In a recent visit to Macau, we hit tables to enjoy the food instead of trying our luck at tables to possibly come home a thousand dollars richer. Since we opted to just stay in one location, the Venetian, we decided to try out their restaurants and came up with a list of to die for dishes at two of their must eat in restaurants, Morton’s the steakhouse and canton.
For starters, try this delicate tasting soup marked with some subtle Swiss cheese flavor on top and some added crunch once biting into the thin crusty bread.
Behold this huge slab of meat that’s supposedly labelled for two people to share but alas, three of us could hardly finish this oh-so-tender steak. It was cooked to perfection, still red on the inside minus the blood oozing out, the way other steaks are served. The outside was crisp yet, unbelievably, not dry. Had I a bigger tummy, I would have devoured this all by myself but my eyes eat more than my tummy can take.
Partnered with the perfect steak is the creamy mashed potatoes with just the right saltiness topped rounded off with the tanginess from the sour cream and the crackle of the bacon bits.
To avoid eating the crispy skin of this chicken is simply outrageous. The chicken pieces carefully dipped in a special sauce mixed with some salt before each bite is just delightful.
Since you only get one piece of each, the sampler is a real teaser that you’d wish you could have more, which of course we did, by ordering one sampler for each one of us. The yunan mushroom and cabbage dumpling was fresh and healthy yet flavorful, while the prawn dumpling had a succulent sweet prawn inside and the scallop and prawn siew mai (siomai to us pinoys) had this juicy fat scallop and prawn mixed in with the tasty ground meat.
This all-time personal favorite when ordering in chinese restaurants was magnificent. The balance of the sweetness and tartness of the sauce gives justice to the name of the dish. The crunchy fried pork and green bell peppers, combined with sweet pineapple chunks and half moon slices of peaches (a rare but fantastic addition) were covered in just enough of the sweet sour sauce to make this the best I’ve tasted so far.
This rather intriguing noodle dish came us a pleasant surprise to us ho fan lovers. We belatedly saw the next table guests order a plate of the usual ho fan we are more familiar with. This however was an instant hit. The crunchy noodles topped with an eggy sauce with big fat juicy prawns has become a new favorite.
Saving the best for last…the piece de resistance of our dining experience in Macau was this succulent tenderloin beef sauteed in a slightly hot peppery sauce stir fried with crisply cooked asparagus. This is something worth flying all the way back to Macau for.
