaves, coconut milk, cinnamon, cloves and other spices, creating a melting pot of flavours that became Macanese cuisine.

Below are just a few examples of Macao's most popular dishes.

An iconic Macanese dish, African Chicken is a perfect distillation of how Macao’s diverse cultural heritage comes together to make something delicious and can be found in restaurants all over Macao. Chicken is marinated in a spicy chilli and garlic paste then oven cooked with a coconut basting sauce. Like many Macanese dishes, recipes can vary, with some versions featuring additional ingredients such as peanuts and Chinese five spice. The resulting dish is more than the sum of its parts and for many people, no visit to Macao is complete without enjoying some African Chicken!

Like the rest of southern China, dim sum is very popular in Macao, and you can find fantastic quality at both ends of the price spectrum. Head to Jade Dragon or The Eight – two of Macao’s three Michelin-starred restaurants – and you’ll be treated to some of the best dim sum in the world, but equally, you’ll find lots of neighbourhood dim sum joints and traditional teahouses where you can feast on mountains of siu mai and har gau at very affordable prices.

Another popular Macanese dish that combines both Portuguese and Chinese influences is gambas à Macao. Prawns are stuffed with a mixture of garlic, shallot, chilli and parsley, then fried in a hot wok, Chinese-style. The Portuguese touch comes in the olive oil they are cooked in and the finish with a splash of white wine and a knob of butter before serving. This is simple cookery, but absolutely delicious!

This wonderful sweet and sour dish combines Portuguese cooking techniques with flavours from India, Malaysia and China. The key, according to Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, is in the balichão – a fermented shrimp paste that gives the dish a real savoury punch to balance out the tang of the tamarind. He recommends serving with a garnish of garlic chips, Thai basil, ginger and lime for a lovely aromatic finish.

Many claim the name 'minchi' came from the English word ‘mince’ and the English-speaking inhabitants of nearby Hong Kong, and this is another Macanese dish where every restaurant – and family - has its own recipe, each claiming to serve the best in the city. At its foundation, minchi consists of minced beef and pork, cooked down with garlic, shallots and spices, as well as a combination of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sometimes molasses. The final rich, savoury result is served over fried potatoes and finished with a fried egg.

This braised prawn dish uses ground peanuts to give body and flavour to the sauce and also includes curry powder, tomatoes and okra, giving it a distinctly African vibe. In his recipe, chef Nuno Mendes maximises the flavour of his prawns by removing and toasting the shells, then boiling them to make a stock, which he then uses to braise his prawns in. The result is a wonderful, comforting braise that packs real flavour.

The pork chop bun is Macao’s go-to street food snack. A marinated pork chop is flashed across a very hot grill and served in a bun that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. It sounds simple, but it’s utterly delicious. Some places serve their pork chops in a pineapple bun (which, rather than containing any actual pineapple, gets its name from the sweet crust baked on top which makes it look a bit like a pineapple) for some extra sweet-meets-savoury deliciousness.

Pastéis de nata are famous the world over as a Portuguese delicacy – a delicious combo of buttery, flaky pastry and baked egg custard. In the late 1980s, Englishman Andrew created his own version of this sweet snack for his bakery in Macao, incorporating an English touch and introducing the 'Portuguese Egg Tart' to Asia. Today they are found all over Macao, but the most famous still come from “Lord Stow’s Bakery”, which is said to serve thousands of the tarts every day.