I spent the afternoon at Macau’s Wine and Dine Festival – http://www.winedinemacau.com
Don’t bother, the vendors and exhibitors can’t even give their wines away as event lacked critical foot traffic. They did everything right in planning – Parisian performers and live bands but no critical mass. Hard to take a good photo so I did it quickly.
The organizers were selling voucher booklets for $100 which includes 10 vouchers at $10mop each. Wines offered for 1 voucher (10 mop) were not drinkable. Exhibitors were not shy about this fact as most wines put up for sampling would be in the 2 voucher range. To put myself in their position, the decision to exhibit is a sunk cost as part of my marketing expenditure. Since there’s no way to even fathom recuperating the cost, giving away their cheap wines to build goodwill would be a way of generating awareness into their brands. The brands and lack thereof in variety makes it difficult for everyone to differentiate – French and Portuguese wines. Exhibitors could differentiate themselves from the pack without even innovating by giving out wines and allowing the attendees to sample wines from regions not currently available – Canada, USA, South Africa, Argentina etc.
To salvage the night, I look to Henri’s Galley. Henri’s Galley has a very rich history in Macau, they are rumored to be creators of Macau’s most famous dish – African Chicken. A soup was ordered to start the night. It’s the only soup on their menu and they recommend adding a touch of olive oil to it.
First main dish for the night – Portuguese Fish, rock cod fillet in their famous Portuguese sauce which is made from a tomato base.
The sauce tastes even better cold as it congeals. It’s perfect to complement warm bread. I much prefer warm bread to the rice.
Second dish of the night – African Chicken. The dish consists of half a chicken.
1 soup and 2 main dishes for a total of $370. I think Henri’s Galley is the best restaurant in Macau. They don’t need the extra foot traffic as they have a steady business of regulars. I suggest calling ahead to make a reservation else they will not have space for you otherwise. The restaurant gets booked out regularly for private events and be sure to look around when you dine here, you never know who your neighbor may be.
PDW Guide to Asia 