_edited_edited.png)
Macau Kitchen and the Long Story of Luso‑Asian Cuisine
- Sharon Wilson
- Jun 22
- 4 min read
What began as pop‑up dinners exploring the flavours of the Portuguese spice routes has become Macau Kitchen, the UK’s only Macanese restaurant. For Kei de Freitas and Hoeyyn Ngu, each dish is a link in a long Luso‑Asian story — a diaspora cuisine they are still uncovering.
Kei de Freitas and his wife, Hoeyyn Ngu never wanted to run a restaurant. Now they have one of Edinburgh’s most happening eateries but their story began long before Macau Kitchen opened its doors. The couple moved from London to Edinburgh in 2008, hosting private and pop‑up dinners that explored the flavours of the Portuguese spice trade — a culinary world shaped by centuries of movement between Goa, Malacca and Macau.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kei and Hoeyyn are on a culinary mission.
In 2019, they opened Macau Kitchen on St Leonard’s Street, creating the UK’s only known dedicated Macanese restaurant. They had planned on continuing with supper clubs, but the restaurant presented itself and a deal was done on the spur of the moment.
UNESCO recognises Macau as a Creative City of Gastronomy, reflecting the cultural importance of what is thought to be the world’s first fusion cuisine. Kei embodies this cultural fusion: born in Mozambique to a Portuguese father and a Mozambique‑born, Portuguese‑creole (Goan and Kristang) mother, he grew up in Porto and Lisbon and now travels regularly to the family kitchen tables of his heritage to source recipes. Food, he says, is about connection:
“I go back to my roots to find recipes from families in Malacca and Macao that have been handed down through the generations and that are based on the marriages between all the different ethnicities that have contributed to our shared cuisine.”
Malacca, Goa and Macau were the key Portuguese trading ports of the 16th century, forming the Luso‑Asian corridor that shaped Macanese cooking.
From Malacca comes the coconut milk, tamarind, candlenut, palm sugar and Malay spice pastes that give Macanese dishes their Southeast Asian depth. From Goa come vinegar‑based marinades, the warm spice pastes built on cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cloves, and the tradition of slow‑cooked pork dishes that echo the Portuguese vinha d’alhos — or Pork Vindaloo. I was lucky enough to eat this authentic vindaloo at a collaboration between Macau Kitchen x Sabzi at the latter’s Punjabi restaurant in Ferry Road. The pork belly, said Kei at this event, should display five layers of fat and meat because removing layers changes the meat’s character. From Macau comes Cantonese techniques and pantry staples: steaming, stir‑frying, fermenting, soy sauce.
The menu at Macau Kitchen is produce‑led, changing daily depending on what is best.
When I visit with my friend, who happens to be half Malaysian, we eat two spectacular pork dishes made from Oxford Sandy and Black rare breed pigs. The first is Spicy Pork Sausage served with sambal (red chilli paste) and crispy onions. Kei sources the best Scottish produce and adds a Luso-Asian twist. You really do need the distinct meatiness of the sausage to stand up to the sambal. We also have Pork Cheek Curry which falls apart at the touch of our forks. Again the flavour is out of this world. But it is not just the produce that makes the food special, it is the cooking techniques, experience and instincts that are applied to the premium ingredients.
Fermentation links the Cantonese (soy/bean pastes), Malay (belacan), and Goan (vinegar) flavour worlds — and Kei’s Spicy Luso‑Malay Fish brings all three into one dish. Sinead and I are eating Chef’s Choice, placing our trust in Kei while Hoeyyn makes us delicious drinks based around fruit, salt, honey, citrus and Gula Melaka (unrefined coconut palm sugar). The Basil Mustard Chicken is tender, sticky, spicy and aromatic. Beef is a mix of sirloin and rib-eye cuts aged for 36 days and cooked with fruity glossy peppers and onions. Many of the dishes Kei chooses for us come from the changing daily menu, he says ”they are what he and Hoeyyn would eat” . Inevitably though, customer favourites have created menu staples, such as Minchi, a comforting Macanese classic with stir-fried Aberdeen Angus beef mince.
I’m aware that the food stories Kei and Hoeyyn tell sit inside the long shadow of the Portuguese colonial empire. The dishes they serve are an edible archive of centuries of colonisation, trade domination and cultural entanglement. But Kei and Hoeyyn — like their cuisine — are on a journey. When they opened Macau Kitchen in 2019, the menu was Macanese and Portuguese. By 2022, it had become Macanese and Malaccan‑Portuguese. In 2024, Progressive Macanese. In 2025, Progressive Macanese and Luso‑Asian.
And from July 19th this year, they will begin their fifth phase: Progressive Luso‑Asian Cuisine.
Each phase peels back another layer of their food heritage. Progressive Luso‑Asian Cuisine accepts that Macanese food belongs to the whole corridor that made Macau possible. And here’s the thing - food is in flux as we speak; it is fundamentally a diaspora cuisine that is still evolving.
At Macau Kitchen, by recognising the influence of Goa, Malacca, Mozambique, Brazil, southern China and generations of mixed‑heritage families — not just Portugal — Kei and Hoeyyn are reframing Macanese cuisine and allowing it to tell its full Luso‑Asian story.
The new directionn and menu will launch at a special event on July 19. This will be Macau Kitchen's 100th event. To make a reservation call or What's App the number below.
