93 Saint Leonards Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9QY
Owner's description
The restaurant has both a consistent menu of favorites and ever-changing creative specials inspired by the chef’s personal relationship with Macau and Malacca. With a welcoming atmosphere, BYOB policy, and an authentic menu that encourages sharing.
Restaurant details
The chef
Kei de Freitas is a chef a oriental medicine practitioner and a Luso-Asian gastronomy observer.
Portuguese born of Eurasian and Portuguese heritage, with strong background in gastronomic traditions during his childhood growing up in Portugal working at various portuguese restaurants in lisbon and at his mum's restaurant from the age of 15.
His cooking style is born out of these experiences, one very traditional, and the other inspired from his travels once he left Portugal, studying traditional oriental medicine studies in China, Malaysia, and Thailand. His cuisine is an intuitive self-expression of authenticity, heritage, and progression.
A quote from the chef:
" I grew up in a house which, despite its size, would always manage to stretch if we needed to accommodate extra guests. Cousins would come over with coconut milk and piri-piri. Family friends from Goa and Macau would bring palm sugar, neighbours would offer saffron, uncles and aunties would chuck in cumin and coriander, and the kitchen would transform into a melting pot of tastes and smells that took me to new and exotic worlds. I travelled along the spice route without ever leaving my parents’ terrace. Our home was a place where we would host barbecues and from where exotic aromas would fill the air.
During my times in Malaysia and China I met the Portuguese descendants of the city of Malacca, Malaysia. In Macau, I met the Macanese people who are descendents of the Portuguese, Chinese, Goans, and the Malacca Portuguese. It was a journey back in time through the palate. I tasted everything, spoke with the masters, rolled up my sleeves and tried it for myself. I would discover traces of my own ancestry written down in old recipes found in bookshops, or from speaking with local fishermen with Portuguese surnames.
It is this identity that I express in my cooking, an identity that I love sharing with those that come and try my dishes. The passion I have for communicating my ancestral roots.
Currently, our restaurant Macau Kitchen is the canvas where we paint journeys along the spice trade that many people are still yet to discover."
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Have you eaten at Macau Kitchen?
93 Saint Leonards Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9QY
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | CLOSED |
| Wednesday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 5 pm‑10 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 5 pm‑10 pm |
| Friday | 5 pm‑10 pm |
| Saturday | 5 pm‑10 pm |
| Sunday | CLOSED |
