How Macau’s dining scene is bouncing back in 2023: 25 restaurants feature in 100 Top Tables with openings at Grand Lisboa Palace and MGM Macau, and more to come at the new W Hotel, and Galaxy resort

The annual dining guide’s Macau section is larger than ever despite pandemic restrictions, including new entries Five Foot Road, Mesa, Palace Garden, Pin Yue Xuan, Wing Lei Palace and Ying

The Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is hopefully set to open later this year at the Londoner Macao while the Galaxy complex’s new hotels, Raffles and the Andaz Macau, will offer new staycation destinations

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The glizty main dining room at Wing Lei Palace in Macau. Photo: Handout

Published: 2:28pm, 28 Mar 2023Updated: 6:11pm, 22 Nov 2023

The pandemic years were not easy ones for the F&B industry of any major city, least of all in Macau. Many restaurants – be they fine-dining or casual neighbourhood spots – were frequently forced to suspend operations throughout much of the last three years.

But that has not stopped restaurateurs and chefs succeeding in the face of adversity. Nowhere is this more in evidence than this year’s edition of 100 Top Tables. The South China Morning Post’s annual book serves as a guide to very best fine dining establishments in Hong Kong and Macau. This year, there are a record 25 entries from the latter city – the largest cohort ever.

Golden fish dumpling with grouper and crab roe at Pin Yue Xuan in Macau. Photo: Handout

“Macau has faced dining restrictions every bit as fierce as those in Hong Kong,” said Douglas Parkes, editor of 100 Top Tables. “Despite this, there are brilliant things going on in the Macau dining scene and we felt it was only right to recognise those accomplishments with 100 Top Tables’ largest Macau section to date.”

The gold-and-white restaurant interior at Ying, Macau. Photo: Handout

Among the 25 listed restaurants for Macau are six new entries to the guide this year. They are Chengdu-specialist Five Foot Road, Portuguese fine dining establishment Mesa, and Cantonese restaurants Palace Garden, Pin Yue Xuan, Wing Lei Palace and Ying.

Despite these successes, some of the biggest names in Macau dining have not been immune to the pandemic’s crippling effects. Macau’s only Peruvian-Japanese restaurant, Aji at MGM Cotai, suspended operations early in the Covid-19 outbreak and remains temporarily closed. The Golden Peacock at the Venetian Macao – one of a handful of Michelin-starred Indian restaurants in the world – has shut permanently.

Frango Piri Piri at Mesa in Macau. Photo: Handout

Given some restrictions are still in place for overseas visitors to Macau, it is also no surprise that there are not many major new openings to report on. The exceptions are Zuicho at Grand Lisboa Palace, Sushidan at MGM Macau and Honbo at Lisboeta. The first two are Macanese branches of refined sushi restaurants from Tokyo. Both are high-end omakase concepts and seek to highlight interactions between chefs and their guests. Honbo, meanwhile, should be familiar to Hongkongers as the popular burger restaurant that started life in the Star Street precinct in Wan Chai.

The geometric restaurant interiors at Mesa, Macau. Photo: Handout

Looking ahead though, the future seems bright for gastronomes looking to return to Macau as the final travel restrictions are wound down.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited has announced that the second phase of its Studio City property should open during the second quarter of this year. This new phase will be home to Macau’s first W Hotel. Little information has been released about the dining options, but chic concepts are anticipated in line with W’s brand.

Marinated fresh abalone, Sichuan style at Five Foot Road. Photo: Handout

Elsewhere, two new hotels at the Galaxy resort – namely the Raffles and the Andaz Macau – are expected to mean more upscale restaurants in the Cotai district.

Finally, eight years ago, Sands China Limited announced that British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay had agreed to opened a restaurant at the now-rebranded Londoner Macao. Construction of the hotel finished during the pandemic and the Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill remains listed as “coming soon”, with many hoping it will open this year.