Spoiled for choice in Macao

We were told that the Mezza9 restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Macao was modeled after the award-winning original at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. Designed by the same internationally acclaimed design company, Super Potato from Japan, the decor is simple, warm, and manages to be elegant as well.

Selection of sashimi. Provided to China Daily

Large pots of fresh ginger, garlic bulbs, chestnuts, and pumpkins decorate counters, and bottles of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and large glass jars of preserved fruit and vegetables are lined up in racks.

Although modeled after the restaurant in Singapore, this location also serves a selection of local dishes, as it's based in Macao.

The name Mezza9 comes from mezzanine level and nine dining concepts.

The restaurant is large and is also the location for breakfast for most hotel guests as they serve an indulgent and varied buffet breakfast here, including French pastries, Portuguese breads, assorted cheeses, an egg station, dim sums, fresh fruits, fruit smoothies, and the list goes on.

For dinner, we were most tempted by the local choices, but you can choose to have something from the grill, sushi or sashimi, a wok-fried dish, or maybe something from the deli selection.

You can see almost everything being prepared in the theater-like show kitchen.

The soup, caldo verde (Portuguese green soup with sausage) (MOP65, or $8), was very tempting, but we opted to start light with the house salad ($10) made with mixed lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds, and crab cakes with fresh tomato and pineapple relish ($18.75). These were made with lots of crabmeat and were more than enough for two to share. The tangy-sweet relish was a good accompaniment to the crispy cakes.

We ordered the chourico assado (roasted Portuguese sausage) and galinha a africana (African chicken) as our mains to share, and finished off the meal with a Bailey's hot souffle with almond and chocolate ice cream. The souffle needs to be ordered 30 minutes in advance unless you don't mind waiting for dessert.

Though the menu did say "roasted" for the chourico, we didn't expect the sausages to actually be set on fire and expertly sliced up and plated at our table. It was a good surprise though.

It made the sausage taste even better for me. The restaurant manager, Carlos Netto, also offered us wedges of lemon to squeeze onto the sausage.

Some diners prefer this as it takes away the initial salty hit of the sausage that isn't to everyone's liking. I enjoy chourico unadorned, but the citrus flavor added by the lemon was also tasty.

African chicken is a dish that many people order, but one that I usually avoid because my first experience with it was not pleasant - much, much too salty. It was a long time ago, so it was definitely time to try this dish again.

The African chicken here was tasty, tender, and the flavors were mellow. I could actually taste the chicken, the tomato and the grated coconut. We ate the chicken with some plain white rice, which was just what I wanted with this dish.

The Bailey's souffle was hot and light and with the contrast of the cold ice creams, made for lovely sensations for my taste buds. If you like sweet souffles, I recommend you try this one.

The service was excellent. The staff were all happy to answer questions about the food or help to make selections. They were friendly and were keen to make everyone's dining experience a good one.

Dinner for two is approximately $88-110, not including the 10 percent service charge or drinks.

sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn