New Year's Day dinner at The Eight, Macau

For our last fine-dining stop in Macau we visited The Eight restaurant within the grounds of the Grand Lisboa casino. Compared to the two previous restaurants and their surroundings this was probably the gaudiest of them all - extremely crowded at all times with loud Mainland tourists, and the most opulent pieces of Chinese art and sculptures scattered round the lobby that bordered on the outlandish. Not the most elegant or sophisticated of places, I have to admit; it is very obvious what kind of customers this casino and its shops and restaurants are targeting. Bemusingly, the famous French chef Joël Robuchon has chosen this casino in which to open the only 3-starred restaurant in Macau (I really wonder why?); I had been hoping to visit it, but unfortunately it was fully booked for the whole period we were there.

Anyway, we figured that we couldn't go very wrong with another starred restaurant on the same grounds, so here we were. Within a casino context the name of the restaurant could hardly have been a coincidence, 8 being an auspicious number (representing prosperity) for Chinese people. Upon arrival we were struck by how this number was incorporated into the curtain-like décor, as well the huge red gourd vases at the door, with dragon and phoenix carvings that are symbols of good fortune. Of course, the symbolisms didn't stop there; as the receptionist led us into the restaurant, we were struck by how theatrical and over-the-top the whole set-up was - almost too much of a good thing, one might say. It was quite difficult not to be taken by the lavishness of it all, but I switched my focus quickly enough to what really mattered - food and service.

Live animation with koi under your feet as
you go through the sliding doors - woah.

And the next set of sliding doors open to reveal...

Centrepiece of the restaurant - a huge crystal
ball with a glass optic fibre curtain descending
from the ceiling, with mirrors to give an extra
sense of space. Theatrical, almost surreal, like
entering another world. The symbolism of the
goldfish on the walls was not lost upon us either.

HUGE table with plush leather seating

We were still feeling pretty full from a heavy lunch we had earlier, and in any case after two days of feasting we felt like we needed a break, so we went mainly for lighter dishes with a good amount of vegetables. Our waitress tried to persuade us to order more 'substantial' (read: expensive) dishes, and she didn't seem too pleased when we didn't take up her suggestions. These were what we had:

Barbecued pork with French goose liver 法國鵝肝金錢雞 - MOP$33 per piece

A truly East-meets-West starter, this was a delightful and luxurious combination of ingredients. The pork was sliced a little thick for my taste, but fortunately still pretty tender and moist. This sweet and savoury meat went very well with the intense musky flavour and creamy & velvety texture of the pan-fried foie gras. The overall richness in mouthfeel was enhanced by a thin surprise layer of pork belly sandwiched between the foie gras and the barbecued pork - the additional mini-explosion of fat and juices with each bite was just so gratifying and left one craving for more; shame that each piece was so small and gone in a matter of minutes!

Stewed eggplant with shredded conpoy and crabmeat 貝絲白玉脆茄子 - MOP$130 per serving

The eggplant had a lush creamy texture and a mildly sweet taste, and were very well complemented by a thick starchy sauce of egg white and crabmeat that was poured over them. The chunks of crabmeat within the sauce were succulent and sweet whilst the scrambled egg whites had a light gelatinous bite to them. Sprinklings of fried shredded conpoy added a pleasant crunch and depth of flavour to every mouthful. This dish was indeed a picture of understated luxury - light, wholesome and generally delicate in flavours, yet displaying a remarkable variety of textures that elevated it above the ordinary.

Braised shredded cucumber and baby spinach with fried conpoy and conpoy sauce 太極金絲綠柳 - MOP$135 per serving

A very generous portion of greens fancily arranged in the form of a Chinese tai-chi symbol, this was another healthy and delicious dish. The braised cucumber was particularly sweet, tender and juicy. The thick and savoury conpoy sauce that was poured over the spinach part of the dish gave the delicate vegetables a real depth of flavour and richness in texture with chewy shreds of conpoy, whilst the small mound of deep-fried conpoy on the cucumber imparted a nice crunch. Very simple but thoroughly enjoyable.

Deep-fried and sautéed scallops in X.O. chilli sauce with broccoli X.O. 醬西蘭花金銀帶子 - MOP$190 per serving

This was a decent if unremarkable dish. To be fair, the scallops were pretty good done both ways, remaining quite tender and juicy, though the broccoli seemed a tad much in proportion. The chilli sauce (which, by the way, has nothing to do with cognac - it's actually a spicy dried seafood sauce that is commonly used in Cantonese cuisine and marketed as a premium product, hence the X.O. branding) did add a nice touch of flavour and 'kick' to the generally delicate dish. However, I was expecting to be wowed by a Michelin-endorsed kitchen and this dish somehow didn't do it for me; there wasn't really anything in its run-of-the-mill conception or presentation that I wouldn't find out of an average Chinese home kitchen.

