What will students of the subconscious say of Francisco Cordiero? If nothing else, he seems obsessed with ships. The Portuguese-born civil engineer is director of a ship-modelling firm, Modelismo Naval e Artistico. His first restaurant, A Lorcha, was based on the famed Portuguese sailing ships. And his latest restaurant is called The Black Ship, designed like those gigantic Portuguese ships of the 16th century which - according to the history written in his menu - were the largest in the world, going from Portugal to China and Macau. But Cordiero admits his Black Ship has not really succeeded in duplicating the design and atmosphere of the original. What has gone wrong? Blame it on the unimaginative lighting, shedding a uniform brownness on the brown setting. Blame it partly on the incidental music, light pop of the 1960s. Or simply blame it on a blandness of personality. But Cordiero intends to rectify this situation before year's end, enlisting a more imaginative designer to give the illusion of these great ships. Meanwhile, he does have a most interesting concept in the menu: real, honest, down-to-earth home cooking. Home, that is, if you are from north Portugal. This region is not the home of haute cuisine by any means. In fact, one can say many of the recipes consist of fillings, like bread, rather than ingredients of their own. But the dishes are absolutely sumptuous in their portions. In fact, the main courses two of us had were so large we could not finish them. One, the Bacalau a Bras is codfish chopped up, fried and mixed with a hearty mixture of onions, potatoes and scrambled eggs. Perhaps four eggs, a couple of onions, and some baked potatoes went into this stew, which came on an enormous platter. Ditto for the Accord de Camarao e Cogumelos, a casserole of fresh shrimp, fresh mushroom, eggs and what seem like massive amounts of bread. The result does not look like much, but it is delicious. Spongy, perhaps, with the mushrooms and breads. But the shrimps are fresh and crunchy. Neither dish is at all piquant. In fact, north Portuguese food seems to pride itself on mild flavours. Even pipis, those fiery hot Portuguese-Indonesian chicken kidneys usually made with flaming hot peppers, were soothing. For the first time, I actually tasted the giblets instead of gasping for water. A more imaginative starter was a platter of different hors d'oeuvres: a prawn rissole with a delicious crust, a flavourful pork croquette, and tasty codfish balls. And the shrimp bisque? In posher places, this would be a delicacy. In The Black Ship, it is a peasant dish. The soup is fairly thin, with plenty of shrimps. We also managed an almond mousse (light and tasty) and surprisingly delicious orange pudding roll, all authentic 'family' recipes. Without wine, the meal came to just over $300. What is the secret to enjoying The Black Ship? First, if going with a family, do not look at the cocktail list. The names obviously come from a GI bar somewhere in the Philippines. Slithering Nipple (Galliano and Bailey's) and Tetanus Shot (Jack Daniels and Drambuie) are the more innocuous-sounding. The wine list, however, is exceptional. About 40 Portuguese wines, nearly all priced under $150. Alternatively, go with several friends, order a good bottle of wine, and then stick with the appetisers, sharing two main courses for a party of four. After this, go downstairs to the friendly bar and have some of those risque-sounding cocktails. These are worth many an authentic prurient giggle. THE BLACK SHIP (A NAV DO TRATTO) 10 Rua do Gamboa (down the hill from St Augustine's Church), Macau; Tel: 934121; Hours: 12.30pm-3pm, 7pm-11:30pm (bar open to wee hours) Overall: ** Value: ****