Drunken Fish

Been a while since I was staying in Macau so I am glad to eat my heart out while staying at Wynn Palace during the Michelin ceremony week. I arrived late morning right on time for lunch and they whooshed me to Wynn Macau where I met Chef Henry Zha ng and had a feast at his new-ish restaurant Drunken Fish.  

I enjoyed Chef Henry's dishes at Golden Flower before where he re-created traditional Imperial Tan Cuisine with his unique interpretation. At Drunken Fish, he took up a notch in his own style while focusing on seafood, with a mixed of local and imported ingredients and some Northern Chinese dishes in a casual space right above the Wynn Macau lobby with the perfect view of the signature water fountain. (a perfect spot to see the famous water fountain show, by the way)

We started with a couple appetizer dishes - the abalone was slow braised with tender texture and topped with the crispy scallions, carefully fried with the golden color, giving the dish a slightly smoky flavor. Black cod fillet was basted with black vinegar reduction with the acidity and sweetness matching that of the fatty fish. The soup combined the classic Northern pickle soup cooked with fish and pickled tomatoes with the golden superior broth famous in Tan Cuisine with star grouper fillet. The touch of balsamic vinegar and sweet candied tomatoes on the side gave the dish a balanced flavor profile too. 

The restaurant was also famous for its Moutai collection (catering to their Mainland Chinese clientele obviously), and Chef Henry also made use of the famous Chinese liquor in some of his dishes, including the crispy chicken flambe with Moutai and served table side with the crispy skin and juicy meat carefully torn by hand. I also enjoyed the glass of Moutai prepared at the bar in rather theatrical manner with smoke and all. 

"Still have room for more?" I thought I was completely stuffed as I finished the crispy rice with Lobster and Shrimp soup, but Chef insisted that we also tried the hand-pulled noodles in chili oil, a specialty dish from his home province of Shanxi. And 10 minutes later, a gigantic "bowl" arrived at our table with three type of thick hand-pulled noodles (with ones kneaded with spinach and carrot to give them the green and orange colors) with scores of ingredients swimming in what looks like a super spicy soup base. Turned out underneath the spicy flavor there's a good balance of acidity. Chef told us that the portion was the normal individual size but I felt that could feed a village. Luckily a few cups of teas brewed by chef himself using some of his own collection of premium Wuyi rock oolong tea from Fujian got a nice soothing flavor. That and the Northern Chinese style dessert of homemade yogurt were perfect to ready myself for the non-stop eating throughout my stay. 

When? March 13 2025
Where? Drunken Fish, Wynn Macau, Rue Cidade de Sintra, Nape, Macau
Menu Highlights? Slow braised abalone with crispy scallions
Web: www.wynnresortsmacau.com/en/wynn-macau/dining/drunken-fish

(Meal courtesy of Wynn Macau)