Taipa’s Middle Eastern and Indian-inspired restaurant Zam Zam received its official halal status yesterday, becoming Macao’s first halal eatery located in a hotel. It reportedly joined five other restaurants and 12 food factories already certified as Muslim-friendly in the city.
To be considered halal, which means ‘permissible’ in Arabic, food must be prepared in accordance with Islamic law and free from certain ingredients (pork, for example). Zam Zam was certified by the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong, which is authorised to assess food venues in both SARs and some parts of the mainland.
Zam Zam is located at the Regency Art Hotel in Taipa. At Wednesday’s presentation ceremony, the hotel’s general manager Willie Tay told the Macau Post Daily he believed the restaurant’s halal status would “help us open the doors to our Muslim tourists, friends and the local community too.
[See more: ‘How was it?’ Zam Zam]
Tay highlighted the commercial incentive to cater to Muslim diners: “I think that the more Macao offers, the more it will benefit the tourism industry,” he noted.
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO)’s acting director Cheng Wai Tong told the Post he saw the Muslim market as having “big, big” potential for the city. China alone has more than 25 million followers of Islam, while nearby Southeast Asian countries Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslim-majority.
In recent years, MGTO has launched several initiatives to make Macao more attractive to Muslim travellers, including Islamic Culture in Tourism workshops for people working in the travel industry.
