How ex-Portuguese soldier learned to cook and opened Antonio’s restaurant in Macau
- Antonio Coelho learned about Portuguese food from eating it – so often, he taught himself to cook and became a chef; he opened his Macau restaurant in 2007
- At the age of 70 he’s still in the kitchen at Antonio’s, which serves Portuguese classics and has earned a mention in the Michelin Guide
Antonio Coelho is the chef and owner of Antonio’s, a three-storey restaurant in Macau’s Taipa Village. Dressed in his short-sleeved chef jacket, covered with medals, Coelho is chatting with regular customers and greeting new ones.
Inside, the atmosphere is cosy and casual, with a guitarist who sings most nights. But the diners come here for the food, and the menu lists numerous Portuguese dishes, many of them signature dishes.
There are sauté clams with garlic, coriander, olive oil and white wine sauce, or sauté fresh prawns in plenty of chopped garlic, bacalao or deep-fried fish cakes, grilled sardines, and a gut-busting Portuguese duck rice that’s rich and delicious. The same can be said of the steak “Portuguese” style, pan-fried in butter and topped with a fried egg, pickles and potato slices.
The 70-year-old Coelho has lived in Macau for almost 22 years, though in his colourful past he wasn’t always in the kitchen.
Originally from Portugal, Coelho did a mandatory four-year stint in the army in 1970 that included two years in Macau. He remembers the ship docking at where Ponte 16 is now.