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Macau Food
Eating - be it Portuguese or Macanese 'soul food', Chinese dim sum or the special treats available from street stalls and night markets is one of the most rewarding aspects of a visit to Macau. People eat dinner relatively early here; in some restaurants the dining room is all but empty by 9pm.
The most popular alcoholic tipple in Macau is vinho verde, a crisp, dry, slightly effervescent ‘green’ wine from Portugal that goes down a treat with salty, Portuguese food and spicy Macanese dishes. You might also try one of the fine wines from Dao, Douro or Alenquer.
Portuguese & Macanese Food 
Portuguese cuisine is rather heavy, meat-based and, in general, not particularly refined. It makes great use of a heavy form of olive oil, garlic and bacalhau (dried salted cod), which can be prepared in many different ways. It sometimes combines meat and seafood in one dish, such as porco a Alentejana, a tasty casserole of pork and clams. Some favorite dishes are caldo verde, a soup of green cabbage or kale thickened with potatoes; pastels de bacalhau (codfish croquettes), sardinhas grelhadas (grilled sardines) and feijoada, a casserole of beans, pork, spicy sausages, potatoes and cabbage that is actually Brazilian in origin.
Macanese food, on the other hand, borrows a lot of its ingredients and tastes from Chinese and other Asian cuisines, as well as from those of former Portuguese colonies in Africa and India. It is redolent of coconut, tamarind, chilli, jaggery (palm sugar) and shrimp paste.
The most famous Macanese specialty is galinha africana (African chicken), with the bird done m coconut, garlic and chillies. As well as cod, there's plenty of other fish and seafood: shrimp, prawns, crab, squid and white fish. Sole, a tongue-shaped flat fish, is a Macanese delicacy. The contribution from the former Portuguese enclave of Goa on the west coast of India is spicy prawns.
Other Macanese favourites include casquinha (stuffed crab); porco balichao (pork cooked with tamarind and shrimp paste); minchi (minced beef or pork cooked with potatoes, onions and spices); and baked rice dishes made with cod, prawns or crab. Macanese desserts are pudim, basically creme caramel, and serradura, a calorie-rich 'sawdust' pudding made with crushed biscuits or cookies, cream and condensed milk. Pasteis de nata is a scrumptious egg-custard tartlet eaten warm.
Other Cuisines
Macau is not just about Macanese and Portuguese food. Some people swear that the dim sum here is far better than anything you'll find in Hong Kong. Thai food, one of the great contributions of the Thai bar girls working here, can be excellent, especially in the area just east of St Michael's cemetery.
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