Art Macao, the mega international art festival taking Macau by storm has totally conquered the city with impressive exhibitions and events. Besides art in its conventional meaning, the festival has also influenced other crafts such as in the realm of culinary arts. Several restaurants at Sands Resorts Macao, including Brasserie, La Chine, Portofino and The Golden Peacock have curated special menus inspired by “All That’s Gold Does Glitter – An Exhibition of Glamorous Ceramics” in support of Art Macao’s program, especially The Golden Peacock at The Venetian Macao, the most awarded Indian restaurant in town. That’s where we headed to experience “Prosperity”, a four-course menu created by The Golden Peacock’s culinary team.
Michelin star for the “peacock”
The Golden Peacock was the first Indian restaurant in Asia to be recognized by the Michelin guide. Senior Chef Justin Paul who has been with them since the beginning is constantly working on keeping the high standards of the restaurant serving contemporary food with total respect for Indian traditions; top-quality sustainable ingredients, in-house ground spices, and in-house made pickles. They’ve recently updated their a la carte menu, adding some luxurious creations such as Lobster Caldin and Mumbai Treasure of Passion. Their Black Pearl degustation menu is really popular among guests.
The Golden Peacock truly cares about their guests offering dishes for all kinds of diets. Their menu represents the diversity of India and its regional cuisines, featuring vegetarian, vegan and Jain sections–the Jain diet is a vegetarian diet that excludes underground vegetables.
The service here is exceptional which is as expected of such a prestigious establishment. The waiters really know their menu and always appear at the right moment to help you make a choice or unobtrusively ask if everything is to your liking. With the quiet environment, pleasant music and authentic design, full of colors and patterns, The Golden Peacock created a truly relaxing ambiance.
Prosperity on a plate
The Golden Peacock presents their own interpretation of art with a special “Prosperity” four-course menu. Senior Chef Justin Paul was inspired to do this by renowned ceramic artist and “All That’s Gold Does Glitter” curator, Caroline Cheng’s “Prosperity” series of artwork that consists of handmade robes covered with thousands of tiny porcelain butterflies. These breathtaking robes are currently exhibited in Sands Resorts Macao as a part of “All That’s Gold Does Glitter”. To create artistic dishes, the chef uses gorgeous porcelain as his canvas and exquisite plating methods with carefully selected ingredients as his palette and paint.
Before proceeding to the Art Macao menu tasting, we started the meal with a traditional Indian appetizer of poppadoms. The selection of crispy bread with nine dips and chutneys is a great snack to share and a perfect introduction to the vibrant flavors of Indian food. Some of the dips are sweet and sour, while others are a bit spicy! We recommend to have a little bit of everything as all the dips are made in-house.
Lobster Maheen Katli
Lobster art
The starter to open the artistic gastronomy experience is Lobster Maheen Katli. The outstanding presentation has obvious art influences. However, when it comes to culinary art, the taste prevails rather than the visual attributes. The key ingredient of Maheen Katli is the French Brittany blue lobster. Known for its incredibly delicate flavor, the blue lobster is caught in France and exported abroad only in small quantities. Chef Justin cooks the lobster meat in tandoor, a traditional Indian oven. He marinates it for at least 24 hours, using yoghurt, cloves and cinnamon to add an Indian character to it. Then, he freezes the lobster and thinly slices it to a carpaccio. Premium Beluga caviar with a couple of tamarind drops and small dill flowers create a unique symphony of flavors. Edible flowers around the dish remind us of the iconic butterflies incorporated in the “Prosperity” robes, while the square-shaped mint coriander chutney becomes a frame that keeps the whole composition together.
Shimla Gucchi Shorba with truffle
Fusion
The next masterpiece is a Shimla Gucchi Shorba with truffle. This is a creamy soup served with spring roll on a rice puff and a piece of crispy bread with mango chutney and edible flowers on top. The soup is a fusion of French and Indian influences with the mushrooms reminiscent of French cooking. Being a common ingredient in Indian cuisine, yellow lentils add some texture to the soup. Earthy mushroom flavor is enhanced with aromatic truffle oil, while mango chutney brings a sweet and acidic edge. What is also worth mentioning, is the plating. We couldn’t help but notice how the colors of the porcelain resemble one of the “Prosperity” robes. So thoughtful!
Samundari Khazana
Entrée
For the main course, we chose the seafood option and it was the absolute highlight of our meal. Samundari Khazana is a celebrity among curries. Asian squid stuffed with succulent crab, seared Scottish scallop, delicate Dutch Black cod and Dutch organic shrimp were carefully selected from all over the globe to shine in this brilliant dish. The best feature here is, hands down, the fish moilee sauce. “To achieve this perfect texture and taste, we prepare the sauce in several steps. First, we cook it with cumin, shallot, ginger and garlic. Then we put some raw rice to thicken the sauce and sauté it. After it turns light brown, we add some turmeric powder and curry leaves, then coconut is added. In about one hour, we strain it and the sauce is ready!”, Chef Justin describes the method.
Trimala Lazeez Gosht
If seafood is not what you crave for, there is a meat alternative for the entrée. Trimala Lazeez Gosht is a complex dish with Australian lamb, pigeon and French chicken served with baby potatoes and carrots on the side.
Tasty tip: Get some fluffy Indian rice or one of those handmade naans as a side dish. We chose garlic naan, one of the local specialties. As for the drinks, traditional mango lassi or one of the icy fruit cocktails to balance out the spicy flavors. For the boozy alternatives, the wine selection is decent and the cocktails menu features some creative concoctions.
Blue Forest
To conclude the outstanding dinner, the “Prosperity” dessert arrived (see featured image on top). Named after a blue and white ceramic butterfly dress by Caroline Cheng, this sweet delicacy is nothing less than impressive. To recreate the artwork, the chef turned a classic Black Forest dessert into a Blue Forest. This creamy hazelnut chocolate mousse cake with cherry, blueberry and a hint of cardamon, decorated with sugar candy butterflies and silver flakes, is as delicious as it is beautiful. Is there a better way to finish the meal? We don’t think so.
The special four-course “Prosperity” menu is only available until August 31st. Experience this Art Macao inspired gastronomic adventure while you can!
When: until August 31st
How much: MOP $588* per person for a four-course menu
Where: The Golden Peacock, Level 1, Shop 1037, The Venetian Macao, Estrada da Baia de Nossa Senhora da Esperanca, Cotai, +853 8118 9696, email for reservations or visit the website for more information
*Subject to 10% service charge
