Riquexó — Restaurant in São Lázaro

Caldo Verde = HKD18.00 Minchi (No Rice) = HKD62.00 No Service Charge

The is a Restaurant that specializes in Macanese and Portuguese Cuisine. I saw a few actual Portuguese speaking customers within just chilling around, so I reckon the Food here is probably quite legit.

Unfortunately, I came during their Rest Hours so alot of their Dishes are not available. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed that the China Chinese chap that mans the place was still very accomodating and was able to cook up a Couple of Dishes for me.

That said though, while waiting for the Dishes to serve up, I distinctly heard the sounds of Microwave Chimes, so I reckon he did not actually turned on the Stove to cook them fresh, but rather just re-heating pre-made ones they already had stored.

Caldo Verde = HKD18.00

Caldo Verde is a Popular Traditional Soup in Portugal. Apparently, they serve 2 Versions of this here, a Chinese and Western Version. Of course I went for the Portuguese Western Version since this is a Portuguese Dish in the first place.

I'll be honest, there is Nothing Really Fancy. This is basically a Simple Potato and Vegetable Soup, with Potato being the Main Base. Imagine Mashed Potato being incorporated into a Soup and you get the Basic Idea what its about. Its not Overly Salty. I'm not exactly sure what Veggie is added, but I feel that any Veggie as long as its Green and Leafy and doesn't have too strong of a taste will also work.

I also found some small pieces of Ham within. I reckon their job is just to provide an Occasional Hit of Meaty Flavour to offset the Overall Vegetable-ness of this Dish. Overall a Very Simple Warm and Comforting Potato-Based Vegetable Soup.

Minchi (No Rice) = HKD62.00

This is widely considered as Macau's National Dish. It is basically a Dish of Braised Minced Pork Bak Chor with Diced Potatos and Onion Slices meant to be eaten with Rice. They actually do serve this by default with Rice, but I requested for No Rice.

Not Overly Oily and Not Overly Porky in my opinion. When this was first served up, it has a Very Nice Braised Meaty Smell. When eating this, I felt this had a Very Familiar Taste of Soy Sauce (and Worcestershire Sauce?) and it has a Very Homemade Taste that you will most likely have eaten somewhere before.

Culinarily not Very Complex, I think this taste is achieved just by Pan-Frying Minced Pork with Onions, Diced Potatos and some Soy Sauce. This is the type of Dish that is good to 下饭. I reckon eating this with Toasted Bread should also work well.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

Both Minchi and Caldo Verde are Not Very Sophisticated Dishes. The more I ate them, the more I feel they are actually Very Simple Homely Dishes, using Inexpensive Ingredients type of Budget Meals. The sort of Homely Food that a Portuguese Grandma would cook for her Family. Nothing Fancy, just a Simple Homecooked Meal made with Love. Maybe Portuguese Cuisine is by its heart, Simplistic and got a more Homecooked 家乡味?

At the price of HKD62.00 (S$11.00) for Minchi and HKD18.00 (S$3.20) for Caldo Verde, I feel its still a reasonable price to pay. Would I try them again though? No. because I feel these 2 Dishes are Culinarily Simplistic and are something that I can probably whip up at Home myself.

That said, just because they are Culinarily Simplistic does not mean they are not worth the money to try though.

While I cannot give this place my Highest Score due to the 2 Dishes being Culinarily Simplistic and they are also probably re-heated food (they don't taste re-heated for me), I can still recommend to visit this place because the fact that the Restaurant was nice enough to make them for me even though its supposed to be their Rest Hours is really Commendable Customer Service.

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Riquexó is a small eatery where you can try traditional Macanese food from 12pm to 10pm daily. It is a casual and affordable canteen style restaurant with a handful of outdoor tables, located just off Avenida Disonio Pais. This place has been around forever and is one of the last remaining spots to find pure and simple Macanese food, one of the world's most peculiar and difficult to find cuisines.

Unlike the trove of new restaurants going up all over Macau, there is nothing fancy about Riquexó. This is a is a simple food affair. You take a seat, place order with the wait staff and your food will be dished out quickly so you can eat and be on your way. If you are not familiar with Macanese food, walk inside the open take-away section of the restaurant first and have a look. English speaking Filipino staff will happily tell you what the foods are. You can place order here as well.

I recently had lunch at one of the outdoor tables at Riquexó , enjoying the remaining nice Autumn weather we have in Macau. For my meal I had a nice plate of Minchi (grilled beef, with chopped onion and potatoes) that was seasoned well and tasted good. Quick lunch like this with a soft-drink will cost around MOP60-70 per person. There are desserts and coffee on the menu as well.

In the end, Riquexó is a neat option for food travellers eager to try local Macanese food. Note that the eatery location is a bit isolated but with a map you can easily find Riquexó. Walk past the entrance to Jardim de Flora around 30 metres and look for the bright orange sign on the opposite side of the street....

While the place seems, or is often said to be, quite authentic, the service and the dishes disappoint. It took a while for the dishes to be served after order, the water glasses were a bit dirty. The served pork with fries was also suboptimal: fries cold and overdone, likely refried; pork seemed warmed up, the cut was also sloppy. It was very hard to catch the attention of they waiter in the place that was almost empty. The tablecloths were not the cleenest either. Thay being said, the warmed up pork was not the worst, and the grilled chicken with coconut sauce was also quite reasonable, not too dry. I doubt I would go there again, but perhaps the alleged authenticity warrants a...