Brazilian Churrascuria at The Venetian @ Macau

28th June 2010. Written by Xin Li.

The Venetian in Macau is one of the newer casino complexes that have sprung up in the recent years. As you can tell from its name, the casino has a Venetian theme. The Venetian is huge and equally grand.

Almost every inch of the building was decorated with murals, intricate carvings, golden statues, mini fountain plazas and so on and so forth. It is a highly idealized, dramatic and extravagant attempt at recreating Venice. While I am not a fan of casinos and stuff, I must admit that the interiors of the Venetian is indeed beautiful and it is something different from all that boring ‘contemporary’, ‘cutting-edge’ architecture in the shopping malls/ Integrated Resorts in Singapore.

The whole Venetian experience also includes a man-made canal with a gondola ride complete with a gondolier who sings, many branded shops, a gourmet St.Mark’s Square and a heavy dosage of grandeur.

There is a food court (which we wished we had found sooner, as their prices are much cheaper than those restaurants around St.Mark’s) and the Venetian also offers free shuttle buses to and from Macau Ferry Terminal, Border Gate and Cotai Ferry Terminal. They also have the Cotai Jet for Hong Kong-Macau Ferry travel. A taxi ride from Senado to the Venetian would cost you about 60-70 MOP.

For lunch we had a semi-buffet Brazilian Churrascuria at Fogo Samba which cost us about 436 MOP for 2 after 10% Service Charge.

The Salad and Appetizer Buffet has a salad bar with mixed lettuce leaves, corn, cherry tomatoes, and sliced onions etc. There were also smoked salmon, feta cheese and rice.

I did like the Cabbage Salad with Coconut Milk, it was too sour and the combination was just awkward.

The Octopus Salad is similar to the Japanese marinated Baby Octopus. Unsurprisingly, it was my favourite and my other favourite is the Cream of Corn soup.

Besides the Salad and Appetizer Buffet, a basket of bread wrapped in cloth to preserve the heat was being served as well, the bread has a nice buttery fragrance but the crust was quite tough.

A plate of fried items was being served as and I enjoyed the Banana Fritter the most. It was like nice Goreng Pisang with a breaded crust rather than a batter.

The roast meats were being served by the Cortadores (meat carvers) would go around with long skewers of roast meats which you can choose to have or not to have by simply showing them either the Yes (Green) or No (Red) side of a coin chip on the table.

The Cordeiro – “Fresh Young Leg of Lamb sliced off the bone.” I didn’t enjoy this because of the strong, gamey smell and taste of the meat. Needless to say, I only had a few bites.

The Alcatra – “Cut from the top sirloin, this piece of meat is tender and full of flavour.” It was more of the rare side as you can see in the amount of pink in the meat. It tasted alright only. Not flavourful enough.

The Frango – The chicken thighs was crackling good, it has a very nice crispy skin with tender, juicy meat within. We had seconds of this.

The Costela de Porco – “Tender pork ribs slow roast to perfection.” Like its description, it was almost perfect, with a satisfying crackling charred skin and well seasoned tender meat.

Filet Mignon com Bacon – “This succulent piece of meat is cut from the tenderloin and seasoned to perfection. Also served wrapped in bacon.” Quite ordinary, a little too dry.

Frango com Bacon – Chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, like the Filet Mignon com Bacon, if find it rather dry and lacking in flavour.

Beef Sausage – A very thick and big piece of sausage. Rather rough in texture but quite tasty.

Abacaxi – “Dusted with cinnamon, served piping hot. A refreshing accompaniment to the meals.”. This is my favourite, sweet and sour juicy pineapples served warm with the subtle fragrance of cinnamon, yummy! I had seconds of this.

The service was quite okay and friendly, more attention seemed to be given to the Caucasians though and it is one of few busy restaurants at St. Marks Square besides the Portuguese restaurant opposite. The dim lighting makes it difficult to take photographs without a support. The total cost for two is 436 MOP after 10% service charge.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, you might want to check out the food court.

Fogo Samba
Shop 2412, The Grand Canal Shoppes,
The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel,
Co-Tai

路氹澳門
威尼斯人度假村酒店
大運河購物中心2412號舖