30 years vintage tangerine peel chicken 三十年陳皮雞 - MOP$190 per half-chicken

This dish came under the section of 'Chef's Recommendations' so I was expecting something quite special (plus I love the taste of vintage tangerine peel), yet like the previous dish, this was rather underwhelming. There were very few actual slithers of tangerine peel; most of whatever flavour there was came from a watery and rather bland citrus sauce that certainly didn't do justice to the supposed maturity of the peel. The chicken was good though - very tender and succulent flesh, completely de-boned into bite-sized chunks, with a perfectly thin, fatless and crisp layer of skin. What I really didn't expect or understand was the broccoli pairing; if the waitress had mentioned it while we were ordering, we might have chosen something else to avoid continuing the broccoli overload. The dish surely had its nice bits, but as a whole felt oddly unfocused and imbalanced.

After all these almost-too-healthy dishes were done, we thought it would be appropriate to indulge in a couple of desserts. We chose the ones we thought to be the most interesting, and weren't disappointed. Whilst not losing their traditional Chinese roots, the following desserts were presented in a very creative manner that bordered on the whimsical, and mostly also displayed slight Western influences in terms of ingredients and execution.

Puff pastry with red wine pear 紅酒雪梨酥 - MOP$28 per serving

Chunks of nashi pear were marinated in red wine to give their mild sweetness a fuller body and depth of flavour, then baked to a tender and juicy perfection within the delicate pear-shaped pastry. To finish, a short stick of chocolate imitating the stems was inserted into the top of each piece. On the whole this was pretty good, the only minor reservation being that I'd have preferred a slightly greater filling-to-pastry ratio.

Puff pastry with ginseng-flavoured egg custard 奶皇人參酥 - MOP$32 per serving

Presented in the form of three nice and fat ginseng roots, this was very good indeed in both form and substance. The puff pastry layer was crisp and feather-light, while its contents were rich and velvety. The ginseng flavour pairing was quite ingenious in conception but unfortunately rather less stellar in execution; apart from the loose strands of real ginseng root imparting a very faint touch of bitterness to balance the sweetness of the custard as I chewed on it, I couldn't actually detect any ginseng within the custard - and the balancing of flavours was supposed to be the whole point wasn't it? Still, taking this dessert for what it was, it was a hearty and thoroughly enjoyable affair - though thankfully just one piece per person or it might have gotten all too cloying for us.

Chilled pomelo with lemon and Cointreau 清香柚子涷 - MOP$28 per serving

A stark contrast to the previous dessert, this citrus jelly was indeed a welcome breather. The balance between sweetness and acidity was very well controlled, with bits of pomelo pulp  contributing a pleasant bite and juiciness. A dash of Cointreau in the mix imparted a touch of bitterness to the overall flavour and enhanced the jellies' crisp and refreshing nature. Excellent!

Deep-fried turtle gelatine accompanied with cotton candy 脆皮參蜜龜苓膏 - MOP$35 per serving

Awww!!

The pièce-de-résistance of the evening, this was probably the most unusual and effective of the lot. A very traditional Chinese dessert of turtle jelly (made of a mixture of powdered plastron and herbs which is supposedly very good for the complexion) was presented not in a bowl (as it usually is) but as two battered and fried chunks. I had my misgivings initially about treating this healthful dessert in the same way as fried ice-cream and Mars bars (in those cases I usually find the thick layer of batter unnecessary and the result terribly greasy and cloying), but here the batter was extremely light and airy, and in fact enhanced instead of detracted from the refreshing bitterness of the jelly. To temper the bitterness, a side dip of ginseng-infused honey was provided (traditionally it is poured over the jelly in a bowl). These two components alone would have made an excellent dessert, but there were two more delightful morsels on the plate: a marshmallow rabbit coated with dessicated coconut, and a custard puff in the shape of (what else?) a turtle. To be honest these did seem somewhat 'tacked on' to the dish, but they were so incredibly cute that I couldn't help being completely mesmerised.

Surprisingly, no petit fours were served unlike what I had read from Tripadvisor reviews; this was probably due to the fact that we had started quite late and were one of the last few tables to leave, and towards the end of the evening the wait staff seemed somewhat more interested in cleaning up to go home than serving us. Or perhaps our orders were deemed too cheap to deserve a few little extras at the end of the meal. In any case, we were already feeling quite full.

The following pictures are of the opulent interiors before we left. We saw ourselves out after payment and some perfunctory thank-yous from the waitress who collected our money. There were no greetings at the door or the like - not the most professional way to end a Michelin-starred meal, if you ask me.

Summary notes: service was quite inattentive. The staff pretty much left us to our own devices after each dish was served, and when collecting the plates all but one waitress didn't bother asking if we enjoyed our food. Despite the number of staff circling around the main dining area (which surprisingly wasn't really full while we were there) we often had to wait a long time for our empty cups of tea to be refilled, and on one occasion when my mum got fed up of waiting and out of her seat to pour it for herself, a waitress finally noticed and rushed over to apologise for their negligence. Towards the end of the evening the staff seemed to be more interested in cleaning up to go home than to serve the remaining few tables. 

In terms of food the creative desserts were probably the most memorable part of the meal. The savoury dishes were definitely competent but mostly lacked an inspired streak. On the whole this had been a decent but unremarkable experience that was all but indistinguishable from my visits to regular Chinese restaurants; I failed to sense how this could have been an elevated Michelin experience, apart from the superficial aspects such as the restaurant's impressive décor. Not too tempted to return, to be honest.