Memories of Macau

The most memorable food experience I had in Macau was having the good fortune of tasting the best Portuguese tart ever.  We were doing our own walking tour of Macau and basically followed our noses to this bakery.  It was not in a touristy area, just on a side street we happened to be walking along but I smelled it a block away.  And when I paid for just one to try, it turned out to be the best I'd ever tasted.  Could be it's hot and just out of the oven, could be that I was hungry, but I've never had such flaky pastry and the custard centre with exactly the right consistency.  I gobbled that one up on the street and bought another one to take with me to wherever we were going to eat lunch.  Then on the return trip on the way to dinner, I bought another one.  I was surprised that I didn't get indigestion from all this indulgence!  The store called itself a "bread specialty" store, an unusual name for a bakery in this part of the world and the closest thing I could think of was "artisanal" - which indeed it was.  By the time we got to Senado Square where there were lots of Portuguese tarts but no enticing aroma, I knew I didn't need to try them - they just didn't look as good as this one.

The store was on Rua do Padre Antonio, for anyone who would like to find it

Much of this trip was for us nostalgic and the almond cookies from Macau were fond childhood memories.  The local bakeries had taken advantage of this general nostalgia and created a store with a history display of the evolution of the cookie.  Lots of food sampling - in fact, we tried so many we didn't have to buy any!  The  best was still the almond cookie with almond chunks in them.

Beef and pork jerky galore

We walked off most of the calories from all these samplings so there was still room for dinner.  This was at a small cozy, purportedly authentic Portuguese restaurant A Lorcha - fish cakes were good but the best was the grilled sardines. The "Portuguese" chicken was okay.  It was a fine end to a long day.  See Travelswithrarecat for the rest of our day.

Fish cakes

Grilled sardines

"Portuguese" chicken

Portuguese Homecooking

We tasted some delicious Portuguese homecooking last night and it's hard to let it go by without sharing it.  The highlight for me was the cod cakes.  My hostess made this for us several years ago and I have yet to taste any cod cakes that tasted better, not even in Newfoundland, the Canadian home of cod cakes.  

The Portuguese cod cakes (Bolinhos de bacalhau) were made from dried salted cod fish (soaked in water for at least two days) and potatoes. The proportion of cod to potatoes is the key to the tasty treat.  It's likely that the cod cakes we had in most restaurants had more potatoes than cod due to the cost factor so we have never been able to taste anything like the flaky homemade cod cakes our hostess pan fried in a minimum amount of oil.  The starch from the potatoes together with some eggs enabled the browning of the cakes without a batter.  Onions, garlic and parsley enhanced the flavour.  It was served as an appetizer although we would have been perfectly happy gobbling up all the cod cakes had we not been held back by the thought of more food to come.  (Recipe)

And indeed there were, as you can see below.  Chicken and four different kinds of Portuguese sausages, including blood sausage.  Cabbage greens, edoes (or taros), potatoes and carrots complemented the meat.  Our hostess drizzled everything on her plate with vinegar and olive oil (that's how it was done in Portugal).  I tried it, it certainly added a tang to the food. 

Our hostess made the "No knead bread" made famous by the New York Times and it tasted so good we had to restrain ourselves - the texture of the bread was unbelievable.  I will have to try making it myself!

We finished with Portuguese egg tarts.  These do not have the flaky crusts that we are used to getting in Chinese bakeries.  But according to my hostess, both are authentic Portuguese. They are both very good.  But this one, without the crust, is healthier.  

Bolinhos de bacalhau (Portuguese salted cod cakes)

"No knead bread"

Blood sausages, smoked sausages, hot and mild, chiken

The veggies

Portuguese egg tarts!