Five top spots to eat in Macau

Macau's mixed Portuguese and Chinese heritage has resulted in a unique cuisine people travel a long way to sample. Photo / 123RF

It's flavour-fusion heaven in Macau. Whether you dine on drunken shrimp, minchi, clams or cod, you'll be delighted, says Megan Singleton.

Foodies will love Macau with its Portuguese/Chinese heritage blending to create the unique Macanese flavours. From beachside bistros to Michelin star restaurants, here are five places to chow down in Macau.

Cafe Nga Tim

Head to Cafe Nga Tim, a Chinese restaurant on Coloane Island, and order the drunken sauna shrimp. Vegetarians: stop reading right now. But for the culinary curious, I was presented with a glass bowl of live shrimp swimming in white wine. I'm not sure how long they were drinking, but after a few minutes with me they were whisked away to be steamed and returned to de-shell and eat. The taste was remarkable!

Cafe Litoral

This Macanese restaurant is a family affair. Manuela Ferriera was a chef at Lisboa Hotel and today her son, Felipe, runs this little rustic restaurant in the old part of Taipa. Try the minchi, a hearty dish of minced beef with tiny potato croutons, plenty of garlic, onions and spices and topped with a fried egg.

Miramar

Antonio Peralta is the Portuguese owner of Miramar, on the beach at Coloane. He joined me to try his most popular dishes with a Portuguese "green" wine. The 24-month air-dried prosciutto is a must to start, but it was his clams that will have me coming back. Cooked in a creamy garlic sauce, you just suck them from the shells and wash them down with a slug of the wine.

O'Manuel Cozinha Portuguesa

The smallest Portuguese restaurant in Macau is tucked away in Taipa, but well worth finding for its speciality dishes of grilled salted cod, duck rice and that delicious dried prosciutto. Cod used to be the dish of the poor but when it's dried, salted and smeared in olive oil, it's now the dish of those rich enough to visit.

Robuchon

Affordable three-Michelin star dining, who knew? The lunch menu at Robuchon, at the top of the Grand Lisboa, costs $100 for up to seven courses of plated art. Chef Joel Robuchon has restaurants around the world and wants to ensure that normal people like us get to savour his incredible talents and tastes. There is also a Michelin-star steak house in the hotel.

Click here to see photos of Megan's three-Michelin star meal at Robuchon.