Wet market and food court under one roof aka The Mercado De S.Domingos Municipal Complex in Macau is the perfect place to experience some local culinary culture and it is very true that local flavours made an authentic travel experience on top of an unforgettable trip. While discovering these little quirks and local culture through their local food, you’d be impressed with rewarding episodes that follows.
The iconic egg tarts and almond biscuit is renown in Macau and for good reasons but with it vitally a must try for tourists; you’d also notice them being available within a stone throw. Instead, if you think main stream isn’t your thing then go ahead and visit this very happening complex of few storeys with escalators taking you to the highest floor where the food court is. Here is where we tasted the regular meals savoured by local residences.
Fresh produce are segregated and grouped at respective floors for minimal contamination.
The food court is your food haven featuring plenty of stalls with different varieties but take note only a selective few are tourist friendly with bilingual menu; others were all in Mandarin. That makes ordering your food a little tacky, especially if when you own an Asian face because it is naturally assumed that you are able to read the menu.
Watching which stall has those endless queue can be very interesting, and looking at how the locals ordered their meals really help made the right choice. After all, you don’t want to start pointing at random dish name and end up having to take up a food fear factor challenge. This stall here is apparently popular (so that’s what I was told by a very helpful lady whom is fluent in English) and is filled with photos of celebrities who visited. Beef brisket noodles (we WITHOUT the noodle) if you are into offal.
Mustard or chili sauce is optional and you help yourself with it because the busy cook will not attend to petty requests.
The large windows provide sufficient ventilation despite the absence of air conditioning but taking a long and slow stroll at the meal doesn’t get us all sweaty from the firing stoves of every stall all cooking simultaneously. Even this hot pot fromChio Kee with options of pork, beef, or lamb wasn’t too bad. And, you’ll enjoy twice as much if you’re eating companion isn’t picky with food. After all, you don’t quite get to select your meat parts during lunch hour.
Accompanied with a plate of lettuce, and the super interesting sauce (chili sauce with fermented beancurd)
Over at the Kitty stall, there is something that attracts the younger crowd and teenage kids and this is one that makes ordering a lot easier when the pictorial menu also illustrates the price and portion of each serving. There is Pork Chop Bun, Fried dumpling and instant noodles with fried egg and spam (the love for this dish by the local is probably heavily influenced by Hong Kongers).
This place is wonderful and is a little being disregarded if you ask me; probably outshine by the many other iconic treasures of Macau. It is a pity because the culinary culture at food stalls like this one was memorable. And every encounter here was lovely and intriguing. Special thanks to the lovely lady who helped us decide on what to order (I never got a chance to stay connected with her….).
Take note most vendors would run out of what they sell by evening, and that’s also when certain dish gets a price slash.
Click HERE for more photos on flikr.
This Cooked Food Area is at the highest floor at:
Mercado de S. Domingos Municipal Complex
Travessa do Soriano
Opens daily: 7:30am-8pm (closed Sundays)
Phone: +853 28337676
GPS: 22.194379,113.53741
Website: https://www.iacm.gov.mo/e/facility/introduction/foodcenter/
Also click to read more Eating and Drinking Places in Macau or Sycookies Food Travel Journal .
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