Galaxy Macau’s restaurant name Fook Lam Moon translates to “good fortune arriving at your door”. Well, it is most definitely our good fortune to have tasted Fook Lam Moon’s signature dishes and see why this establishment has gained a reputation as one of the best Cantonese restaurants in town!
Why Fook Lam Moon?
Fook Lam Moon was born in Hong Kong in 1948. After 24 years of doing catering, the owner’s culinary ambitions developed into the first-ever Fook Lam Moon restaurant in Wan Chai. Cantonese traditional recipes with a personal twist, high-quality ingredients, as well as complicated cooking techniques brought inevitable success. To stay on top of the game, Fook Lam Moon manages to perfectly balance the two important elements of culinary success, which are creativity and tradition.
Private dining room at Fook Lam Moon
For years, Wan Chai’s restaurant has been appearing in high society as the spot for Hong Kong’s rich and famous. Conversely, Macau’s Fook Lam Moon wants to keep it cool in a different way, by becoming the dining destination for family gatherings, special occasions to celebrate with loved ones, and casual lunches with friends. Mesmerizing art in the dining hall, stunning blue water tanks with gigantic crabs, lobsters and fish create a contemporary yet cozy feel. If the crustaceans’ desperate gazes make you feel guilty, there is always an option of a private room where your food won’t stare at you.
If Cantonese food and you are not on a first-name basis yet, Fook Lam Moon is the perfect place to start your foray into a world of amazing flavors, textures and ingredients. Alongside traditional Cantonese dishes prepared with absolute respect to the classic recipes, there’s the delicious dim sum and a variety of fresh seafood combined with years of history. And if you stare at the menu with confusion for a while, Fook Lam Moon’s knowledgeable waiters and managers will always be there for you to translate the mysterious names into a language you would understand. From history to cooking methods, the local staff are like the Wikipedia of Cantonese cuisine.
Appetizers at Fook Lam Moon
Appetizers and Surprises
Seated at a large round table covered with a snow white table cloth dressed with sparkling china, we got ready to feast! A framed sheet with Chinese calligraphy in the middle of the table instantly attracted our attention. Apparently, every time a guest pre-orders their menu, Fook Lam Moon’s restaurant manager will jot the menu items down in the form of traditional Chinese calligraphy. Guests are more than welcome to take this special souvenir home to commemorate a very special dining experience (at least we did).
Accompanied by our enthusiastic exclamations and subtle sounds of aged pu’er tea-sipping, the appetizers arrived. The first three were: roasted eel with osmanthus and Chinese Da Hong Bao tea, barbecued pork with honey and deep-fried Bombay duck fish with garlic and chili. That hint of tea in the eel balances out the sweet and fatty fish, while the shiny caramelized crust adds a pleasurable texture.
The second appetizer is barbecued pork, also known as char siu, a signature Cantonese meat dish. Beloved for its sweet honey glaze and succulent meat, it makes for a perfect starter to share. For those who are not that familiar with Cantonese food, it is an unmistakable choice, especially when ordered at Fook Lam Moon. Here, they know all the tricks and secrets on how to cook it to perfection.
Deep-fried garlic and chili might sound like an overwhelming flavor bomb, but in the case of Bombay duck fish it is not. Crunchy garlic and chili flakes do not overpower the subtle taste of the fish and the deep-frying kept its texture delicate and moist.
Steamed lobster dumpling with truffle
Dim Sum delicacies
We don’t know about you, but for us, the Cantonese meal is not 100% complete without some good old dim sum. In Fook Lam Moon, we got steamed lobster dumpling with truffle and baked abalone puff. The popular and traditional shrimp filling in the dumpling is substituted with lobster that gives it a sweeter taste and a chewier texture. Accompanied by the right amount of earthy truffle and the crunchiness of bamboo shoots, this dumpling is a perfect combination of what land and sea have to offer.
Abalone puff
The abalone puff is yet another example of how important the balance of textures is in Chinese culinary traditions. The tender sea delicacy forms an exquisite alliance with fluffy and crispy puff pastry.
Talking about alliances, if you want to explore more combinations of flavors, check out the three sauces served with your food. Mustard, chili with soy sauce and XO, an umami seafood sauce popular in Cantonese cuisine. Fook Lam Moon even claims that the original recipe of XO sauce was created in their Hong Kong restaurant. Doesn’t that make you want to have a taste?
Deep-fried crispy chicken
300 showers for a chicken
When in Fook Lam Moon, go with their most famous signature dishes. The first is deep-fried crispy chicken (see image above). You know the main course will be special when it’s announced with “Let me tell you the story behind this chicken”. Don’t be afraid of it being too oily or fatty which may happen when meat is deep-fried. In Fook Lam Moon, they make the whole chicken go through a special “spa treatment”, showering it with hot oil step by step, in more than 300 steps. As a result of this thorough preparation, the chicken skin turns perfectly crisp and brown without absorbing too much oil. This traditional chicken “shower” is a long process so it’s better to reserve this dish in advance to make sure of its availability.
Baked stuffed crab shell with onions and fresh crab meat
The second chef’s specialty is a baked stuffed crab shell with onions and fresh crab meat. The chef uses two types of crustaceans to make it–Alaskan king crab contributes to the chewy texture and blue crab gives the dish its delicious taste. There is no shortage of crab meat inside this shell where the portion is more than generous. The cooking process of this baked crab is extremely complex and includes many cooking methods and techniques. Its flawless execution speaks volumes of the chef’s expertise and creativity. Bravo!
Deep-fried sesame ball
Sweet aftertaste
To conclude the meal on a sweet note, we tried two desserts, starting with sweetened red bean cream. Soup desserts, or tong sui, are typical in Guangdong province but not really common in other Chinese regional cuisines. Silky smooth red bean paste is enhanced with the rich flavor of sun-dried aged mandarin peel. Besides being a pleasure for the taste buds, the red bean cream has a number of health benefits such as detoxifying the body and helping with digestion.
Our second dessert was deep-fried sesame ball, an incredibly Instagrammable sweet treat. The dough is so thin that you can easily see through it. The perfection of taste and form is achieved by ensuring the precise temperature of the oil used to fry the sesame ball. A celebration of the chef’s skills, this light dessert is also an ideal way to conclude such an abundant feast.
For more information, click here. To reserve a table, call +853 8883 2221
Fook Lam Moon Galaxy Macau, Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança, Galaxy Macau, Cotai, www.galaxymacau.com
