For me, dining out is a very joyful and satisfying culinary experience. But it is rare to find good food in an environment which actually makes eating out fun. The Kitchen on Level 3 of the Grand Lisboa hotel manages to combine a fun dining environment with some seriously good food.

In Macau, it’s rare to find good bread, good salad (and I’m not talking about frozen shrimp with mayo or a lettuce leaves with thin slices of tomatoes drowned in Thousands Islands dressing), steak and fresh sashimi. At The Kitchen, you’ll find them all, and it’s designed so that greedy folk like me can have all of it in one sitting.

It’s a really fun concept too, because all the food, from the wagyu, prime rib, veal etc, are all displayed in a glass case.  The salads buffet is for customers to help themselves to while waiting for their mains, and the live seafood in tanks await their fate while the sashimi displayed to the customers is simply mouthwatering.
It’s all incredibly fresh, hands-on and appealing. Diners are encouraged to interact with the chefs, who cook in the open kitchen either in the ovens or the grill. Discuss the finer points of grilling a 4-inch thick Porterhouse steak, and which of the 12 home-made sauces it will go best with.

Believe me, it looks delicious, smells delicious, and the taste isn’t a letdown.

One highlight for me was the homemade bread, baked fresh in front of your eyes by a German chef. There are two varieties of breads on offer – a buttery soft mint-chocolate brioche with virtually melts in your mouth and a totally satisfying country loaf – crisp on the outside and chewy in the inside. The bread is baked only after you arrive, and served up in whole loaves so you can see the steam escape when you slice it up.

I was tempted to rip into it with my hands – it has been that long since I’ve had freshly baked bread - but had to remind myself to show some restraint.  A sad note is that these breads are not for sale, but are complimentary for diners, so you’ll have to come back here for your fix. If you ask nicely however, they’ll pack away a fresh loaf or two to take away – (FOC) free of charge!

We started with the sashimi, which was beautifully displayed in a crystal bowl.

The two fishbowls containing little Japanese crabs have more than just an aesthetic purpose. Those little critters are actually bar snacks which can be eaten whole (alive!) or deep fried and apparently taste good with sake.
I would like to say no crabs were harmed during the writing of this post, but Chinese writer Trevor - who is braver than me, ate two of these crabs, and proclaimed they were “tasty”.

Our porterhouse, while intimidating in size, actually went down a treat – especially when paired with the home made mushroom sauce recommended by the chef.

Save some room for dessert. The French chef makes the most divine lifght and fluffy creations which are well worth busting that diet for.

Guys and gals, don’t forget to pay a visit to the bathroom. You’ll be in for a surprise - the gent’s has a  transparent moneybooth - activated by the wash basin. As for the ladies’ - check it out for yourself.

For more restaurant details, click here.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Activities, Casinos, Dining, Lifestyle, Macau. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.