Offerings include more than just egg tarts, pork chop buns

Macao chef Savio Leong, who owns several restaurants in the city, prides himself on putting together a delicious mantis shrimp salad.

Starting work at 6 am, he drives his white van to Pier 23 at the city's fish market, where vendors rush to complete sales before 7:30 am. Amid this bustling scene, he buys half a dozen premium mantis shrimp.

At the Ocean Club Restaurant on Taipa Island, he poaches the shrimp and seasons it with a little salt and pepper before cutting it into bite-sized pieces and adding cherry tomatoes, black olives and thinly sliced onion. A sweet vinaigrette tops it all off.

Mantis shrimp, which can be found in the waters off Macao, has been part of the local diet for hundreds of years, and salad was introduced to the area by the Portuguese, who were in control of Macao for some 400 years.

When food in Macao is discussed, egg tarts and pork chop buns spring immediately to mind-popular delicacies that have spread beyond the city and across Asia. Tourists line up to buy the tarts, which consist of custard brulee in buttery, flaky pastry and are sold in packages of 10. Many then head to local cafes to munch on crunchy pork chop buns.

Food lovers, not just from the city and nearby Hong Kong, but from across the region, can now easily travel to Macao to savor its vast array of cuisine. But more important than the cuisine's fusion elements are local culinary traditions.

Antonietta Manhao, who is known as "Chef Neta", loves serving local food to her guests. Born and raised in Macao, she trained as a professional chef, but developed her love of food through home cooking during her childhood.

"I'm very lucky. When I was in my mid-and late teens, I still had my grandma at home to teach me, and my mom still makes home-cooked local food. Young people in Macao should learn all about the city's food," she said.

One example of this food is capela, a doughnut-shaped meatloaf wrapped in crunchy bacon and covered in a hard crust of melted cheese. This family dish is popular during the Christmas holidays, and Manhao said that in many Macao households it is eaten with rice.

Her traditional food can now be found at the St. Regis Macao Hotel, which is part of the Marriott group.

Since last year, she has served Macao's version of afternoon tea, known as Cha Gordo, to guests every Saturday. The spread consists of local party foods, including capela, bicho bicho (cornstarch cookies) and chilicote (deep-fried meat pies).

Since the Macao handover in 1999, the rise of the tourism and gaming industries has also helped preserve the city's rich cultural heritage.

In addition to having Michelin-starred chefs and top restaurants, high-end hotels also feature Macao food. Not so long ago, these traditional delicacies were in danger of dying out, as they feature home recipes passed down through the generations but are not typically available in restaurants.

While her guests enthusiastically savor their Cha Gordo, Manhao tells the stories behind the food.

Sweet treats

Outside of the city's hotels, small eateries are flourishing. Taipa village, one of Macao's best-preserved historical districts, has been remodeled as a modern art and food market, retaining both Portuguese and Chinese influences from down the years.

Many distinctive beverages and desserts can be found in the village. For an iconic and traditional taste, the dessert serradura is perfect. Local chef Filipe De Pina produces a classical creamy serradura, which comes with layers of cream and crushed crackers, stacked and served in a dessert glass.

De Pina said: "People kept asking for serradura. As my family had a recipe, I started to make it. From there, I began making it less sweet and less oily to appeal to Asian palates. Macao has a warm climate, so people don't want anything too oily or too creamy."

At De Pina's dimly lit cafe, Bitter Sweet, tourists take a break from sightseeing to enjoy foamy, iced coffee and serradura cake.

A few alleys away stands Tiger Bite, another spot for a sugar recharge. Its founder, Jet Fong, infuses milkshakes with Cantonese dessert flavors, including fresh ginger, maltose candy, black sesame, and coconut. As tourists passing by curiously examine the drinks menu, Fong approaches and encourages them to try his milkshakes.

Almond cookies

After savoring fine dining and street food, many tourists buy food souvenirs, such as handmade confectionery and snacks, to take home.

Macao's Koi Kei Bakery is a favorite among tourists. Starting as a single food stall in the 1990s, which made less than 2,000 Macao patacas (about $250) a day, Leong Chan Kuong has expanded his business to more than 30 shops in Macao and Hong Kong.

The bakery uses walnuts, peanuts and sesame seeds to prepare its offerings. Leong said his business stands out from competitors, and he thinks this is because its handmade food souvenirs are prepared in-house, unlike his rivals'. "We were also the first to give out free samples," he added.

Koi Kei's peanut candies and almond cookies are best-sellers.

Looking back over recent decades, Leong remembers the days when neighborhood crime was rampant in Macao.

"I was threatened by gangsters, who set my store on fire twice. I had never been attacked so badly. I couldn't sleep. They started fires in the middle of the night, and I was beaten up when I was walking on the street. During the holidays when business was good, the gangsters parked their cars to block my doorway, so I couldn't even open up the shop."

Two other restaurant and cafe owners said they had considered closing down before the handover, because of crime.

Leong said: "Luckily, after the handover the police rounded up the bad guys. From that time, I started to develop my confectionery business."

After the handover, crime and public safety were handled by a new government department, the Secretariat for Security, and gangsters who had intimidated small food vendors were cleared from the streets.

With the opening of Macao International Airport in 1995 and the distribution of gaming concessions six years later, tourists not only from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, but from across Asia, began flocking to Macao.

Leong attributes the growth of his business to tourists arriving after the Individual Visit Policy was launched in the summer of 2003. Since that year, his sales have risen tenfold. The new policy allows mainlanders to visit Macao and Hong Kong on an individual basis.

"A flood of tourists started to arrive in 2003. Our stocks often sold out and we basically had nothing left to sell, because there were too many customers buying our products."

Since then, infrastructure projects such as the Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai Bridge have given food lovers more opportunities to travel to Macao.

Leong said, "For example, nowadays if you say you're going to Macao, your friends will ask you to buy cookies, egg tarts, candies and other items. It's so convenient. Visitors come for just a few hours and can buy lots of confectionery."

Tourist spending in Macao stood at 15.2 billion patacas in the third quarter of this year, with retail sales contributing just over 45 percent of the total, according to the city's Statistics and Census Service. Food and souvenirs accounted for 33 percent of retail sales.

Local noodle shops and Cantonese restaurants have also benefited from the tourist influx.

Lei Man-lung, who owns Luk Kei Noodles, a restaurant known for its crab congee said, "After the handover, the central government pushed forward the Individual Visit Policy, which was good for Macao's economy." Since 1999, business at the restaurant has risen sixfold.

Gastronomic leader

In November 2017, Macao was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, the third city in China to be awarded the honor after Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and Shunde, Guangdong province. The designation was in recognition of Macao's 400-year-old culinary traditions.

Under China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), Macao was positioned as a World Center of Tourism and Leisure.

Macao government trade missions were accompanied by representatives from businesses such as the Koi Kei Bakery. Showcasing their products across the mainland, they increased awareness of local cuisine.

Macao's public sector has also awarded grants to encourage innovation in the tourism industry. Since the middle of this year, vendors with proposals for creative culinary projects have been able to apply for government funding.

Macao has also strengthened its links with the Greater Bay Area, in coordination with its closest neighbor-Zhuhai, Guangdong-jointly organizing cultural events for local residents. The Bay Area comprises nine cities in Guangdong plus Macao and Hong Kong.

Early last month, the finals of the Third Masters Chef Competition in Cantonese Cuisine were held in Macao, featuring 190 chefs from more than 40 countries. One chef came from a small village in Guangdong, while another traveled from New York, 10,000 kilometers away.

Savio Leong, known for his mantis shrimp salad, acted as a volunteer for the event, preferring to work behind the scenes rather than being a judge for the competition. He greeted each chef as if he or she were family members that he seldom sees.

The visitors hosted seminars and training sessions to pass on their knowledge to the next generation of chefs. They also worked together on trying to improve dishes.

The competition has previously been staged in New York and Singapore. This year, Macao had the chance to shine in the international spotlight.

Lucy Zhang contributed to this story.