Breakfasts and sweets in Macau

I've been back in Macau again over the last 2 weekends, and I try not to miss a chance to hit up some local spots for breakfast.  As I'm not exactly local, from time to time I'll look to my friend KC for help... since he does come to Macau a helluva lot more than I do.  So for homework, I do a combination of scrolling through his Facebook page and flipping through the old trusty Macau guidebook that he published a couple of years ago.

Café Nam Ping (南屏雅敘) is pretty old school, and its location not far away from St. Paul's means it gets its fair share of tourist traffic.  The three of us trekked here looking for some coffee and sandwiches.

Sandviche com carne de porco assada (叉燒文治) - this just had to be done.  Instead of the usual ham or luncheon meat, why not char siu (叉燒) with your egg sandwich?!  So. Damn. Good.  Love the fluffy egg.

Sandviche "Nam Peng" (南屏文治) - since this sandwich was named after the café, it made sense for us to order this "signature" item.  Turns out it's just an upgraded version of the previous sandwich, but with slices of ham added.  In the end, though, we preferred the simpler version with just char siu, as adding ham kinda skewed the balance between egg and meat.  And it didn't help that the ham was nothing to write home about.

Sugar puff doughnut (沙翁) - Hello Kitty wanted this, since it brings back some childhood memories.

Not bad, but I guess I would have preferred it to be a little less wet and limp.  I washed it down with some café com leite.

After breakfast, we continued walking along Rua de Cinco de Outubro, passing by some old school pastry shops, traditional Cantonese egg noodle shops, and also the original shop of Wong Chi Kei (黃枝記粥麵) after it relocated to Macau.

On a rainy morning this past weekend, we decided to keep things simple by going to Lord Stow's Garden Cafe in Coloane village.  Its relatively remote location means that I don't make it out there often, but as we were staying on the Cotai Strip, it kinda made sense this time.

We were lucky and only waited for a couple of minutes before being seated.  And I had only one thing on my mind...

This place is most famous for their pasteis, so I grabbed two of these and inhaled them.  I just looooove the rich and sweet custard in the middle.  And I do prefer these over the ones from Andrew's ex-wife Margaret...

Later that afternoon, after a very lovely lunch at 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hello Kitty decided that she really needed to have some serradura.  Once again, KC's Macau guide came to our rescue, and after flipping through the pages, I decided to head to a familiar place for my second dessert...

Miramar is a pretty local joint right next to the Grand Coloane Resort (formerly the Westin Resort Macau).  As there were plenty of tables on the terrace - and this being a nice, breezy day and all - we decided to park ourselves outside.

Serradura "pudim" - we came specifically for this local specialty, and the restaurant did not disappoint.  We were, however, surprised by the size of this thing.  Pretty fluffy vanilla cream, with plenty of "sawdust" made of crushed Marie biscuits.  And some strawberry coulis.  This was very good, and Hello Kitty was happy to have finally tried a good serradura.

Pudim de ovos - I can never resist crème caramel whenever I see it.  This was pretty dense, but very rich and delicious.  Right up my alley.

We spent a little bit of time sitting on the deck, enjoying our desserts and drinks while being caressed by the cool breeze... and listening to the sound of the waves being drowned out by the cicadas.  This was a nice way to finish our short stay in Macau - my fourth so far this year.