A Lorcha, Macau - Great Portuguese cuisine on the China coast

I’ve always enjoyed a good Portuguese-Macanese meal, and lunch at one of Macau’s venerable eating institutions, A Lorcha, last month was no exception. I flew into Hong Kong from San Francisco at about 9am, checked into my hotel at about 10am, took a fast ferry to Macau & was ordering lunch by noon. I’m just so amazed by the efficiency of the whole place.

A Lorcha has been a family favorite for decades (its next-door neighbor, Restaurante Litoral, is another one).

Some dishes ordered during my lunch there recently were:
- Caldo verde, Portuguese kale soup with slivers of savoury/spicy chourico sausages;
- Rissois de Camarao, which are crisp crescent-shaped parcels filled with shrimp in a creamy sauce – sinfully rich & absolutely delicious;
- Pasteis de bacalhau. No one makes better use of dried (and later re-hydrated) cod fish than the Portuguese, or should I say in this case, the Macanese. The codfish cakes were scrumptious;
- Feijoada, in this case, a distinctly Macanese-style pork knuckle, chourico, red beans & cabbage stew. I much preferred Brazilian feijoada, cooked with black beans & thickened with farofa (fried manioc flour);
- Galinha a Africana – grilled “African” chicken, smothered with an intensely-flavoured, spicy gravy; and
- A Lorcha’s divine dessert, Serradurra – a thick, ultra-creamy milk-crème pudding topped with crumbled biscuits.

Every meal at A Lorcha had been a satisfying experience. The friendly service and the convivial atmosphere is a definite plus, but the main attraction had always been Macau’s distinct cuisine, so different from its HK Cantonese cousin.

A Lorcha
Rua do Almirante Sergio, 289, Macau
Tel: +853-28313193
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 12:30-3pm and 6:30-11pm