We were up relatively early and hit the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Then out the door, back to San Ma Lo and this time started our walk by going through the main square and then up the hill to the ruins of St. Paul’s.  Along the way we passed at least 5 more branches of the Koi Kee bakery – 3 of them on the final street leading up to the cathedral.  Do they have as many branches in town as McDonald’s?  If not, then close to it.

Only a Tuesday but St. Paul’s was every bit as busy as you’d expect.  Lots of Japanese tour groups and a couple on the steps doing their wedding photos, both dressed all in white.  At the top of the steps, we were “found” by the Malaysian couple we’d met the night before at A Lorcha.  “You’re late, we’ve been waiting for you all morning!” the husband said to me.

We went back down the steps, took a quick right and went down that street selling furniture, art and souvenirs, browsing in some of the shops along the way (and buying one of those Chinese-style jewel boxes in red leather with a dragon design).  We found the Camoes Garden, absolutely worth it if you’re into gardens, with some huge ancient trees, a huge modern art sculpture in the center, a lovely symmetry to its design, a very peaceful oasis in the center of the city.

We wandered down towards the Red Market, exploring the side streets.  We were getting hungry but saw no place that looked interesting for food – hundreds of shops selling raw meat, fish, veg but no restaurant that caught our eye or our nose.

Back to the hotel.  For lunch we went to Laurel, a branch of the Shenzhen chain in our hotel.  It gets a “bib gourmand” rating from Michelin while another Chinese restaurant in the hotel, Jade Garden rates one star.  I think Laurel should have received one star as well – perhaps it didn’t because despite an English menu for dim sum and another English photo menu of their special dishes, the main menu seemed to be in Chinese only and most of the staff didn’t speak any English at all.  Nevertheless, the dim sum here proved to be some of the best I’d ever had and I loved the design of the place – all light wood and warm tones.  9 dishes and tea came out to about M$250.

My gf went back to the room to take a nap, I went to look for some nearby massage place and found some foot massage joint where a 45 minute body massage was $118 or $148 for oil massage – prices in Macau have certainly gone up.  My masseuse was a tiny Filipino girl from Mindanao – very strong for her size.  She’d been in Macau for 6 months and doesn’t like it at all.

Back to the hotel refreshed and off in search of Three Lamps, but either the web sites I’d read got this place wrong or I didn’t read those guides closely enough.  Near the Red Market, it’s this area where about 5 streets converge.  I thought it was going to be all outdoor restaurants and snack shops but it wasn’t even close to that, just a round concrete park area where people were sitting, talking, letting the night go by, surrounded by the market streets we’d explored earlier in the day.

So we hopped in a taxi and went to Taipa and found our new favorite Portuguese restaurant – A Petisqueira.  A small restaurant where even on a weeknight it seems one needs a reservation but we got there after 8, there were just two of us and after a short wait they could fit us in.  Our waiter, David, was a young guy born in Portugal who’d been in Macau for four years.  He expertly guided us through the wine list and we went for a bottle of Duas Quintas which was exactly what I was after, something in the middle, lots of body, not too dry, not too sweet, and I found it fabulously drinkable. (They only had 2006, they’d run out of the 2003 which we were told was even better.)  This was one of the more expensive bottles of wine on their list – at M$225.

We started with a plate of grilled chorizo, Portuguese ham very similar to prosciutto though lighter in color and taste, cheese and olives ($75).  Their bread was so much better than A Lorcha’s and at least the equal of the bread at Fernando’s.  For mains, we tried the grilled chicken ($98) – marinated for 24 hours (they said the combination of spices they use is a secret) it was packed with flavor and just slightly spicy.  The real winner came from their list of daily specials – char-grilled loin of boar ($148).  Imported from Spain, pounded thin, just some salt and pepper, the taste was closer to beef than to pork, the texture slightly tough as you’d expect from game,  totally unique.  We met one of the owners of the place, also extremely friendly and promised him we’d be back there on our next trip.  Yes, by this point we’d finished the bottle of wine – I haven’t drank half a bottle of wine in one sitting in almost a year and I was completely schtonked at this point and everyone in the world was my best friend.

Back to the hotel around 11.  Tried to lure out a couple of people I know who live here but they were all settled in for the night.  Just as well – by 11:30 we were both fast asleep.

Photos to follow later.  One more full day here, back home tomorrow.