Macao

City of gastronomy

In November 2017, Macao became the third Chinese region after Chengdu and Shunde to be designated a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO. And it’s no wonder.

Many visitors head to Macao for its Portuguese food. Once ruled by Portugal, Macao is famed for its egg tarts and pork chop buns. Suckling pig, red bean stew with trotter, clams with white wine and duck rice are all found on menus in the city’s many Portuguese restaurants, such as the well-known La Famiglia and Flamingo.

But there’s also Macanese food, a distinct tradition often described as the world’s oldest fusion cuisine. Macanese fare can be traced back to more than 400 years ago, when ingredients and spices brought in by the Portuguese were juxtaposed with local produce to become a cuisine that’s uniquely Macanese. These include stir-fried curry crab and minchi, which is ground meat and potatoes flavoured with molasses and soy sauce, served over rice with a fried egg on top.

Macao is where you can get a serious Chinese food fix, too. For the best dim sum and contemporary Cantonese cuisine, the 8 Restaurant at Grand Lisboa Hotel stands out with its three Michelin stars, which it’s held onto for five straight years.

Getting to Macao

Option 1: A bus from Hong Kong via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will take about an hour.

Option 2: Take an hour-long ferry from the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal or China Ferry Terminal.

Option 3: Take a transfer coach or ferry from HKIA SkyPier when flying into Hong Kong. Our Direct Air+Sea and Direct Air+Land let customers book a combined flight and ferry or coach ride.*