The Taipa restaurant trade is usually considered confined to the stretch of a dozen excellent little tavernas two blocks from the village centre.
Now a new restaurant has opened, but on the road between the Hyatt hotel and the turnoff to the airport. Yet such is the reputation of Sol Nascente that a few gourmets even in Hong Kong are beginning to praise its food.
Sol Nascente's owner has described the menu as 'nouvelle Macanese'. Corny as the description may be, I can think of nothing better. For the food is decidedly more Macanese than Portuguese - but each of the dishes has a finesse, a delicacy and an elegance which can't be found in the more down-and-dirty Macanese restaurants springing up around the territory.
Even before the menu arrives, though, you know Sol Nascente is first-class. The room has the illusion of a Portuguese patio, with a wooden ceiling, balustrades and columns. The view is hardly entrancing (on one side is Macau's version of an Urban Council cement garden), but the large bar is bright and cheery. So is the guitar music, which - for once - fits the atmosphere.
Nor have we ever had better service. Most of the waitresses are Filipinos. The manager, Veronica, is the wife of the owner. She couldn't have been more forthcoming or enthusiastic in her descriptions of the food. It was a joy dining in a restaurant with such nice people.
The problem with the colourful menu is that so many dishes are intriguing - for example, what went into stuffed mussel, kidney in the basket, crab with tapenade sauce, chef-style baked fish or Mozambique chicken? The spring lamb in Guinness was self-explanatory, although the flavour seemed questionable.
These dishes were merely the introduction. There was also duck stew cooked in its own blood, a traditional Portuguese dish; and roast duck with saffron sauce, which sounded vaguely Goanese. But where did they find the recipe for crab sauteed with onions, garlic, paprika, papaya leaves and salted egg sauce? Friends raved about the boneless chicken wing stuffed with mushrooms and crabmeat with a cream sauce.