Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kei @ Taipa, Macau

We had a hearty lunch at Fernando's. Yes. But the quest for pork chop buns MUST NOT be forgotten. So we took a bus from Hac Sa beach and headed back to Taipa village. This place is near the Olympic swimming pool, and about 10-15 minutes walking distance from Venetian Hotel.

notice the red tentage? That's where we're headed

brisk business

coke seemed popular

menu

We were still very very full from lunch, so ordered just 2 pork chop buns to share.

good sized meat

pork chop bun, different angle

with bone

nice and tender

As all reviewers would tell you, it is just the bun and the pork chop. Nothing else in between. One bun is MOP20. Reasonable price for the meat.

Only managed a few bites from the pork chop bun. The bread was chewy and a little bit dry but luckily the meat was tender and flavourful and not too salty. There was still a nice buzz going in my head after all the sangria earlier from lunch...

Fernando's @ Coloane Island, Macau

Located at 9 Praia de Hac Sa, Coloane Island. We saw this restaurant as we were walking towards the Hac Sa beach. Looked nice, so after our short frolick on the beach we went there for lunch. But since we did not make a prior reservations, we waited for our turn. Third name in the queue for that afternoon. 

front of the restaurant

We were ushered to the inner courtyard of the place. There is a bar inside there, and you could order your drinks while waiting for your turn. No drinks menu. Just bottles of liquor with prices shown. Not expensive. Can get a bottle of wine for MOP120. 

outdoor seats, but it was wet from the rain

probably can have a game or two while waiting

Waited for about 20 minutes before we got our table. While waiting, noticed that most seemed like regular customers and they are treated like old friends by the manager of the restaurant. There were some Japanese tourists as well.

inside the restaurant

table setting

We ordered a pitcher of Sangria (was thirsty!), grilled pork ribs, chargrilled chicken, fried rice, and vegetable soup to share.

Diners were given bread basket and butter to start their meal. Bread was served warm with nice crust on its outside and soft fluffy white on the insides.

bread and butter

Sangria~

vegetable soup

My friend was having flu, so she had the vegetable soup and fried rice. The soup tasted mild and healthy.

sausage fried rice

lots of sausage, green bell peppers

The fried rice was quite dry. Mildly salted, and good to eat with all its ingredients.

pork ribs

yummy tender chargrilled chicken

The pork ribs and chargrilled chicken were served on a bed of chunky fries with a few olives (unpitted) thrown in. Pork ribs were slightly dry and quite salty. Nice when washed down with Sangria.


The best dish for our table, would have to be the chargrilled chicken. Slightly spicy, tender and moist meat. Seasoning was about right as well. Good!


The pork ribs and chicken can be ordered in full, or half portion. Think we ordered full portion for the ribs while the chicken was half portion.


Sangria was just MOP120 per pitcher. And we shared it amongst 3 pax. About 2-3 glasses per pax. Got me a good buzz too, meaning the alcohol was good stuffs. Hahaa! Pork ribs were about 7 bones for a full portion. Can't remember the exact price but it should be between MOP120~MOP140 that range.


The fried rice portion was huge. Think it can also be comfortably shared out between 2 to 3 pax.

Margaret's Cafe e Nata @ Edificio Kam Loi, Macau

Located near Senado Square, it sits quietly amongst a backlane. If you look carefully while walking along those jewellery shops opposite the road of Grand Lisboa Hotel, you might just see the sign pointing you to the right direction.

walking towards the cafe

morning crowd on a Saturday

This is basically a self-serve joint, so just find yourself a seat. Share table if you must, or simply do a take-away. Besides egg-tarts, they also have simple cakes, pastries, and sandwiches. The menuboard is inside the shop. For sandwiches, you don't need to pay first. Proceed to the sandwich counter and tell them what you want. Then only go to the cashier to pay, order egg tarts and drinks.

If you had ordered drinks like hot coffee or hot milk tea, then you will get a queue tag and they will send you the drinks later.

queue tag

If you're ordering egg tarts (like half a dozen or more) to take-away, then the kitchen will prepare the order for you. If you're eating in, then remember to collect the egg tarts from the staff manning the egg tarts counter before going back to your seat.

take-away box

some more charred...

huge egg sandwich

egg tart

soft, and moderately sweet with flaky buttery crusts

milk tea

Egg tart sells for MOP8 per piece, while milk tea costs MOP7. The egg tarts tasted best when eaten fresh. Packed some to take home and its crusts turned chewy instead of flaky when it was reheated using a toaster.

Wong Chi Kei @ Largo De Senado, Macau

This place has been written up by so many travellers, that I couldn't resist going in when happened to pass by during a recent trip to Macau. Located at the touristry Senado Square, this place looked pretty small and there was a small queue outside the restaurant on a Thursday night. Get a queue number and wait for someone to call. We were just slightly slower in responding (the lady called twice in a successive manner) and in return, we got "ngiam-ed" (probably can be translated to something like nagged at in a slightly sarcastic manner?) at.

outside of the restaurant, at about 8pm

Once inside, the place is separated into upper level, lower level and ground level. We were told to go to the lower level where there are probably about 5 tables. It was not fully occupied, so we got the entire table for 5 pax to ourselves.

table setting

hot Chinese tea, on the house

chili oil

Tried the 云吞虾仔捞面 (wanton shrimp eggs dry noodles). Think it was the priciest noodles at MOP42 (~ SGD7). There's another version of this without the wanton and it's called "虾仔捞面". There are other side dishes available, but we were not that hungry so did not order any.

the red bits are shrimp eggs

closer view of wanton and shrimp eggs

after mixing

whole prawns in wanton

The noodles were a tad too dry and too 'al-dente' for me. Would have preferred it to have more sauce. Saw a lady putting red vinegar (found on every table, along with pepper and chili oil) onto her noodles and I tried that too. Slightly better but only if you like sourish-sweet taste. Think the noodles needed another few seconds of cooking time.

There was not much taste from the shrimp eggs too. But it gave some contrasting texture. Imagine crunchy tiny bits of roe with the smooth wantons. Wantons were nice with whole prawns in it. Fresh but slightly salty. But overall, it is not something that I would crave for. So much so for novelty! Noticed that in Macau, the noodles are seldom served with vegetables. Maybe only a chopful of spring onions at most.

They serve chinese tea to all diners, on the house. Service is functional.