{"id":472847,"date":"2025-10-04T05:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T05:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/472847\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T05:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T05:24:16","slug":"i-ate-at-a-hidden-gem-edinburgh-restaurant-and-its-one-of-the-best-meals-ive-ever-had","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/472847\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I ate at a hidden gem Edinburgh restaurant and it’s one of the best meals I’ve ever had’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The staff were friendly, the prices were reasonable, and the food was absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n

Alexander Smail is the Tourism Writer for the Daily Record. He writes about all of the best that Scotland has to offer, from stunning hidden beauty spots to delicious food and drink that you can’t find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\"MacauThe restaurant looks unassuming from the outside, but its food is world-class(Image: Alexander Smail)<\/p>\n

Scotland is home to countless world-class restaurants. From Michelin-starred<\/a> fine dining destinations to no-frills gastropubs, every possible taste is catered to.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, many of the country’s top eateries are found in its cities. Edinburgh<\/a> in particular is home to a huge range of incredible venues serving up a wide selection of cuisines.<\/p>\n

One of the more interesting restaurants in the Scottish capital is Macau Kitchen, which as the name suggests specialises in Macanese cuisine<\/a>. Macanese food is known for its unique fusion of Portuguese and Chinese influences.<\/p>\n

Scotland Now<\/a> writer Alexander Smail headed to Macau Kitchen on October 1 to try it out. Read on to find out how he got on.<\/p>\n

When my partner asked me where I wanted to eat for my birthday, I knew I wanted to try Macau Kitchen. I had heard great things about the restaurant from my friends, and its unique fusion of Chinese and Portuguese cuisines sounded right up my alley.<\/p>\n

The restaurant is somewhat tucked away, situated on St Leonard’s Street\u2014a short walk from the more bustling South Clerk Street. It is somewhere that I have passed by plenty of times over the years<\/a>, and was excited to finally try it out.<\/p>\n

When we stepped inside Macau Kitchen, the first thing I noticed was how low-key and authentic it felt. A lot of Edinburgh restaurants can feel overly fancy and pretentious, but this was welcoming and homely.<\/p>\n

\"MacauMacau Kitchen(Image: Alexander Smail)<\/p>\n

The dining room was small, but this only added to the warm and cosy ambience. Although there were only a few tables, it never felt cramped.<\/p>\n

Macau Kitchen offers both a standard menu and a daily changing list of specials. There is also ‘Five-course Chef’s Choice’, which we opted for, that sees the restaurant’s chef personally visit your table and tailor a menu specifically for you for the very reasonable price of \u00a355 per person.<\/p>\n

As we eagerly anticipated our first course, we enjoyed a glass of red wine. The restaurant does not serve alcohol and operates a BYOB policy, so keep this in mind when visiting.<\/p>\n

\"SpicySpicy octopus salad(Image: Alexander Smail)<\/p>\n

After a short wait, we were treated to our first course of the night: spicy octopus salad. I found it to be the ideal opener, and was the perfect balance of spicy and fresh\u2014with just enough of a kick.<\/p>\n

The next course was mustard basil chicken, and we were advised to eat the basil first to allow the chicken to cool down a bit. While I enjoyed the salad, this felt like the first proper course.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The Perthshire town with ‘best autumn walk in Scotland’ and inn with yummy Sunday roast<\/a><\/p>\n

The chicken was warm but sweet, with a hint of nuttiness. Meanwhile, the basil was crunchy and fresh.<\/p>\n

Next up was the aromatic spicy peanut chicken\u2014which might be my favourite of the night. It was warming and just what I needed amidst the chilly and wet autumnal weather.<\/p>\n

The fourth course of the night was tamarind soy duck, which I am ashamed to say was my first time eating duck. It was the perfect introduction, though, with the juicy and tender meat falling right off the bone.<\/p>\n

\"TamarindTamarind soy duck(Image: Alexander Smail)<\/p>\n

Finally, we ended with another salad\u2014this time a crispy one. I am not used to finishing a meal with a salad, but it was actually really refreshing.<\/p>\n

Me and my partner had only planned to eat savoury dishes, as we had tiramisu waiting for us back home. However, against our better judgement, we were convinced to try Macau Kitchen’s Portuguese chocolate cake\u2014and I am glad we did.<\/p>\n

\"PortuguesePortuguese chocolate cake(Image: Alexander Smail)<\/p>\n

The small cake was placed atop a pool of cream, which provided a great balance to the sharp and rich flavour. While it meant we had no room left for tiramisu, we did not regret our decision.<\/p>\n

After waiting years to try Macau Kitchen, I can confidently say it was worth the wait. All throughout the night, the staff were friendly and the food was to die for.<\/p>\n

All in all, it might just be the best meal I have ever had in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The staff were friendly, the prices were reasonable, and the food was absolutely delicious. Alexander Smail is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,1203,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-472847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-food","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115314233566074205","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}