It took me a while to come up with an idea for a new post, and then I realized I should write something about the country I live in right now — Macau. Then I racked through my brain thinking what is there to write about- you can literally finish exploring this city in one day. Then I decided maybe two days, if you want to visit all the Instagram-worthy places and try out the fine dining (note: this post is only about fine dining in Macau!). See casual dining in another post! So here it goes! In this post, if you’re in Macau and looking for other things to do other than gamble, check out my favorite Instagram spots & fine dining locations around Macau’s 6 largest casinos (Wynn, MGM, Venetian, Sands, Studio City, and City of Dreams.)
To Feast
Ristorante Il Teatro- Wynn Macau
This Italian restaurant situated inside Wynn Macau (on Macau peninsula) gives you a front row seat to the nightly Wynn Macau’s performance lake shows. This restaurant is on the few in Macau that offers authentic Italian food and has earned for itself a Forbes Five Star Award and is Michelin recommended. The starter bread (free of charge!) is absolutely heavenly and baked right before it is served. Their Four-Cheese Ravioli (pictured below) is a Chef specialty and worth a try. Book in advance and remember to request a window seat. Book around 7PM so it’s dark outside by the time you begin eating.
Featuring crab risotto (left), four-cheese ravioli (middle), starter dish (top), starter bread with Italian tomatoes and sea salt (bottom)
Opening Hours: Tues- Sun dinner only from 5:30 pm to 11:30 pm; Closed on Mondays
Reservation Hotline: +853 8986 3663
Dress Code: casual elegant
Price Range: appetizers from 100-200 MOP, pasta dishes range from 200-300 MOP, pizzas 150- 200 MOP. To view their menu, click here.
Website: Wynn Macau- Ristorante Il Teatro
SW Steakhouse- Wynn Palace
SW Steakhouse offers a wide variety of steak sourced from America, Australia and Japan. If you’re not in the mood for steak, seafood choices are available as well. If you order their seafood platter, the moment the waiter brings it to the table will garner “wows” from everyone. The platter includes freshly caught lobster, jumbo prawns, and oysters from the Amalfi. Before the meal, freshly made bread is served right from the oven with salted butter- so soft to the taste you won’t be able to stop. Throughout your meal, there is a theatrical show every 30-minutes with a different theme which is very entertaining. Remember to order their Funnel Cake as dessert. Beautifully presented, delicious to the taste, with guilty pleasure afterwards.
Opening Hours: Wed- Mon dinner only from 5:30 pm to 11pm; Closed on Tuesdays
Reservation Hotline: +853 8889 3663
Dress Code: casual elegant
Price Range: appetizers from 150-300 MOP, seafood platter 1200/2400 MOP, steaks from 450- 1500 MOP depending on the cut. To view their menu, click here.
Website:Wynn Palace – SW Steakhouse
Chinese Dim Sum, Wing Lei Palace- Wynn Palace
Wing Lei Palace, lead by head chef, Chef Tam Kowk Fung, has helped the restaurant earn numerous awards. First, it was Forbes Travel Guide Five Star, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking No. 23, The Black Pearl Restaurant Guide 2019 – Two Diamonds. Note they have a separate Lunch Dim Sum menu for lunch and they only serve A la Carte for dinner (no dim sum).
Be sure to pick out dishes directly from Chef Tam’s Specialties Menu which feature Deep-fried yellow croacker fillet and crab roe toast with chilled dried plum flavored baby tomato (sweet and sour appetizer, my favorite!), braised fish broth with fish maw and vegetables (a congee which tastes delicious!) and their dessert, Chilled mango cream with sago and pomelo (many people that come to Wynn Palace told me this dessert is the best in Macau they’ve eaten!).
Best part about this restaurant is that each table in the room has a view of Wynn’s performance lake. Whether it is during the day or at night, there is a magnificent view. A show appears every 20 minutes starting from 7P.M. or every 30 minutes from 6-7 P.M. Try to ask for a window seat although those are mostly reserved for table of 4.
Featuring (in clockwise from the top left): Strawberry temptation, Lychee wood barbecued chicken, steamed crab meat and abalone puffs with chicken (the swan-looking dim sum!), steamed shrimp spring roll and rice flour rolls, taro puffs filled with scallop, steamed seasonal mushroom dumplings, sago with coconut cream in Japanese honeydew melon jelly ring.
Opening Hours: Mon- Sat lunch from 11:30 a.m.- 3:30 a.m.; Sun lunch from 10:30 a.m.- 3:30 a.m.; Dinner 5:30- 11:30 p.m. daily
Reservation Hotline: +853 8889 3663
Dress Code: casual elegant, men are required to wear trousers and no flip flops allowed
Price Range: dim sum menu ranges from 50-80/dish. A la carte menu from 200- 350/dish; more for seafood and other special dishes. A lunch for 8 would amount up to 3600 MOP. To view their menu, click here.
