An idyllic afternoon

I'm not exactly a Macau regular, but I've been here enough times over the years.  Not long after I landed in Hong Kong in the mid-90s, I was taken to Macau to have lunch at the famous Fernando's.  For years it was the most popular restaurant with many expats from Hong Kong, and remained pretty much the first place that came to mind when asked about Macau.  I've always thought the food was pretty good there, and loved dishes like their suckling pig and pan-fried prawns.  I've made many trips to that little house at the end of Hac Sa Beach.

Today I tried out the restaurant at the other end of Hac Sa Beach.  Miramar comes highly recommended by my friend KC's Macau food guide, and as it happens it is literally a few minutes' walk from the Westin Resort Macau.  When it was time for lunch after the conference, I simply dragged my little suitcase over from the hotel.

I debated about whether to order the dishes recommended by KC, and was really tempted to order some suckling pig, but settled on a couple of my own choices in the end.

Casquinha de caranguejo - this stuffed crab shell had plenty of crab meat, but I was surprised by the amount of rich cheese here.  Pretty yummy.

Galinha à Africana com batata frita e salade verde - hey, I figured that I'm in Macau, might as well order up this Macanese classic, although I still don't know what "real" African chicken tastes like…  The sauce was made with coconut milk, chili peppers and garlic.  The chicken was a little on the dry side, and I thought this was only OK.  Need to figure out where to get the real stuff.

Coincidentally KC was also in Macau today, and since I was in Coloane he decided to meet me at Lord Stowe's Bakery for coffee.  I was a little surprised by his choice of venue since this place is a tourist hotspot, but I would never turn down the chance to have some pasteis!

We sat down inside the cafe just around the corner from the main bakery and caught up for a little while.  He was impressed with my friends' abilities to devour seafood last weekend, while I thanked him for making the arrangements.

The pasteis here today was a little subpar.  It just needed to stay in the oven for a little bit longer, as it was neither charred enough on top, nor did it have the usual depth of flavors.  Still OK, though…

The latte they served was pretty decent.  Not that I'm a connoisseur or anything…

After my coffee and dessert, it was time to head back to Hong Kong.  This hasn't been a great trip in terms of food, but at least I got to tick a couple of places off the list...