504719 Mon Mar 31 18:50:05 -0700 2008 0 46 China & Southeast Asia 0 3547721 I’ve always enjoyed a good Portuguese-Macanese meal, and lunch at one of Macau’s venerable eating institutions, A Lorcha, last month was no exception. I flew into Hong Kong from San Francisco at about 9am, checked into my hotel at about 10am, took a fast ferry to Macau & was ordering lunch by noon. I’m just so amazed by the efficiency of the whole place. A Lorcha has been a family favorite for decades (its next-door neighbor, Restaurante Litoral, is another one). Some dishes ordered during my lunch there recently were: - Caldo verde, Portuguese kale soup with slivers of savoury/spicy chourico sausages; - Rissois de Camarao, which are crisp crescent-shaped parcels filled with shrimp in a creamy sauce – sinfully rich & absolutely delicious; - Pasteis de bacalhau. No one makes better use of dried (and later re-hydrated) cod fish than the Portuguese, or should I say in this case, the Macanese. The codfish cakes were scrumptious; - Feijoada, in this case, a distinctly Macanese-style pork knuckle, chourico, red beans & cabbage stew. I much preferred Brazilian feijoada, cooked with black beans & thickened with farofa (fried manioc flour); - Galinha a Africana – grilled “African” chicken, smothered with an intensely-flavoured, spicy gravy; and - A Lorcha’s divine dessert, Serradurra – a thick, ultra-creamy milk-crème pudding topped with crumbled biscuits. Every meal at A Lorcha had been a satisfying experience. The friendly service and the convivial atmosphere is a definite plus, but the main attraction had always been Macau’s distinct cuisine, so different from its HK Cantonese cousin. A Lorcha Rua do Almirante Sergio, 289, Macau Tel: +853-28313193 Opening hours: Wed-Mon 12:30-3pm and 6:30-11pm Mon Mar 31 18:50:05 -0700 2008 143097 klyeoh