Website: Wynn Palace- Wing Lei Palace
Wynn Palace- MizumiWynn Palace’s Mizumi is one of their fine dining restaurants where you can expect to spend at least 1000-2000 for a dinner for two. Remember to wear casual elegant clothing here as there is a restriction. Their teppanyaki is known to produce delectable dishes and their sushi master (at Sushi Mizumi) has earned itself one Michelin Star in 2018. The photo above features their Spring Kaiseki Menu. I’m not a big fan of Kaiseki, but each dish was beautifully presented and explained very well by their staff. There were almost 11 courses and I was very full at the end of the meal.
Opening Hours: Mon- Sat lunch from 11:30 a.m.- 3:30 a.m.; Sun lunch from 10:30 a.m.- 3:30 a.m.; Dinner 5:30- 11:30 p.m. daily
Reservation Hotline: +853 8889 3663
Dress Code: casual elegant, men are required to wear trousers and no flip flops allowed
Price Range: dim sum menu ranges from 50-80/dish. A la carte menu from 200- 350/dish; more for seafood and other special dishes. A lunch for 8 would amount up to 3600 MOP. To view their menu, click here.
Website: Wynn Palace- Wing Lei Palace
Chinese Dim Sum- City of Dreams- Jade Dragon – Eating at Jade Dragon was a very spontaneous decision. A good friend of mine, Chinese food blogger was visiting Macau and watched to catch up over lunch with me. However, with every weekend in Macau, most of the dim sum places are full of Cantonese families meeting up for a meal. Finally, we settled for dim sum at Jade Dragon, COD’s Michelin 3 starred restaurant in 2018. We went with full expectation this meal would cost around 1000-1500 MOP together, but we would be getting top class food here. It didn’t disappoint. From service to food quality, everything was impeccable.
We ordered all the recommended dim sum from their menu, and all of them were very delicious. My favorite dishes remained the same, the tomatoes for appetizers and the soup. I am a person who dislikes puff pastry, but it was one of the highly recommended items to try, the Baked Iberico Pork Pastry, and wow it turned out to be quite good (remember to eat it hot!). The Steamed Kagani Crabmeat Dumpling (XLBs) were so expensive, 68 MOP ea. and I don’t know if it’s worth the value. It was delicious, but 68 MOP for one? Well.. if you have the money to splurge on awesome food, go for it! As with every Michelin starred restaurant, there was a tea sommelier who helped up pour tea throughout the meal. Five-star service waiters were in and out changing our places almost after every dish and before desert was served, they actually placed two pieces of cloth over spilled soy sauce on the table so we wouldn’t see it while enjoying dessert. WOW! What impeccable service they have here.
(From Left: Baked Iberico Pork Pastry, Baked Australian M8 Wagyu Beef Puff , Hot and Sour Soup with Hokkaido Kagani Crabmeat,
Traditional Shunde Fish Soup with Fish Maw and Julienne Vegetables,
Jade Dragon Dumpling, Steamed Kagani Crabmeat Dumpling
Chilled Cherry Tomato Marinated with Avocado Oil and Plum Wine Jelly
Complimentary dessert
Opening Hours: Mon- Sat. 12:00- 15:00; Public holiday & Sun 11:00- 15:00; Dinner Daily: 18:00 – 23:00
Reservation Hotline: +853 8868 2822
Dress Code: none
Price Range: dim sum menu ranges from 50-80/dish. A la carte menu from 200- 350/dish; more for seafood and other special dishes. Lunch for two would be around 1200 MOP. To view their lunch dim sum menu, click here.
Website: COD- Jade Dragon
To Snap
Venetian- Cotai Island
If you walk along the outer passage area from The Parisian all the way to The Venetian, along the Cotai strip, you will come across some nice areas to take Instagram photos. Usually at night not a lot of people come here (or know of this area). These places are found along Venetian, not on the sidewalk of Cotai strip. I came on a weekend night and found no one around!
The inside of Parisian offers nice settings for photos as well. The great thing about going to the Parisian is that it’s uncrowded there. Mostly tourists will flock to the Venetian as their first choice.
Right outside Wynn Palace is their fountain which poses as a great photo-op. On a clear sunny day, the photo will look amazing. If it’s cloudy then it will look really gloomy. Remember to bring a wide lens for this shot!
I will be spending more time taking photos at more Instagrammable locations in Macau – will update more soon!