The Tasting Room, Macau

When casino operating licenses were granted to the big corporations setting up in Macau in the early 2000s, it changed both the physical and cultural landscape of the city. In the inevitable excesses that followed, hotels and resorts tried to build bigger and more eye-catching behemoths than their counterparts.With the fortunes came the ability to attract famous chefs and their respective outposts to the city.

While the city’s quaint gastronomic favorites still thrive, this small yet incredibly dense town is now home to one of the world’s finest outposts of haute cuisine—The Tasting Room, a contemporary European restaurant inside the elegantly designed and furnished Crown Towers. Star chef Guillaume Galliot’s temple of haute cuisine has won a coveted Michelin star 2 years in a row and numerous other awards worldwide. A world away from the flashier, garish hotels on the strip, Crown Towers at the City of Dreams is a subtly-woven luxurious retreat in soft, mild tones with stunning interiors, art and architecture.

Mirroring the understated look of its surroundings, this large restaurant on the third floor eases you into the experience, with a bar and lounge at entrance showcasing, what else? Chocolates. These lend the restaurant its name and you’re encouraged to sample as many as you like. The high ceilinged dining room, which revolves around a central showpiece chandelier, is airy and bright with light flooding in through floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the strip.

Our lunch was a three course special menu sandwiched between an amuse bouche and petit fours, the starter being a crab tartar that kicked everything off. For me, the sign of a well-rounded chef is one who exhibits an ability to adjust dishes to incorporate local produce, techniques, and flavors. For the first course, Chef Guillaume deftly demonstrated his versatility, using coconut milk, coriander, and mint for the lobster nage, a direct homage to the abundance of coconut in tropical Asia. The dish, fusing Asia with Europe and presented in an unusual bowl, was a standout thanks to the subtle flavors in the nage that contrasted nicely with the rich lobster.

A main course of steamed dill stuffed sole filet with razor clams was attractively presented, the accompaniments lined-up in a thin flute like strip cut out of a razor clam shell. Intensely fresh baby vegetables and a rich champagne sauce brought the fish to life. The razor clams were a creative touch, an added bonus that elevated the dish to another level.

While I’m normally not a sweet-tooth and usually skip dessert, our maître d’ made a strong cause for sampling their signature—a chocolate banana mille-feuille, with an infinite variation of textures and served with an egg-shaped scoop of cocoa sorbet. The orgasmic creation proved to be a heavenly mouthful, one spoon at a time.

Creative presentation and liberal use of fresh, local produce fused with a fine European serving tradition are hallmarks of The Tasting Room. The staff was courteous and discrete, popping in just enough to ensure that every step of the meal was perfect. Without being over the top (and that’s saying something in Macau), The Tasting Room leaves a lasting impression.