Walking down an overgrown path on the black sand of Hac Sa Beach to the restaurant, I wondered how good the food could really be. For the past fifteen years it had been touted as one of the best Portuguese-cuisine restaurants in Southeast Asia. Macau was a former Portuguese colony so it made sense to be located on Coloane Island. But we couldn’t even find it.
Trudging along with great uncertainty, we eventually happened upon the dimly lit vine-covered entrance. An open-air beach side barn with a no reservation policy, we grabbed glasses of fresh sangria from the outdoor bar and battled on a foosball table in the humid air of the garden while waiting to be seated. I had my doubts about dinner.
I was wrong.
We ordered the crispy Suckling Pig, a bowl of spicy, steamed finger-food clams, and a sparkling bottle of vinho verde, green (young) Portuguese wine. The accompanying warm vegetables and thick Portuguese sweet bread were harvested and baked by Fernando’s themselves. It was the first bread I had seen since arriving in China weeks earlier and I ate it on sight. Devoured is probably a better description.
My introduction to Portuguese cuisine was fantastic, only outdone by the view of magnificent Hac Sa Beach. Nigel crushed my dreams of a refreshing swim after dinner, insisting the mercury levels were too high.
Pity.
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