(Last updated: January 2, 2025)
Several times while heading to Litoral, I noticed Ma Kok Meng Ke was absolutely packed, occasionally with lines out the door. After a classmate also recommended it to me, I locked it in as a must visit. The sign outside promised Portuguese-Macanese food, something this town usually gets very right.
Ma Kok Meng Ke has all the look and feel of a traditional Hong Kong cafe. Tight leather booths, TVs running nonstop, framed photos on the walls, pendant lights overhead, and a constant churn of customers.
Families, couples, and solo diners scroll their phones while plates come and go at speed. On looks alone, it feels like a safe bet. Unfortunately, it all falls apart once the food arrives.
We ordered the Red Wine Baked Oxtail ($66), Garlic Butter Baked Cod ($75), Garlic Beef Tenderloin ($99), and the so-called African Spicy Chicken ($70).
The Oxtail was the best dish on the table, which isn’t saying much. It was soft and reasonably flavoured, although I couldn’t detect much red wine anywhere. If forced to return, this is what I’d order.
The Cod tasted like a piece of fish with chopped garlic dumped over it and sent straight out. The promised butter was nowhere to be found.
The Beef Tenderloin arrived with garlic sauce on the side, which I didn’t touch. It didn’t matter. The cut and the cooking were straight out of the mainland playbook: sauce first, meat second. Calling this “tenderloin” felt generous.
The African Spicy Chicken was nothing special either. No heat, no interesting seasoning and nothing resembling a decent African chicken. It tasted like a generic café dish trading on a famous Macau name
As I write this now, I realize I went to Ma Kok Meng Ke with the wrong expectations. The crowds had me expecting carefully crafted food, similar to what’s served at Litoral. What I got instead felt much closer to fast food: dishes built for speed and familiarity, modified for the local market rather than cooked the way you’d expect in Portugal. And that raises the real question, especially for visitors. Why burn a dining slot in Macau on a fast-food steak or a vaguely branded “African” chicken? Ma Kok Meng Ke is the kind of place that makes sense for locals grabbing a quick bite, not travellers seeking out a memorable dining experience.
The wine list consists of a few Portuguese options, all listed only in Chinese, without a region or explanation. I recognized the characters for “Church” and ordered that, figuring if it’s good enough for priests, it’s good enough for me. To be fair, it was very drinkable, and smooth in the glass. The price was also a decent $120.
Later, out of curiosity, I looked it up online. It turns out the same bottle can be had for about AUD $4!
Which, honestly, feels like the most accurate summary of this restaurant. Ma Kok Meng Ke is neither offensive, nor disastrous, just a little disconnected from reality.
