Balichao Restaurant-Bar, Parque de Seac Pai Van, Coloane Island, Macau. Tel (853) 870-098, 870-099, open 11 am-11 pm daily.
WHEN questioned about my love affair with Macau, I summon up neither gambling nor architecture nor an easier way of life. Instead, I'd suggest you follow the road to Balichao.
Begin on Taipa Island, and rent some rickety bikes for about $10 an hour. A leisurely tour of Taipa leads to the freeway to Coloane Island. Instead of biking left, towards the Westin Resort, turn right, bike about two miles, parallel to the ship-buildingyards, a few hundred feet from China.
Out of nowhere you'll see a sign leading to Coloane Park. Instead of turning in here, bike on for another 15 metres then turn left and wheel or stroll around the duck-pond in the forest-jungle-garden of Balichao.
Now imagine sitting outdoors, overlooking the vast vegetation, ordering a bottle of pleasant white wine ($70 a bottle), choosing from classic Macau recipes, traditional Portuguese dishes and a few European foods.
This is the same Balichao - named after a traditional Macanese fish sauce - which opened and closed on the western side of Macau two years ago, with the same recipes, the same Filipino service, and food which was sometimes not as interesting as its romantic aura.