Adventures in Alcohol | Voodoo Brew packs a punch - raise a glass to queen of New Orleans Marie Laveau

Understandably, Macau is often compared to Las Vegas, but a comparison with New Orleans would perhaps in some ways be more apt.

Both are port cities that have brought together different peoples and cultures with resulting new hybrid cultures, cuisines and patois. In New Orleans, white teenage boys from rich families would be moved into a garconniere at the rear of the house. Here they would learn to sing, dance, duel, drink, play cards and make love to women.

So, not that different to life in contemporary Macau.

Of course, in Macau when bodies have needles stuck in them it’s called acupuncture. In New Orleans, its voodoo.

The queen of New Orleans voodoo was Marie Laveau, born in around 1794 and who reigned until 1897. How did she manage this long reign? It wasn’t magic – the daughter took over when the mother retired. Both women not only led what had become the banned and underground religion of voodoo (white slave owners feared that voodoo rites were a pretext for rebellion) but ran bars and brothels where white men met black women.

At the  Flame bar in Macau’s City of Dreams, Marie Laveau is honoured with a punch served in a scorpion skull bowl, called Marie Laveau’s Voodoo Brew (HK$220). The price is good value when you realise the drink is for four to six people to share. DC Bull, the resort’s food and beverage director, is a big fan of Hawaiian-inspired tiki – not just the rum-based cocktails but the many and varied containers they are served in. If you want authentic tiki ware, Bull suggests ordering online from Tiki Farm (tikifarm.com). If that’s not an option he suggests buying a Woodi brand pineapple corer from Wing On or online and serving drinks in a hollowed out pineapple.