Portuguese Lunch At A Lorcha and A Visit To A Temple (#MyFirstMacaoTrip)

April 25, 2023

It was truly a great experience wandering around Macao for the first time. Indeed, the first times are always great. Because of this, I want to visit Macao again someday and spend at least a night there, or hopefully, a vacation in Macao with my parents.

At lunchtime, we traveled to Avenida Almirante Sergio to visit a famous Portuguese restaurant as we planned to eat lunch there. Buses in Macao are just similar to those in Hong Kong. Even when walking in some streets, I felt like I was just in Hong Kong.

This massive quaint building was the first thing I noticed upon getting out of the bus. It was located on the opposite road from where we alighted. It reminded me of huge and dense buildings in HK.

We arrived at A Lorcha, located on the bottom floor of a residential building. The place wasn't open for customers yet and was still under preparation. It was only 11:30 when we arrived at the place and we still had an hour to wait since it opens at 12:30.

While waiting, we visited a temple located just on the west side. My bosses are Buddhist so they paid a visit to offer prayers. They used to do that in every place they visit. The place has a spacious park where visitors could rest. There is also a small store selling drinks, snacks, and souvenirs.

I spotted this red post in front of the green building, and upon searching about it, it is called CTT or Macau Post and Telecommunications. I have seen a few of this kind in other parts of Macao too which I initially thought was just an ordinary post, not a mail post.

When we get back to A Lorcha, we were surprised by the number of customers queueing outside. Gladly, my boss's son already booked a table when we arrived at the place.

A Lorcha is a famous restaurant in Macao serving Portuguese cuisine for long years. People purposely go to this place just to taste their amazing Portuguese cuisine. I, myself, won't deny that I had a great dining experience here.

The interior of the place resembles a lorcha vessel, where it got its name. You would truly feel a nostalgic vibe of Macao as you step inside. It will also give you the impression that you are inside a vessel. A lorcha vessel is a Portuguese-style vessel with a Chinese junk rig. Photographs of old Lorcha vessels are hung on the walls of the restaurant which would let you know a bit of its history.

The first thing they served was Portuguese bread in a small basket along with a pitcher of wine. It has some chunks of whatever fruit it was, but I liked the taste. While waiting for our orders, we ate the bread first filled with butter.

Orders came one by one and we were all excited to devour them. A big bowl of appetizer came next. It was called Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato or Portuguese garlic and wine clams. It wasn't new to me as I tasted a lot of seafood in our country where they are much cheaper. There is a Portuguese way of eating clams soup where they would get a piece of bread and dip it into the soup. This style of eating was introduced to me back in the day when my boss's son cooked Portuguese food at home. Albeit salty, I liked the soup much as it reminded me of those seafood recipes in our country.

These photos, by the way, are actually just random ones, so you won't really see a quite decent one or those with perfect angles 😅. The thing is, I am hesitant to take photos of food when I am with my bosses.

We also order a bowl of seafood rice called Arroz com frutos do mar with prawns and crabs on top. It was salty but I liked the unique flavor. A plate of mixed vegetables reminded me of a Filipino dish called chop suey. That potato-shaped brown-colored food is what they called Pastéis de Bacalhau or Salt Cod Fritters. It is made from potatoes, codfish, eggs, parsley, and onion.

The next orders were Portuguese chicken curry and sardines. I wasn't able to take a photo of the curry because it was on the other side. I liked the not spicy flavor of curry and we even dipped the bread into the soup. The sardines were grilled and served with baked potato, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and slices of lemon.

It was truly a great dining experience tasting new culinary flavors. The foods are exceptional and I liked the ambiance of the place as well as the staff. And surprisingly, all servers in A Lorcha are Filipinos. I heard all servers speaking Tagalog when talking with each other and that's how I found it out. I had a small conversation with the female staff and asked about how they got a job in Macao. With that, I thought, "Why not work in Macao after my contract in Hong Kong?" One of the staff also said that the salary in Macao is much higher compared to HK. But the process is definitely harder. Who knows? Let's see after a year 😊.

That was another new experience in A Lorcha and I would definitely visit this place someday again.

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