(Last updated: December 27, 2025)
Birthdays should be special, especially the older you get and the fewer of them that are left. That six-year-old blowing out candles with ice cream running down their face may think they’re the boss, but they haven’t done anything yet. Congrats, kid — you pooped, peed, and cried your way to six, and now you’re somehow being applauded for having made it that long, while being mostly carried around.
Nah. Not gonna happen to me.
So when it’s my birthday, I go big. This year I chose Michelin-starred Zuicho at the Grand Lisboa Palace — a little birthday gift to myself for hitting 47. We went at lunch but had the full dinner tasting menu, which is easy to do if you tell them in advance.
And much in the same way that I’m going bald, if I’m going to go broke, I’m going to do it properly. The 8 course set cost $1,800 per person, plus an additional $980 for sake.
And there were two of us. (Gulp.)
This thing had better be good.
We kicked off with the Deep-Fried Lotus Ball with Sea Urchin that exploded with taste from every angle – up, down, sideways, all around. With soft crunch, and a rich filling, it was craftsmanship of the highest order. 4.5 stars
The Jack Mackerel Tartare with Caviar was just as strong. The texture was out of this world, and the radish was essential, keeping the richness in check. 4.5 stars
The Kamonasu Eggplant and Sesame Tofu in White Miso Broth was even better. Slightly salty but loaded with seafood flavour, it somehow ate with the satisfaction of a great steak despite being made from eggplant and tofu. 5 stars
The sashimi course arrived in two parts, and the contrast was almost comical. The Golden Eye Snapper from Shizuoka didn’t do much of anything — faint, restrained, borderline boring. 1 star
But the second snapper? A revelation. The chilli sauce was sneaky and brilliant, the texture phenomenal, and it completely eclipsed the first fish. A straight-up 5 stars.
Then the meal hit its peak.
The A5 Black Wagyu Beef Tenderloin Cutlet blew our minds. Crisp outside, soft and outrageously juicy inside, it needed neither the sauce nor much assistance from the knife. Even the salad was excellent. It very well might be the best steak in Macau. 5 stars
The Unagi Eel Hotpot was good, but badly overshadowed by the steak, as most things would be. It’s egg-based, which meant I couldn’t mix mine properly, but my wife could and she loved it. Maybe that’s the missing piece. The eel itself was solid, but this dish sat a tier below the rest. 3 stars
Then came a surprise: a Hairy Crab Soup that wasn’t on the menu and wasn’t explained, but absolutely rocked the house. Thick, deeply savoury and packed with crab, it was a teenage dream in soup form. 5 stars, no hesitation.
The Takikomi Rice with Seasonal Seafood was another triumph. It came out looking like a side salad mixed with corn and rice, but it was fantastic. The best part? They let us keep having it — as rice, as soup, as seconds, as thirds, whatever we wanted.
Maybe it was leftover. Maybe they were just being generous. Either way: HELL YES. Michelin restaurants almost never do this, and it was glorious. 4.5 stars
The Okayama Peach was, without exaggeration, the best peach dessert I’ve ever had. Nothing elaborate, just spectacular fruit allowed to taste like spectacular fruit. If someone told me Zuicho got their Michelin star purely because of this peach, I wouldn’t argue. 5 stars
The sake pairing included Dewazakura AWA Sparkling, Hakurakusei Junmai Daiginjo, Wa8 28% Junmai Daiginjo and Shichiken Kaikoma. The “28%” refers to the rice polishing ratio, something I initially mistook for alcohol content. Apparently, I still have plenty to learn about sake. What I do know is that every glass was excellent.
Looking back, I loved seven of the eight courses. At most Michelin tasting menus, there are always two or three dishes you politely endure. At Zuicho, there was only one.
To make things even better, a surprise birthday cake came out at the end, the perfect way to close an already exceptional meal.
Zuicho’s food? Five-star level.
The Zuicho experience? Outstanding.
Zuicho’s prices? Painful, but fair.
I knocked them down half a star only because it wasn’t remotely cheap. But I’d definitely go again, and gladly pay up.
We only live once, and places like Zuicho are why we live.
