(Last updated: July 29, 2026)
First impressions can leave indelible marks, and Huaiyang Garden has been on my mind for months.
It might be the best Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in Macau, but I’ll need a second visit to know for sure.
Unsure where to begin, the waitress guided me toward two house specialties, while I penny-pinched and added some cheap noodles to close things out.
The Jinling-Style Salted Duck ($258) was nothing short of magnificent. The meat is incredibly tender, the fat melts instantly, and a faint hit of smoke comes through at the end.
The homemade sauce takes it straight into imperial territory, the kind of thing emperors ate while shaping dynasties. Portions are small, sure, but the result is flawless. 5 stars.
Next came the Suzhou-Style Crispy Smoked Cod Fish ($308), a full-on showstopper. The outside is crisp, the fish delicate, and the homemade sauce every bit as good as the one served with the duck.
The texture was dim-sum precise. One bite and the fish simply collapsed, all its flavour concentrated in that perfectly seasoned skin. I could have done without the citrus peel, as the orange notes were a touch strong, but even that couldn’t dent how good this dish was. 5 stars.
The third dish was humbler but still good: Suzhou-Style Steamed Pork Belly with Homemade Noodle Soup ($108).
The noodles were soft and comforting, and the broth hit all the right notes. The only flaw was the pork belly: just enough to tease you, not enough to satisfy. If they hadn’t skimped on the slices, we’d be talking about a different score entirely. 4 stars.
Dessert was a Red Bean Cake with Orange Peel, and let’s just say the citrus came out swinging. It’s definitely one of those desserts Westerners politely smile at while quietly thinking about ordering something else. Not my cup of tea, and very Cantonese. 1 star.
The head chef wasn’t in that night, leaving his assistant, Chef Xiao, to run the show. He later came out to greet guests, a nice touch that I always appreciate. Service was excellent and almost comically attentive. Every dish was explained like a museum piece, and my tea was usually refilled before I realized it was running low.
If I had one complaint about the experience, it’d be the room. Small, dark, over-designed, and very artificial, it screams Cotai gloss, the exact thing I go to the old Macau Peninsula to get away from.
The room may not be for me, but the food is another matter. The duck and cod were as good as anything I’ve eaten in Cotai, enough to make a $1,988 tasting menu start sounding like a sensible financial decision.
The only thing holding Huaiyang Garden back from five stars is the price. Portions are extremely small, even by Michelin standards, and $566 for two starters before you’ve even ordered the noodles is serious business.
Still, the duck and cod have been on my mind for months. I’ll be back for the tasting menu.
Reservations are absolutely essential.
***Update***
I said I’d be back for the $1,988 tasting menu, and unlike most promises involving $1,988 dinners, I actually followed through.
Four complimentary amuse-bouches got the party started. The shrimp began sweet before finishing with a blast of hot baijiu. Next came spicy chopped greens with plenty of crunch, followed by a tasty pickled vegetable. Sweet, spicy, boozy and sour, my palate was fully awake.
The first official course brought three Huaiyang appetizers, and every one of them was superb. The cherry tomato burst with fresh juice, followed by sweetness from the sauce and a lovely crunch from the walnuts inside. The crabmeat tartlet with caviar and shrimp chips was even better. The caviar brought the salt, the shrimp chip brought the crunch, and neither overwhelmed the crab. The Suzhou-Style Crispy Smoked Cod Fish was the same dish I loved on my first visit. The outside carried all the smoke and seasoning, while the fish inside was impossibly soft without leaving a trace of oil behind. Three appetizers, three winners. 5 stars
The Shredded Bean Curd with Crab Meat and Egg White in Superior Soup looked far more interesting than it tasted. The bean curd had been cut into impossibly fine threads, but the soup was simply too faint for me. The egg white contributed almost nothing, and the crab never came through strongly enough. 3 stars
The Jinling-Style Salted Duck was the same dish that blew my mind the first time. Soft, slightly smoky and magnificent in texture, it released more flavour the longer I chewed. Great steak often works the same way: you keep chewing and somehow it keeps getting better. This duck belongs in that company. 5 stars
Next came the Stewed Pork Ball with Crab Roe in Superior Soup. The pork ball was so soft it barely survived contact with my chopsticks. Once inside my mouth, it completely fell apart, releasing soft pork and what tasted like an outrageous amount of supple fat. The broth seemed fairly restrained on its own, but became far better once the meat dissolved into it. The soup needed the pork, and the pork needed the soup. 4 stars
The Braised Bird’s Nest with Crab Roe and Crab Meat Sauce was a major disappointment. The texture was good, but almost nothing happened after that. I kept searching for the crab, roe and 40-month cured ham, yet the only flavour that came through clearly was salt. Pure, uninterrupted salt. 2 stars
The Steamed Hilsa Herring with 20-Year Huadiao Wine brought the meal roaring back. Mixed through the fish, the crisp scales added salt and crunch against the sweetness of the wine. Excellent. 4.5 stars
The Deep-Fried Spring Roll with Whitebait, Crab Meat and Crab Roe reminded me of a particularly good piece of dim sum. The shell shattered immediately, releasing a magnificent crab sauce that seemed to get better with every chew. I could have eaten five of them. 5 stars
The Braised Seasonal Vegetables with Green Peas and Cured Ham was the weakest dish of the night. Technically tidy, I suppose, but there was almost nothing to taste. If Huaiyang Garden missed during this meal, it was usually because someone had turned the flavour down too low. Here, they nearly switched it off altogether. An extremely easy pass. 1.5 stars
Then came the Baked Rice with Yellow Eel and Chives. Good Lord, that sauce. Deep, rich and absolutely tremendous with the rice, it should be bottled and sold in stores all over Macau. The eel brought even more softness and moisture, while the grains underneath had absorbed everything without turning wet or mushy. 5 stars
The Yangshan Yellow Peach Sorbet with Glutinous Rice and Sweet Bean Paste started as a 4, became a 4.5 and finished as a 5. It wasn’t especially sweet, but I liked it more with every bite. Cool, refreshing and full of peach, it was right up my alley. 5 stars
A complimentary coconut pudding arrived at the end. Thanks for the free stuff, but perhaps I now understand why it was free.
I went into this meal hoping to crown Huaiyang Garden as one of Macau’s untouchable restaurants. Ten courses, ten smashes, a victory lap and no further questions.
That coronation never happened.
I understand that Huaiyang cuisine is supposed to favour subtle, natural flavours, and restraint is part of the point. But subtle and flavourless are not the same thing. The bean curd soup, bird’s nest and vegetables barely registered, and at $1,988, three misses still matter.
The highs, however, were enormous. The duck was every bit as magnificent as I remembered, while the smoked cod, spring roll and baked eel rice were among the best things I’ve eaten in Cotai. More than enough of the meal operated at an extraordinary level to justify Huaiyang Garden’s two Michelin stars.
But 5 Maven stars? Not quite. I’m keeping Huaiyang Garden at 4.5 stars, at least until my next visit.
