Northern Dishes in Macau

Guests can watch their food being prepared in Beijing Kitchen

Beijing Kitchen in the Grand Hyatt Macau is a consistent restaurant in terms of food quality, pity about the service being sporadic. Nevertheless we had a good lunch here sampling several dishes before I went back to Hong Kong.

Green bean noodle with shredded chicken and sesame sauce

Some highlights: The jellyfish with sliced cucumber, grated garlic and aged malt vinegar was crunchy and refreshing, and we quite liked the green bean noodle with shredded chicken, chilli and sesame sauce, or at least I liked it and finished the leftovers.

The main event, the Peking Duck was presented table side and the chef immediately launched into carving it. He first gave us a small plate of just the skin that you dip into sugar and boy does that melt in the mouth! Quite amazing to try, but one piece is enough.

Then came the duck slices, some with a bit of the skin with visible fat underneath, some just meat. The steamed pancakes were thin, but stuck together and required some dexterity with the chopsticks to be able to daintily extract them from the bamboo steamer without ripping them.

Deep-fried chicken with chillis and peanuts

Condiments included pureed garlic, thinly sliced scallions and cucumbers with the sweet plum sauce. But overall the verdict was the duck was "too ducky", a bit too gamey for some people's tastes. I felt it didn't have much taste and needed the condiments to perk it up.

I suggested we order the panfried pork dumplings with yellow chives and they arrived in a delicate formation, bottom up with a web-like connection holding them all together. The dumplings themselves were crispy on the outside, and very juicy inside. So good.

Pretty presentation of panfried dumplings with yellow chives

For a spicy kick, the deep-fried chicken with chilli and peanut hit the spot. This is not gong bao ji ding, but small pieces of chicken that are deep-fried and then stir-fried again with dried chillis and Sichuan peppercorns for that numbing feeling.

Another impressive-looking dish is the crispy mandarin fish in sweet and sour sauce. It was covered in small mango cubes that were a nice complement to the thick sauce. The fish was very meaty, but didn't have much flavour, hence the sweet and slightly tart sauce. We really did finish every part of the fish in the end.

The last time I ate here was a year ago for a quick lunch just before the announcement of who got stars in the Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau. I just might do the same thing again in a few weeks' time. And having just eaten here, I already have in mind what I'd like to eat next time.

Peking duck, anyone?

Beijing Kitchen
1/F, Grand Hyatt Macau
City of Dreams
Estrada do Istmo, Cotai
Macau
(853) 8868 1930

Performance Etiquette in Macau

Car enthusiasts enjoyed Elekron, but many were late stragglers

In Macau I was there on assignment to cover two shows, one is the well known House of Dancing Water that has been around for 10 years at City of Dreams, and a new show that debuted last month in Studio City called Elekron, featuring stunts done by electric vehicles in an indoor arena.

The latter show started on time, but the seats were just half full. To get the audience settled in, two clowns entertained the crowd for about 10 to 15 minutes, though people are still streaming in.

And even when the actual show has started with cars and motorbikes zooming around, there are still lots of people going to their seats. These latecomers are all mainlanders.

I was told these late stragglers is a very common occurrence for these shows in Macau.

And then there is the perennial problem of people whipping out their smartphones and trying to record the show. Ushers are constantly racing up and down the stairs telling people they are not allowed to take videos of the performance, let alone take pictures with flash.

And then three-quarters through the show, a group of men got up en masse and walked out. They chose a point in the show where the two clowns showed up on stage again and one of them waved goodbye to one of the last men who were walking out. Like seriously? You're just going to leave like that?

But then again in Beijing I have seen people walk out as classical musicians are performing a solo section in a concert.

House of Dancing Water was a very similar situation, though not as many people coming in late. However, before the show started, a mother with her two year old son and grandmother sat two rows down from us and the child was wailing uncontrollably.

He kept saying "我不要! Wo bu yao!" I don't want [it]! I don't want [it]! but I didn't know what "it" was. His mother would threaten to hit him and he would cry even harder. His grandmother cradled him for a while and then his mother would grab him back forcefully and then his grandmother would hold him, passed around like a hot potato.

It got to the point where an usher came down to suggest perhaps they should take the child out to calm him down first, but the mother refused to budge. Eventually she did and after a while returned with the child. But as soon as they sat down, he started wailing again. Luckily we didn't hear from him again after the show started...

What do you do when the main audience base is from China? Do you tell them they're not allowed in after the show starts? Or do you just let them be and hope they will learn next time? And what about parents who can't control their children?

It's an uphill battle trying to educate mainland audiences about basic performance etiquette...