Dom Galo

As first timers venturing blindly into Macau, our primary agenda, culinary-wise at least, was to taste Lord Stow's world-famous egg tarts. After all, what else does the uninformed tourist know about the place? Little did we know that, within this small nation, sits Dom Galo, a local restaurant specializing in Portuguese cuisine. While we have never tried truly authentic bacalhau, we took the Portuguese owner's word that his place is the closest we can get to the Iberian Peninsula in these parts.

Having gone to Macau armed with nothing beyond mouthwatering fantasies of creamy, toasted egg tarts and hopes of going home with I-jumped-off-the-Macau-Tower bragging rights, we depended solely on the personal preference of the MGM Grand Hotel's concierge for our choice for dinner. Thankfully, Mr. Concierge pointed us in the direction of Dom Galo, which is located across the Kun Lam statue, about a five minute walk from the hotel. We were fortunate as well that we had skipped lunch and that our turbojet from Hong Kong arrived at such an ungodly hour that we were famished before the sun even set, because we arrived at Dom Galo a little before six, when the cooks were still warming up the kitchen for dinner and table reservations for the night were still being phoned in. As it turns out, this place happens be a hot spot in this side of the mainland and getting a table here without a reservation, particularly on weekends, is nearly impossible. Now, do not be fooled by Dom Galo's apparent hipness, because this place is more hippie chic than it is high-brow and sophisticated. Albeit the mismatched and seemingly haphazardly placed furniture, preserved blowfish dangling from above the bar, funky artwork and color vomit everywhere, there is something endearing, pretty and cool about the organized chaos that characterizes the place. And, did we mention that the English speaking staff is from the motherland? Ordering a can of coke in Filipino was a very refreshing break from all the Chinese talk that we could not comprehend.

Because of our ignorance of Portuguese cuisine, we put our trust in our newfound Filipino friends? knowledge of their restaurant?s menu. Thankfully, our kababayans knew exactly what a quartet of hungry tourists would consider filling.

Since prawns had become a meal staple during our China-Hong Kong-Macau sojourn, we ordered grilled prawns, which were also recommended by our servers. Our immediate appraisal once the dish arrived was that the prawns were so humongous that they had to be flown in from some other part of the world, because nowhere in Manila (which is just a couple hundred miles away from Macau) would we ever find seafood that plump and healthy. The prawns were juicy, with rich butter permeating every single bite. While we Filipinos have our own albeit similar version of grilled prawns, we must admit that the quality and the size of the prawns played a large part in making this dish a winner, no pun intended.

Being the carnivores that we are, we also had roast beef with potatoes. Yes, as if the potatoes in the bacalhau weren't enough, we ordered even more starch, but that was the small price of fatness we had to pay for succulent and fall-off-the-bone beefy goodness. What makes this dish a winner is that it tasted like it was slow-roasted in the oven the whole day, and everyone knows that anything made with that much love has got to be sinfully delicious. That it was braised in red wine is an obvious plus, and even someone with the weakest alcohol tolerance will appreciate the rich and heavy flavor imparted by the wine.

Completing our trip to Europe was Portuguese fried rice, which included a flavorful blend of chorizo, onions and vegetables with a hint of tomato. And even though we did enjoy the rice, and in spite of the fact that our spoons look for rice at every meal (so typically Pinoy, yes), the fried rice was too rich a siding to be enjoyed with the viands that we ordered. No matter how much we love carbohydrates, potatoes and fried rice together make quite the heavy combination. Should we find ourselves at Dom Galo again, we would order the fried rice with other dishes that are not as rich in order to avoid taking away from the intense flavors of the individual entrees.

Granted that Dom Galo is one of the better and more authentic Portuguese restaurants in the Macau area (we?re taking the owner?s word for this), our bill of around 600 Pesos per person is actually not bad. After all, this is considerably more affordable than getting on a plane and flying all the way to Portugal, since there are no decent restaurants of this kind in Manila.

While we were unable to visit the original Lord Stow?s in Macau, we were thrilled to have made a culinary discovery in the form of Dom Galo. And even though we are not 100% sure that what we had was authentic, we can at least say that it was darn good. Next time we go to Macau, we?re definitely going back there, before bungy jumping off the Macau Tower using our returning customer discount.

Rating:  3.5 out of 5 salt & pepper shakers

Business hours: 11:30 to 00:30

Address: Avenida Sir Anders Ljungstedt R/C, Edificio Vista Magnifica, Macau (across Kun Lam Statue)

Telephone: +853 2875 1383 (Reservations required.)