Settling for an Early Dinner

We were pulling our hair trying to figure out a place for an early dinner in Macau before heading back to Hong Kong Sunday night. On one hand we don't wanna settle for generic, food-court quality food, which was a dime a dozen in the casino complexes. On the other hand, with only an hour or so to spare, it would have been too much a rush trying to go through a proper, sit-down meal.

Decent Edomae Sushi

With only a short weekend stay and so many new places to try in Macau, I was debating whether we should spend more time for local, casual meals or the more upscale, fine-dining outlets. But with every weather forecast warning against a weekend thunderstorm, I played safe and made a Sunday lunch booking at Shinji by Kanesaka, the new sushi joint just right across the street from our hotel. At least we didn't have to walk too far in case weather turned bad (which it turned out did for a good part in the morning)

Cunha Street Breakfasts

Before we parted way with our gracious host J, she left us a little map of more restaurant recommendations near Cunha Street not too far away from where we were staying for the night. And we decided to spend the Sunday morning to explore a couple of them on the list.

Value Three-star Meal

It's unfortunate that the non-stop rainstorm which started in the afternoon pretty much washed out all our plans to try more places to eat for the rest of the day, so after lunch we were stuck inside those mega shopping malls on the Cotai Strip walking aimlessly in dire attempt to burn off some calories. Then at night, we went out again for dinner at The Eight at the Grand Lisboa.

The Tasting Lunch by Galliot

After making two whistle stops in old town Macau for a classic cha chaan teng followed by a new artisan cafe in the morning, we hopped on a cab and headed to the City of Dreams complex in Taipa for our lunch reservation at The Tasting Room.

City of Dreams is one of the "newer" gaming complexes located in the reclaimed land off Macau now known as The Cotai Strip, with three top hotels, several floor of casino space, a large shopping mall and numerous dining outlets. Those who have been following the Michelin Guide keenly would notice they were one of the biggest winners in the current Hong Kong/Macau version of the book, with one new restaurant getting their first star, and two others got elevated into the two-star category, one of them being The Tasting Room. (we actually ended up trying all three restaurants over the weekend, more on that later)

Morning in Old Town Macau

When our friend J (of Chicken Scrawlings) offered to organize a mini Macau food crawl for the group including lunch at her husband's restaurant which has just been awarded with a second Michelin star, it's something hard to pass up. And I figure we may as well turn that into an overnight stay in Macau to make it a "stay-cation" so we can try out more new places at a more leisurely pace.