Day 01 Macau at Night and Dinner

We had our dinner in a restaurant called Ali's Curry House. Despite the name, they are famous for their Macanese and Portugese cuisine. Nevertheless, their signature dish is still their curry. However, I was delighted that this restaurant is very much accepted as Macanese and a must-try in Macau. Therefore during dinner time, reservation is a must. On top of that, we made sure that we were there on time for our reservation because large crowds are common and we don't want our table going to someone else.
Ali's Curry House faces the Praca do Lago Sai Van (Sai Van Lake) in a quieter corner of the city and beyond that would be the sea.
Most of the dishes we had are recommended by my brother, who has of course worked in Macau for a good few years. One of the most interesting dish was the Bacalhau Fish Ball (马介休球）(1st bottom). This is a favourite portugese dish and it is actually salted cod fish. The most famous Ali's dish is the African Chicken (非洲鸡）which is braised chicken in curry gravy (2nd bottom). Though it is good, it is still a common dish for me since I've been eating curry since young. The texture and taste is more similar to the rendang style i.e. it  has coconut milk it in.

Some other dishes we ordered includes Sliced potatoes with Bacalhal fish （署絲马介休）(1st bottom) which is shredded potatoes fried with Bacalhau fish in an egg batter and Western Fried Rice (西人炒饭）which has portugese sausages in it (2nd bottom). I enjoyed the fried rice alot because the oil from the Portugese sausages gave the rice a fragrant aroma. Since the sausages are red in colour, the fried rice has a tinged of red colour as well. 

The last dish I tried was the cheese-baked brocolli (芝士焗署菜) (Bottom) which I found it to be very tasty but too rich.

After dinner, we took a stroll around Macau at night. The main idea was to allow the food to digest so we pretty much wander aimlessly. Along the way, I managed to snap a picture of Crown Casino, another big gun in the ever increasing competition of the gambling world in Macau (Bottom left). Not long after that, we came upon the very first established library in Macau (Bottom right). The exterior looks like a two tiered pagoda, although it is single story inside, in an area that appears no bigger than 600sf. At that time when we were there, the library is filled up with elderly reading newspapers.

Further from the library and by chance, we finally reached New Grand Lisboa (新葡京). Grand Lisboa is the Grand Papa of casinos here in Macau because it is the first ever casino open many decades ago by tycoon Stanley Ho. The new Grand Lisbao is located just across the road of the original casino. The original casino is much smaller, with lightings similar to a nightclub (1st bottom) but the New Grand Lisboa is whole different animal. Inside its lobby, historical artifacts that mesmerised me filled the whole length of the corridor, including one of China's most profound national treasure, the bronze head of a horse. The horse head is one of the 12 bronze heads that were part of the water clock fountain (海晏堂) in the Summer Palace (圓明園). They represent the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. The Summer Palace was looted by the British and French soldiers during the Opium war. A quick search on the web reviewed that the Chinese government only has 5 of the bronze heads while the rest are either still missing or in some other country's museum. However, rest assure that the Chinese government is doing everything they can to retrieve them so that they can be at their rightful place again. Nevertheless, just the horse bronze head alone was really an eye opener for me. Some of the "lesser" treasures on displayed includes a peacock with golden feathers (2nd bottom).

The sight of Grand Lisbao at night from our hotel room:-

               

After coming out from Grand Lisboa's *ahem* casino, we headed home as it was getting late. On the way back, once again we passed Senado Square. At night, the square has put on a different light - literally and it looks splendid.

Finally after a tiring day, we got back to the hotel, showered and slept. What an interesting first day it has been for me. 

Likes: Food and exotic artifacts
Would be nice if.... the weather is a little less punishing in August since it is still pretty warm to walk around. December would have been perfect.

Link:
Day-01-Macau-Sofitel