A dashing Bentley Continental Flying Spur.
Not just one but 3 of them parked right in front of Grand Lisboa. Did you know that you can rent one of these Bentley to take you to the airport/ferry terminal at MOP$550 or RM215 per trip?
No thanks. I rather spend it on food.
The day I arrived at Macau, the 1st casino I visited was Grand Lisboa. This is because the building is too huge to be missed. On the way to the hotel, I was telling myself that I have to step foot here as the building intrigued me a lot. I wonder who designed it? Thanks to google, I found out that it was designed by renowned Hong Kong architects Dennis Lau and Ng Chun Man. I really liked the architecture as it's iconic and posh. These two guys are brilliant.
I guess I never thought that I could control my gambling inclinations and not gamble away a single cent during my entire trip in Macau. Can you imagine the possibilities in this land of casinos?!! I might have rolled some big bucks there to support my shopping escapade OR... some might say that I might lose my skirt.
After some casino surveying, it's time for dinner. We were quite lucky because we met a friend who works in Macau and he was our accidental tour guide for the night. Rei brought us to a restaurant in Grand Lisboa on the upper 1st Floor overlooking the gambling tables. I looked at it and said "what's so special about a noodle house at a casino?"
Noodle & Congee Corner
Don't underestimate this restaurant. Underneath its unpretentious, humble looking space lies a place that specialises in hand made noodles and chinese tea that is served by a Kung Fu Tea Master who walks around with a long spout copper kettle.
This place is quite spacious. You won't be close enough to another table to eavesdrop. I had a cup of Long Jing 龍井茶 which is translated to Dragon Well Tea. It's a type of chinese roasted green tea and it's quite expensive depending on the grades of the tea leaves. Did you also know that these tea leaves can be eaten after infusion?
This restaurant specialises in noodles prepared the Shanxi way where you'll find at least 6 types of noodles here to tickle your palate. We ordered a bowl of Jian Dao Mian 剪刀面 which is noodles that are cut from an enormous pair of scissors as the spool shaped dough is rotated. Thus the end result as you can see here is noodles that resembles the little pig tails. The broth is made of pork bones that has been boiled for many hours and thus the creamy white colour. This is one of the best hand made noodles I've eaten and I kid you not! Not only the noodles have that X-factor which is springy, the soup certainly did make a big difference. YOU MUST ORDER THIS!
Besides this variety, there are also some noodles that you might want to try. There's one that is called Yi Gen Mian 一根麵 which is a one strand noodle that measured 10 feet long! Now that's a never-ending noodle. Or you might also want to taste the Dao Xiao Mian 刀削麵 which it is also called a type of knife cut noodles where the giant dough is shaved with a knife directly into the boiling water.
A set of noodles with 1 side dish will set you back $62 while 2 side dishes will only cost you $68. Of course we took the 2 side dishes noodle set.
Shanghainese Spare Ribs (Side Dish)
Succulent shrimp wantons!
Fried Rice $52
Pacific Clam and Asparagus Wrapped in Steamed Rice Flour $42
Macau.
We had a bowl of braised pork and a plate of the shanghainese spare ribs. As you can see, it's quite apparent that I chose the accompanying dishes because it was everything pork! Why not indulge in pork when you're in Macau? The Shanghainese spare ribs might not look pretty from its presentation but I can assure you that these are very tender pork. No excessive chewing needed and it's VERY THE NICE! (pardon my broken English)
Succulent shrimp wantons!
Fried Rice $52
Pacific Clam and Asparagus Wrapped in Steamed Rice Flour $42
They are quite creative with the steamed rice roll. Apart from the usual barbequed pork or shrimps, here they have rice rolls wrapped with scallops, enoki mushroom, beef fillet, and bamboo piths. Price starts from $30 to $65. It's worth a try but you will have to savour it while it's still warm. These rolls are quite filling as well.
This is truly one of the noodle houses that I don't mind revisiting. In fact, the noodles are so good, I wished there's an outlet here in KL and I don't mind paying RM20-30 for a bowl of that. It's just like paying the price of a bowl of ramen. The 3 of us ended up with a bill of $300+ here.
It turns out to be that this Noodle & Congee Corner is a 2 Michelin Star restaurant! Need I say more?
Noodle & Congee Corner
Upper 1/F Grand Lisboa,Macau.
Open 24 hours
Tel: +853-88037755