Macanese
Portugal married Canton four centuries ago — the first fusion.
Minchi
Macau's national dish and ultimate comfort food — minced beef and pork fried with small cubes of fried potato and seasoned with both soy sauce (Cantonese) and Worcestershire (Portuguese), served over rice and crowned with a fried egg. The simplest, most-loved expression of the world's first fusion cuisine.
View page →Macanese cooking is the food of Macau, often called the world's first fusion cuisine — born over 450 years as Portuguese settlers, their Malacca, Goa, and African wives, and Cantonese neighbors cooked together. The national dish is minchi: minced beef and pork fried with diced potato, soy sauce, and Worcestershire, over rice with a fried egg. Galinha à Portuguesa bakes chicken in a mild coconut curry; African chicken roasts it in a piri-piri-peanut-coconut sauce from Mozambique. Tacho is the Luso-Cantonese winter hotpot of chorizo, pork, and Chinese cabbage. The Macau egg tart and serradura ('sawdust' pudding) are the sweets; the pork-chop bun is the street icon. Pork, soy, coconut, chouriço, and bacalhau — that is the Macanese pantry.
The Palate
Start Here
Minced beef and pork fried with crisp potato cubes, seasoned with both soy sauce and Worcestershire, over rice with a fried egg.
Why start here · Macau's national dish and ultimate comfort food — the simplest, most-loved expression of the world's first fusion cuisine.
Chicken baked in a mild golden coconut-turmeric curry with potato, olives, and egg, gratinéed with cheese.
Why start here · A Macanese creation (not actually Portuguese) — a baked curry tasting of the city's many crossing cultures.
Chicken roasted in a fiery piri-piri, peanut, and coconut sauce carried from Portuguese Mozambique.
Why start here · The three-continent fusion that made Macau famous — fierce, rich, and unforgettable.
The Pantry
See all 48 ingredients›
Grains & Staples
Dairy & Fats
Sauces & Condiments
Fusion Kitchen
One fusion kitchen — Macanese Portuguese-Chinese-tropical cooking (minchi, capela, balichão, arroz gordo, egg tarts). Tap the kitchen to see its table.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
See 5 more techniques›
Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
