Lutong Macau!

Ruins of St. Paul

If Driver was bent on having Xiao Long Bao in Hong Kong, Mayordoma, after watching Anthony Bourdain, wanted to have Macau’s pork chop bun.  But, alas, two weeks before the trip, Mayordoma was hospitalized and was ordered by the doctor to observe a particular diet which excludes as much as possible, oily food and pork!  Therefore, pork chop bun was scratched-off the list.  Good thing, Macau still has much more to offer.

Poolside of Wynn Hotel Macau

When in HK and one has enough time in his/her hands, a side trip to Macau is ideal.  So, on our fourth day, we took the 45-minute ferry ride from HK to Macau.  We arrived at 10 am and after clearing immigration, we set out of the ferry terminal.  The proliferation of hotels and casinos in Macau is an advantage to tourists because these establishments offer free bus rides from the port or some pick up points within Macau to take you to their respective places, and vice-versa.  El Kapitan Tagie’s cousin Kuya Anthony (oh, Anthony! As if Anthony Bourdain was reminding Mayordoma of pork chop buns) works at Wynn Macau, so that was our first destination.  We took their bus at the port and were there in a few minutes.  Hotels in Macau are attractions on their own.  Each of the bigger hotel chains offer some sort of a show to their visitors.  At Wynn Macau, they have the Tree of Prosperity and the Dragon of Fortune which have a 30-minute interval.  Wynn Macau also boasts of a Dancing Water Fountain which is best seen at night.  Since we were early, we just saw the morning view.  Kuya Anthony gave us a quick tour of the hotel’s pool side but because he was still on the job, we agreed to meet later at the Ruins of St. Paul.

Senado Square

From Wynn, we walked our way to Senado Square to have lunch.  And because it was a Sunday, the place was brimming with tourists.  The kids(including the big ones) were getting hungry so we had to choose a place where we can have food fast.  Thus, our first meal at Macau was taken at McDonalds!!!  Well, Uncle Ronald’s house was full-packed.  ‘Guess people really tend to go for the familiar.  McDo in Macau offers Shogun Burger (mushroom).  'Wish they will serve the same in the Philippines.

 

Our priority street sign

After lunch, it was time to head to the Ruins of St. Paul.  Because Macau was a colony of Portugal for a long time but inhabited by Chinese, street signs are in Portuguese and Chinese. The streets that lead to the ruins are lined with shops selling Macanese delicacies like beef jerky, ginger candies, almond cookies and, as if taunting Mayordoma, pork chop buns.  Restaurant staff were actually holding placards advertising their pork chop bun meals.

Find us!

Here’s the thing about these shops lining the streets, they offer free taste of their products.  They have members of their staff outside their stores offering passersby with a small bites of their products.  So if one is hungry at the start of the street, he/she will be full before reaching the ruins and that is, without shelling out any money!

 

Cookies galore!

 The beef jerky is just like our dried tapa but in large sheets.  For free taste purposes, they cut it into bite sizes using scissors.  One of the most famous snacks in Macau is the almond cookies/cakes – think puto seko with a twist of polvoron then add to it almond bits.  The best place to have these cookies is at Pastileria Koi Kei.  Egg tarts are also a must when in Macau but since we were always receiving them as pasalubong and we’ve had enough at KFC HK, we did not try them anymore.  The best way to wash down these treats is by drinking flavoured milk tea.  Sorry, they are not for free!

Take your pick

Because of the crowd and the tempting stores, one can easily get lost.  Though she is the world’s worst navigator, Mayordoma has a knack for knowing directions in a foreign land.  So this time, she was the one who had to wait for Driver and Yaya at the ruins.  After the customary touristy stuff (Picture! Picture!), we were met by Kuya Anthony who took us to one of the back alleys of Senado Square where we found less crowded stores offering milk tea, squid balls, sausages, meat balls, seafood balls, etc.

Cheese balls and Sausage

Driver and Yaya’s favourite were the cheeseballs – think, squid ball with oozing cheese inside, and mini sausages – think of English sausage for breakfast.  These were served with their special kind of sauce which was on the spicy side.

Our food trip won't be complete without ice cream!

Our best discovery, however, was LemonCello Gelato.  We did not expect to see a restaurant specializing in gelato or ice cream.  They serve all kinds of flavours including Yakult!  It was the sweet ending to all the savoury stuff we had – of course, still no pork chop bun!

The sky looks so real

After visiting St. Anthony's Church (yeah, Anthony again!), we took Galaxy Macau’s bus to bring us to Taipa where their hotel is located.  Galaxy is one of the newest hotels and they are the ones that offer the Diamond Water Show.  Of course, a trip to Macau won’t be complete without going to the Venetian, a hotel/casino housing their own version of Venice inside their hotel complete with gondola rides and their own Venetian sky.  We then passed through Hard Rock Hotel to get to the City of Dreams.  We took their bus to get back to the Macau Ferry Terminal where we then boarded the ferry that brought us back to HK.

Madame Mamita and Senyorito Lakwatsero

At the end of the day, we realized that one can enjoy Macau w/o much budget – use the hotels/casinos busses to get around the country (walk if you have to) and enjoy the free food offered by the stores.  Just make sure to bring money for drinks!