Article by Jane Meijnen
Slow Food Hong Kong visited Macau on 23 September 2023 for a day trip extravaganza organized by Ida Chow and Annabel Jackson, with a wine tasting intermission led by Sommelier Maggie Mak, in between the exploration of a Portuguese inspired food tour.
The collective adventurists were traveling to Macau and joining the day’s activities at different times, with some of the early birds starting in Macau for a mid-morning breakfast at Pasteis de Chaves, a small traditional Portuguese Cafe offering a small selection of exceptional pastries. The star attraction was the traditional Portuguese flakey pastry egg tart, not to be mistaken with the Cantonese version, and as we had not had breakfast many also ventured in to tasting the flakey pastry pocket filled with minced beef which we later learnt was first created in 1862 in the small historic city of Chaves in the northern region of Portugal. So utterly delicious were both that a few indulged in seconds! After a cheeky shot of Ginja do Senado, a Portuguese sweet cherry liquor, we ventured off for our Heritage walk.
The old Heritage area gave us great insight in to how much more lies beyond the casino’s of Macau. From the stand-out unmistakably Portuguese architecture to the small back streets and lanes with the unusual hybrid of Chinese and Portuguese blending a representation of the past in the present. With the street signs in both Chinese and Portuguese and cobbled pavements representing a traditional style of pavement art of mosiac-like patterns that emerged in 14th Century Portugal. We squeezed in a whistle-stop tour of two museums as we headed for our next taste sensation.
Sommelier Maggie Mak took us on a journey through the Vinho Verde wine region in the north west of Portugal, diverse and versatile in wine styles and profiles, notably known for light and fresh white wines in addition to what we discovered were complex, structured and mineral wines. Wines are only produced from indigenous grape varieties of the region.
This tutorial style wine tasting started with an introduction to wine and its carbon footprint with not surprisingly 68% from transportation, destination bottling, and packaging. We learnt Portugal has has more than 250 native grape varieties in 26 DOCs, and amazingly outside Lisbon & Porto, Macau is a magnet for Portuguese wines with the highest value per bottle. Honing in on Vinho Verde we learnt about the geography, climate, and 9 sub-regions before launching in to the profile and tasting of six wines. Which did we like the best? A hard question though each person had a clear winner, definite backups and certainly all enthusiastic to explore more wines from the region.
This was followed by a very localized Macanese lunch in Cozinha Aida, a family restaurant as the second edition of Cafe Riquexo, the first Macanese restaurant to open in Macau in 1975 as a public incarnation of a cuisine previously only found in domestic kitchens. Here Annabel Jackson challenged the notion of what Macanese cuisine is, related to her most recent tranche of research in to Macanese cuisine. Contending, and indeed as we saw from the dishes that followed, that Macanese food is not simply a localised representation of Portuguese food but more broadly a melding of flavors from the other Portuguese colonies. Further, as with all localized food, it plays a role in shaping an identity of Macanese people and unifying a subculture domestically and beyond. The dishes were a distinct medly of classics from Portugal, Chinese home-style favorites, and tastes from the African colonies.
The evening delighted us with various treats in the heart of the historical neighborhood of St Lazarus District, an area remarkably resembling a small village in Portugal. The fading evening light amplified the romanticism of the distinctive colours and shaped of the architecture, as we wandered around the streets first stopping at the 3 Sardines Restauarant for our aperitif of cocktails and pitches of sangria, on the way to the Albergue 1601 for an evening of Portuguese traditional dishes, served in what felt like a restaurant converted from a traditional house. A succession of course including Guilho prawns, bacalhau, sardines, octopus Lagareiro style, suckling pig, and lobster rice, to name a few. This convivium was accompanied by wines selected by Annabel, each presented with their own story and tasting notes, and much chatter as we felt more than satiated in the extent of the full day’s activities.
Once again a magnificent event – many thanks to Slow Food Hong Kong and our enthusiastic organizers from our sister SAR Macau.