Goa Nights, Taipa Village, Macau

It is easy to become enthralled and bewildered in Asia’s equivalent to Sin City, Macau. It is entirely possible to meander through, the mostly, subterranean labyrinth that connects each hotel. Past row upon row of designer shop, blissful snappers taking a selfie from every angle without looking who they may be walking into… inebriated gamblers either rejoicing a win or consoling themselves with one last drink before braving the tables once again. Past over priced restaurants in windowless, air conditioned rooms staring at faux pictures of Paris is not an ideal place for a weekend away from Hong Kong, well it might be some but not for yours truly.

Luckily, whilst The Scott and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend away from this on the much more quant side of the islands we stumbled into Taipa village. Away from the flashing lights, sprawling sky line and fake monuments of the main strip there are a couple of lovely spots for a quiet dinner tucked away in Taipa. Antonio’s is the most famous of these but just across the road lies a painfully pretty blue town house, enticing us with a mix of Indian spices and bespoke cocktails we wandered into Goa Nights. Sadly, we left slight less enthusiastically than when we walked in.

We walked our way up three flight of stairs (at least you can burn your supper off afterwards) and perched on the balcony overlooking the street. Surprisingly quiet up there we settled for a night of what was described as ‘Indian Tapas’. The menu is split between salads, bar snacks, kebabs, plates, breads and deserts. Seriously, what is the point in calling a section ‘plates’! Hopefully everything would be served on a plate or something similar at least, what is wrong with calling it Mains!

Anyway, our food soon arrived but maddeningly all at once. It is infuriating when restaurants do this, yes I know that they aim to do two covers a night but honestly all the dishes arrived within 15 minutes of each. What is wrong with staggering the orders. I wouldn’t complain if we had just ordered a ‘plate’ (read main) but all our plates (read all dishes) arrived pretty much together. If you describe a restaurant as a tapas restaurant bring them bit by bit not altogether. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that all our plates (read salads, bar snacks, kebabs and breads) all came on large plates (read portable tray that food was served on) didn’t fit on our small table. We ended up taking food from one pla… oh god I can’t do this… dish and putting it on another.

Food on the whole was ok, some bits were marginally better then others, nothing down right awful mind. All of the menu was explained by our very helpful waiter. First to arrive, followed shortly by every other dish, was Afgaani Nan, a crisp nan served with little other than olive oil and zataar. Zataar was not something that I had before on a nan so that was nice….. but really that was about it.

Next onion fritters or what we thought would be onion bhajis, turns out they were slices of onion, separated, coated in a bhaji batter and deep fried. So…. essentially a bhaji and not a very good one mind. Batter didn’t stick to the strips of onions and wasn’t crisp enough.

‘Goa Nights Grilled Corn on the Cob’ read better than it tasted, there was very little garlic and an overwhelming amount of dried and powdered spiced that was neither spicy (red chili powder on the menu implied it would be) or curry enough (cumin & chaat masala on the menu implied it would be) to bring this dish through to the end. Plus, the addition of parmesan was just plain weird.

We finished the ‘Bar Snacks” with Gaulatie Kebabs on Warki Parantha, which on the menu read as 'melt in the mouth lamb kebabs'. These were melt in the mouth but only because they were the consistency of baby food. Our waiter later explained they were made for a royal with no teeth, this would explain a lot. I would advise that if you have no teeth these would be a good option. If you do have teeth don’t bother.

Better things were to come from the Lamb Chops from the ‘Kebabs’ part of the menu. Well charred and with plenty of spicing. Gnawing away from one end to the other, these I would go back for. But do away with the spinach and potato puree, it was too powdery for me and The Scott. We nibbled on the bones making sure we got every list bit of burnt lamb.

The final dish was from the ‘Plate’ section of the menu, which was ‘Plate’ in name only being served in a bowl on a tray…

Goan prawn curry (fish option available) was sweet through coconut milk and tempered with a well configured spice blend. Rice was well cooked and the addition of the conical poppadum did not serve as spooning instrument that The Scott and I hoped it would. But a good note to end on.

So if you want to escape the casinos of Macau, Taipa village seems a good place to do so. Goa Nights in Taipa village whilst not being wholly bad is probably not the best place to do so.

The Galloping Ginger

Goa Nights

https://goanights.com/