Portuguese @ A Lorcha, Macau

We'd decided to focus on eating Portuguese food during our short weekend trip to Macau, and we lunched on our anniversary at A Lorcha, which is reputed among the locals to be the best casual Portuguese restaurant in town. The restaurant is also near a tourist spot and is listed in every guide books, so A Lorcha sees many tourists. We'd arrived shortly after the restaurant opened for lunch, and when we saw how quickly the restaurant filled up, I was glad that I'd made reservations a week prior. We were seated near the entrance and saw many people turned away at the door, and by 1:30pm there was a sizeable queue of eager diners both inside and outside the door waiting for a table.

View of half of the restaurant from our table by the entrance:

"A Lorcha" refers to a type of sailboat and the decor seemed to carry a nautical theme with whitewashed walls, wooden roof beams and yellow archways. We were attended by an affable fellow who was happy to give us a couple of suggestions and also helpfully let us know when we'd ordered enough dishes. There was a wide selection of dishes in the menu, and it really was a shame there was only 2.5 of us eating, because I'd love to try more dishes. Portion sizes are generous, meant for sharing, and quite reasonably priced.

Beautiful bread, crusty on the outside, fluffy soft on the inside:

A spicy clams dish with a tomatoey sauce that was great with the bread:

Arroz de marisco a Portuguesa (mixed seafood rice, Portuguese-style). The rice was rich in umami flavours from being cooked with the seafood, and we really enjoyed this:

I'm still dreaming about the delicious seafood rice which was packed with shrimps, mussels and crab:

Galinha de Caril - curried chicken. Mildly spiced predominantly with turmeric, this was delicious. I'd been meaning to try more of the Macanese-style chicken curry ever since we ate some at the Macau Ferry Terminal last year:

This was a lovely experience, and I recommend A Lorcha for those who want to try some Portuguese food in Macau. Just make sure to book a table in advance to avoid disappointment! I've decided from our two experiences with Portuguese food that I really like the cuisine!

A Lorcha
289 Rua do Almirante Sergio
Sao Lourenco, Macau
Tel: +853 2831 3193
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 12:30-3pm and 6:30-11pm