Good Food Guide: Kiong Kei Lamb Clay Pot

During the winter season in Macau, the streets are still busy. However, if you go to Rua dos Mercadores or the small lanes that run off Haystack Street it is a different story. Once you walk in, it feels as if you are back in the 1970s. In front of an old stall, there are some wooden and plastic stools with carbon furnaces on top. Everyone is enjoying their delicious lamb clay pot. The stall has no street number or address, but the neighborhood calls it Kiong Kei.

The big-bellied boss Sheng Zheng says, “Summer is not the season to have lamb, so we only open in winter.” You won’t find Kiong Kei on many tourist websites in Macau, but Macau locals know it very well. Whenever they talk about lamb clay pot, they think of Kiong Kei. The lamb is nice and tender. Good sauce is necessary for a pot of delicious lamb and Kiong Kei uses chu-hau paste, amomum tsao-ko, fruit peels and plus dry tofu and rice flour sausage to enrich the flavor. No wonder it has been popular in Macau for over 30 years.