Sunday, October 5, 2008

In Macau, We were Never Hungry


It was October 1st, the handover day. Our visitor has a day off, and he has pretty much been to everywhere in Hong Kong. So we decided to let him experience one of the most popular (i.e. nearest haha!) destination Hong Kongers go for short getaways....MACAU!

Macau might be known to some people as...
- Asia's version of mini Las Vegas, a heaven for God of gambler wannabes
- (Fortunately and unfortunately?) A hub of the most beautiful young girls from the region...who are available for...a chat? (I certainly hope so)
- A small Chinese city with beautiful Portuguese influenced architecture, which made it swamped with photographer (and model) wannabes. Tripods, tripods, over/underexposed, blurry pictures everywhere ^_^
....but most importantly, to us....it's a place where we'll never go hungry.


We were only there for a day trip...and we were torn between Chinese or Portuguese lunch. We went for Wong Chi Kei's noodle shop as our experienced traveler friend, Foodaholiv, has NOT tried this super famous shop!


Plus, the long queue was kinda convincing...which was essential to impress our visitor from Bangkok, Mr. Job ^_^

When ordered this bowl of tasty beef brisket rice noodle soup. The soup was tasty, the meat was tender, and the rice noodles were satiny smooth.


We certainly had the famous dry egg noodles with wontons. The noodles were delightfully chewy, and the little wontons were just perfectly succulent!


...and these are fried wontons like no other. The crispy skin was light and fluffy, and the shrimp fillings was just right. The sweet and sour dip completed the dish. We, the ever so talkative group was once silent as we were enjoying this meal.


Foodaholiv wanted to try these deep fried fishballs. I never tried these bad boys before, but glad I did! Cos these were the BEST deep fried fishballs I've ever tried so far. Crunchy on the outside, perfectly bouncy on the inside. I loved the corriander touch and the salty clam dip.


The city is well known for its crab congee. Although it is not what Wong Chi Kei is famous for, but they did this beautifully too! You probably don't fancy getting your hands dirty or spitting crab shell pieces outta your mouth (just like how the locals)....but the congee itself is sooo infused with the crab's fragrant scent and sweet flavor....you don't even have to eat the meat to enjoy it.

Wong Chi Kei Noodle
Macau:
1. Largo do Senado
2. Travessa de Cinco de Outubro 51, R/C, Macau (Tel. +853 2892 2271)
Hong Kong:
G/F 15B
Wellington Street, Central. Hong Kong (Tel. +852 3559 1025)

We moved across the bridge to the other side, Taipa village and checked out the Discovery Travel and Living featured kinda famous snack shop, Tai Lei.


There was again, a queue (naturally)...and before I knew it, I was standing in line, although my travel pals were all saying that they were stuffed. At the end of the snaking queue...we were all ready to try whatever it is that made us queue all the way to the front ^_^ under Macau's unforgiving, scorching heat.


The place is famous of its pork chop buns, which were served in either a foccacia-esque buns or sweet topped ("pineapple") buns. When it was our turn to order, the pineapple buns were gone (of course!) and we just ordered the normal versions. Please excuse the blurry pictures...it was hot, I was eager to try the buns, my hands were shakin', the place was dark , my friends were shooting me impatient looks...(and all other lame excuses I can't think of hehe)


For a little entertainment, let's play "Where's Rita?"


We moved on to Rua da Cunha (Food Street), taking lots of pictures along the way to whet our appetite....

...here you can find local treats to take home, such as Chinese cookies, pastries, candies, barbecued meat snacks, nougat, and even wine! Pastelaria Koi Kei, one of the famous snack shops, has an outlet here too. Now, go on...start shopping!


We bought various barbecued meat snacks...to enjoy during the firework display competition later


I just watched the skillful chef doing his thing...cos I know I am not really into the cookies, despite always being ended up buying some hehe


I sampled some...just to make sure that I really really do not want to buy some and won't regret it later :p


I love quaint little old shops like these...the wall and floor tiles are still authentic!


My pals Foodaholiv and Ken craved sweetness and couldn't resist these puddings and jellies


So, we sampled this muk hong pudding...it tastes like vanilla pudding with Chinese cookie crumbs topping


...and a bowl of sweet egg pudding

It's time to bid our adieu to Taipa's food street as we move on to hit the casinos...not to gamble!

Knowing us, (God of eaters wannabes-- not gamblers)...we'll probably end up gobbling down more food than winning some money hehe

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

auh...sedih nih kalo kemari, cuma bisa nelen ludah liatan foto makanan. waaaa...

sefa firdaus said...

Rit, di Hamburg ada Chinese Resto yg nyediain beef brisket rice noodle soup, mienya bisa ganti.. enaaaakkkkk :D

Lidia Sianturi said...

mau crab congeenyaaa.......

Anonymous said...

That soup looks amazing :)

Kalyn Denny said...

When I went to Hong Kong I spent one day in Macau and really enjoyed it. I remember eating at a restaurant that had Portugese/Chinese fusion cuisine, but don't remember the name of the place, just that the food was very interesting.

Jin Hooi said...

Aww. I miss Macau , love the pork chop buns, egg tarts and the cookies from Koi Kei!!! But I haven't try the noodles from Wong Chi Kei yet ... hmm.. my next trip ;-))

Unknown said...

hi guys...thanks for the comments

yeahhh macau...although it is small is one heck of a food paradise

it used to be a lot cheaper than hk...now pretty much the same....

everything's getting expensive!

tigerfish said...

I love the pork chop buns in Macau!

Dora said...

Wa! So many yummy food!
The crab congee, pork chop buns and
muk hong pudding look so tempting to me. (*salivating* now...) ;p

Pam said...

The beef brisket soup is calling my name. What a fun way to spend the day.

Anonymous said...

Everything sounds so yummy! I would not mind eating the crab in the congee!!!

A.G said...

ikut... weh asli seru tenan culinary trip'e

Foni said...

nyummmmmmmmmmm
enak bener ini semuanya

Jagungmanis said...

waduh....... dadi pengen melu mlampah-mlampah ng Macau.....

mbien pernah meh KKL ng Macau tp rak sido :(

BTW, kartu pose marakke ngiler.....
haha....

AdventuresInSF said...

WOW! This looks amazing...I can't wait to try this stuff! Heading there in a week, and will definitely be trying the crab congee! :)

M said...

When I see Macau, besides the glitzy casinos, the other things I remember are: Wong Chi Kei and Koi Kei bakery!

I tried most of the things at Wong Chi Kei that you posted on this post... and I liked all of them!

I agree that Macau becomes more expensive because they have sooooooo many tourists and the numbers are growing. I visited Macau last year and this year, and I can tell that there are so much more people in Macau then it was last year. Especially that the shops/taxi drivers/casinos prefer HKD which are more expensive than Macau Pattaca.