(Last updated: October 9, 2026)
Not to pat myself on the back too much, but everything I wrote in my first O Manuel review was 100% spot on. His best dishes are absolutely phenomenal, easily rating as some of the best Portuguese food in town. In addition to the world class Roasted Chicken ($180), he also does amazing Codfish Cakes ($15/piece), Roasted Piglet ($110/half), Favas ($140), Feijoada ($180), Red Wine Oxtail Stew ($200) and Seafood Rice ($280).
Both bean stews, in particular, are just to die for, and simply must be paired with rice and some of their house wine, which is quite special in itself, not to mention very affordable ($95 for 500 ml and $180 for 1 Litre).
You see Oxtail all over Macau, in both Portuguese and Cantonese restaurants, and O Manuel serves one of the best versions I’ve had. The meat was beautifully tender, but the real star was the incredible red wine sauce. I have no idea how they get so much flavour into it. This absolutely has to be eaten with rice because leaving that sauce behind isn’t an option.
Prepared in the traditional Portuguese style, Seafood Rice is one of their signature dishes. Unlike its drier Spanish cousin, paella, O Manuel’s version is wet, wild and served piping hot. I could have sworn there was some spice in there too, although Manuel insists they don’t use any.
Circling back to the starters, the Lobster Soup ($90) is tremendous. Thick, rich and tasting overwhelmingly of lobster, it’s probably the best soup on the menu. 5 stars
The Codfish Salad ($85) tastes like Portugal in the best possible way. Not just fresh, but genuinely refreshing, the cod is light without being bland, with just enough olive oil and acidity to keep it lively. Amazing. 5 stars
The Chorizo appetizer ($60) is good bang for the buck and another worthy selection, especially if you’re drinking wine. The salt levels are not for the faint of heart though, but such it is with most Portuguese food, in particular, their pork. 4.5 stars
O Manuel’s Grilled Lamb Chops ($200) have the most pristine, pure lamb taste humanly possible. Usually when meat is barbecued, there are notes of smoke, seasoning, sauce or spice, but I detected absolutely nothing with these bad boys. Obviously very fresh, they’re marinated for a day or two beforehand, and the results speak for themselves. 4.5 stars
The Grilled Octopus ($350) was tender, properly cooked and served the traditional way with olive oil, garlic, potatoes and greens. I enjoyed it, but $350 is probably enough to stop me ordering it again. 3 stars
O Manuel appears to be enjoying something of a renaissance after Covid, and it just might be THE restaurant to visit in Taipa Village. Start with the daily specials and you probably won’t be disappointed.
On the flip side, his desserts really pale in comparison and can be ignored completely. Manuel is clearly no pastry chef, as his serradura and mousse obviously show.
At least neither of them are very expensive, only running $30 each, so we can live and let live here.
Another dish to avoid is the Pork Secretos ($180), which I had as a daily special in April 2024. Quite revered if you search for info about it online, it’s the cut of meat between the neck and shoulder of the pig.
The meat was chewy and strangely subdued, particularly beside Manuel’s magnificent house red. Not terrible, but not something I’d order again. 2 stars
The Clams with Lemon ($140) can also be left alone too, as the sauce doesn’t add enough sprite and zest to the clams. 2 stars
The last thing to watch out for are the bread and olives, because they might not be free. I was shocked to see an extra $25 on the bill, since bread is normally served free in Macau’s Portuguese restaurants. Olives sometimes aren’t part of the deal, but no one said anything about a fee when I was offered them. Kindly save those cheap tricks for the tourists mate, and keep me out of it. At the end of the day, it’s just plain disrespect, is what it is.
***Update***
A visit in October 2026 added a couple of new favourites and two dishes I’d probably leave alone.
The Chicken Giblets ($50) were a terrific surprise. Rich, thick and hearty, they’re crying out for an order of the bread and olives ($25), because leaving that sauce behind would be criminal. Better still, they don’t have that strong intestinal flavour that often puts people off giblets in the first place. Outstanding value. 4.5 stars
The Octopus Salad ($100) was decent, bur I found myself liking the vegetables more than the octopus. The olive oil dressing was just right, but there simply wasn’t enough octopus to make it the star of its own dish. I’d still stick with Manuel’s outstanding Codfish Salad instead. 3.5 stars
The baked version of the Duck Rice ($160) was another good dish. Moist, pleasantly fresh and not nearly as oily as some versions around town, although whether it’s 3.5 or 4 stars probably comes down to personal preference. They also do a soupy tomato version, which sounds way too out there for me.
The Grilled Pork Ribs ($170) were the standout. They were unbelievably tender, the meat almost melting apart with every bite. Better still, some pieces barely had any bone, so there was far more meat than I expected. At $170, they’re also about $50 cheaper than Fernando’s, yet I’d happily put them in the same league. Easy 5 stars
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Here’s the original review, when I first visited O Manuel in 2012.
It seems to me that the two most similar restaurants in Taipa Village are O Manuel and O Santos. Neither place is fine dining, nor particularly expensive, and both specialize in no frills down home Portuguese cuisine. (It turns out that there might be a reason for the similarities. Both Manuel and Santos came to Macau around the same time and worked for the Pousada de Coloane restaurant. I think there might have been another famous chef working in that kitchen as well, a Mr Fernando who of course has his own place near Hac Sa Beach.)
The main difference between O Santos and O Manuel is the consistency of the food. When I ate at O Santos, everything was pretty good, maybe 3.5 stars out of 5, while O Manuel’s food was much more hit and miss.
The Roasted Chicken was phenomenal – 5 stars out of 5 – and the Stew was another good choice (4 stars), rich and moist.
While the prawns looked great, they lacked taste and were only average (2.5 stars) and the final chicken with rice dish was horrible.
It tasted like it was a week old and we couldn’t even finish it (0 stars).
All of this is to say that it’s probably best to ask Manuel what his signature dishes are and what’s fresh that day. If you stick to his suggestions, O Manuel is probably a 4.5 star restaurant, and worth your return patronage because what he does well he does really well. His Roasted Chicken is quite possibly the best in town, and as I’ve learned on subsequent visits, so are a lot of other things, too!
Before going there, I’d heard that Mr Manuel carries the reputation of being a hothead with a bad temper, who can be rude to his customers. The day I was there though I saw none of it and he was perfectly fine to us. He was even nice enough to take a picture with my friend who was in Macau to model over at the recently opened Sands Cotai Central (now Londoner Macao).
To find O Manuel, it’s on the same street as the lovely Sam Seng Temple.
