Macau: More than just gaming

MANILA, Philippines - “There’s noth- ing to do in Macau but gamble and eat Portuguese tarts. How boring!” said one of my friends whom I invited sev- eral weeks ago to visit Asia’s new gaming (they took away the “B” and “L” in the word “gambling” to make it sound more recreational) mecca. That statement was truly accurate to de- scribe the sleepy Por- tuguese colony back in the ’70s or ’80s. Nowadays, Macau has come a long way it would be a travesty to pigeonhole her as just a gambling desti- nation.

Two years ago, an adamant hotel GM friend of ours joined us for a visit and was glad she did. She found in one of the pawn-cum-jewelry shops lining Ave- nida de Amizade a two-toned (gold and stainless) ladies Rolex jubilee that looked almost new for only P100,000. She im- mediately paid for

it because she knew that locally, it would cost her double to get it here in Manila. A compadre of mine, after hitting a slot machine jackpot, bought an almost new Cartier stainless steel Roadster for P105,000 which was being retailed brand-new at P360,000.

Macau is the only place in Asia I’ve been to that has over a hundred pawn shops situated next to each other that are open 24 hours selling high-end watch brands — new and second hand — like Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Vacheron Constantine, IWC, Franck Mull- er and other name brand Swiss watches at 20 to 80 percent less their brand-new retail prices.

The trick is not to be intimidated by the tag prices and bargain ag- gressively. I think the best time to shop is during late-night hours when there are less shoppers and shop tenders are desperate to make a sale. Each shop displays thou- sands of watches with Rolex being the most popular. Majority of the watches sold in these shops come from gamblers who’ve run out of cash and sold their precious posses- sions at a loss.

For mall rats, Macau has quite a few and mostly high-end malls car- rying designer brands like Hermes, Vuitton, Chanel, Prada Gucci, etc. that are located at the Venetian/ Four Seasons Hotel complex, Sands Cotai central housing Sheraton, Holiday Inn and Conrad hotels, and City of Dreams complex which are all in the Cotai (Taipa) strip. In Macau proper, there is Paseo at the MGM Grand Macau Hotel and another shop com- plex at Wynn/Encore Hotel.

My favorite is the 10-storey Yao Han department store beside Grand Emperor Hotel. One day is not enough to check everything on sale that ranges from toys, watches, appliances, clothes, cosmetics, Jamon Iberico to a bottle of Johnny Walker Diamond Jubilee that sells for a whopping P13,000,000.

There are lots of fun for kids, too. Most hotel complexes have kiddie play areas like CUBE at Venetian that feature slides, mazes, swings, games, etc., which are guaranteed to keep the kids busy for hours sans the boredom factor. Most malls also fea- ture humongous toy stores like Toys R’ Us. Venetian and Sands Cotai spearheaded seasonal events and attractions for kids like Ice World — a winter-themed, sub-zero-temperature park where ice sculptures of the world landmarks are the main attraction. Last month, Sands Cotai central partnered with Dream Works studios and featured events with Dream Works animation characters like break- fast with Shrek called Shrekfast, the Dream Works experience with Madagascar and Kung Fu characters and the daily character parade within the complex similar to Disney’s main street parade.

Just like Hong Kong, it’s difficult to find a bad restaurant in Macau whether in a food court or in fine dining establish- ments. My current top three Macau fine din- ing restaurants are:

1. Robuchon Au Dome is at the top floor of the Grand Lisboa Hotel. Get- ting a booking at this expensive three- starred Michelin restaurant owned by famed French chef Joel Robuchon is a bit of a task. You nor- mally have to book at least a month in advance. My compadre Joey de Leon who couldn’t book a table in the past two years finally experienced the famed restaurant early this year and he wasn’t disappointed at all. He and lovely wife, Eileen, were all praises for its ambi- ence, service and cuisine.

From the freshly- baked breads made from scratch to the innovative desserts, not a single morsel was left on the plate. The cuisine is eclec- tic and changes by the season. Black and white truffles, caviar and Kagoshima beef lord the menu complemented by a wine cellar that will

shame any fine dining restaurant anywhere in the world. Tip: When making a reservation, look for Georgia (who is Pinay) and say that you read about Robuchon in my article and that would probably expedite your reservation.

2. EDO Japanese Restaurant is locatedatthebasementlevelof Lisboa Hotel. The wonderful thing about this restaurant is that it’s open anytime of the day or night. Circular in shape with entrances at both sides, the specialty of the house is Misono. Fresh seafood and meats are cooked in front of the customer by world- class chefs. The restaurant’s river prawns are as huge as lobsters and taste divine. The mango crab salad is exquisite, gigantic oysters from Japan are succulently delicious and the beef cubes highlighted by crisp beef fat that melts in your mouth is to die for. I don’t order dessert at this restaurant but the camote tempura is yummy and serves as my side dish-cum-dessert.

3. Bene Italian Restaurant is at the ground level of Sands Cotai Central. I discovered this Italian restaurant late 2012 and have returned every single trip I’ve made to Macau. The cuisine is northern Italian and very

innovative. The ambiance, cutlery and dishes and service scream five-star fine dining and yet prices are very reasonable. Four people could dine with salad, drinks, one entree and dessert for less than HK$1,000 (roughly P5,000 plus). If you have a Sands membership card, you get a further discount. My favorite starter is the Bene Pear Salad — crunchy bartlet pear slices swimming in sweet and tart sauce laden greens accented with aged gorgon- zola cheese and walnuts. The pastas are superb and so are the pizzas. Most ordered is the giant seafood platter that features Boston lobster, oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp. The Italian desserts are guaranteed to give you a sugar high.

There are a zillion other things I haven’t done in Macau which I’d like to do one of these days like climb the Macau tower and have dinner at the restaurant at the pinnacle amid bungee jumpers, visit the old fishing village, jog the kilometers-long bridge spans if my energy permits and try all the other Michelin-rated restaurants.