Macao’s restaurant scene has had a great start to 2025, with the news that 17 restaurants in the city made it into the prestigious Black Pearl Restaurant Guide – China’s equivalent of Michelin. That puts Macao on par with Shenzhen – a city with a population 25 times the size of Macao’s.
But while Black Pearl is about gourmet dining, the fact is there are great restaurants at every price point in Macao, as we remind ourselves this month. We’ve scoured the city to bring you hot new openings, and none of them breaks the bank. Here’s to good eating in 2025, be it coffee and a pastry, a bowl of ramen, or something altogether more elaborate.
Danbo Ramen
There are few better winter warmers than a steaming hot bowl of ramen, and now there’s a great new ramen shop to try.
Danbo ramen – a Japanese chain with branches in Tokyo, Okinawa and other cities – has just opened its first branch in China in a standalone house in Taipa, across from the former Iec Long Firecracker Factory.
Its local owner faithfully follows Danbo’s recipes to prepare ramen bowls that taste as close as possible to the ones served at its branches in Japan. If a sweeter than usual broth sounds appealing, try the eatery’s classic ramen. Or go with the owner’s personal favourite, the negi goma ramen – with extra scallions and sesame seeds. Besides ramen, signature dishes include fried chicken and takana chasu, featuring rice mixed with pickled mustard leaf and topped with tender pork belly.
Danbo offers set lunches featuring a ramen bowl and a soft drink for just 99 patacas.
Pan Pan Bakery
Rua dos Ervanários keeps on expanding its food and beverage offerings, with Pan Pan Bakery being the new kid on the block. With its bright yellow façade – which reminds us of thickly sliced brioche – you couldn’t possibly miss it.
The bakery combines international flavours with French techniques, which its Cordon Bleu trained owner is very familiar with. Enjoy classic viennoiserie such as pain au chocolat (an elongated version inspired by the one served at the Ritz in Paris) or pain suisse filled with pistachio cream, or the inventive, locally-inspired creations like the black sesame mascarpone croissant and the ginger tofu bombe.
Want to enjoy coffee with your pastry but short on time? Pan Pan’s “croissant latte” blends both in one sumptuous creation.
Kam Pek Market
Part of SJM’s community revitalisation efforts, the Kam Pek Market recently kicked off with 8 food outlets on one of Macao’s main arteries, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. The food hall’s location, just a stroll away from Senado Square, makes it super convenient and the building itself is an architectural highlight that has had various incarnations – from casino to community centre.
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The food outlets are located on the ground floor and span diverse cuisines, from Thai to Portuguese and fusion. Among the options you’ll find Thai boat noodles, a signature at Pratunam 1982 (which also has a branch at Broadway Macau), an array of baked goods at Goat (there’s also a branch in Taipa Village) and Taiwanese-style sandwiches at Rui Chen Delights, whose branches have been mushrooming around town. More establishments will be added to the portfolio soon.
Café Fantart
A retro-inspired take on a cha chaan teng – as local diners are called – is Café Fantart, the newest addition to the growing food and beverage choice on the Rua das Estalagens, where many local businesses have received subsidies from Sands China as part of the casino operator’s efforts to revive the area.
[See more: New restaurants to visit in Macao this December]
An engineer by trade, Fantart’s owner makes the eatery’s egg tarts (square-shaped and described as classic) as well as the all breads from scratch. Locals and tourists alike are drawn by reasonably priced signature items like the curry beef tart topped with a poached egg, melon butter toast with a thick slab of butter (it reminds us of a Japanese take on a pineapple bun) and a pork chop that’s coated in a homemade yogurt before being deep-fried. You can also enjoy a “black cow,” the classic American concoction of Coca-Cola and vanilla ice cream with a twist.
Woop Woop
For a long while, residents of Coloane’s swanky residential complex One Oasis have endured a drought of decent coffee: there was only one place in the neighbourhood where they could get a barista-made beverage. Happily, they now have a wider choice.
Seeing a gap in the market, Woop Woop has expanded from its Taipa Village branch to the retail area of One Oasis, just across the from the Bottles bar. Alongside its freshly brewed coffee, it serves breakfast items such as eggs benedict and buttermilk pancakes, as well as açai bowls, which aren’t easy to come by in Macao.
Modern bistro options like duck ragu, chili prawn spaghetti, risotto and a lot more also feature on the menu, making Woop Woop an option for any time of the day. With an alfresco area, it’s the perfect spot for parents to sip their coffee while the kids play outside.
—With additional reporting by Don Lei.
