00:02En Macau hay algo muy interesante. En el mismo día puedes estar en un lugar muy humilde, chino o portuguesa,
00:10y al final de la día puedes estar en una estrella de Michelin, en el topo de un hotel 5.
00:16Así que es muy interesante tener ambos lados.
00:22Soy Cristiano Tavares.
00:24Soy de Vila do Conde, en el norte de Portugal.
00:28He llegado a Macau en 2012, y desde entonces he trabajado como chef.
00:34He casado con Cam desde el año 2017, y tenemos que estar juntos.
00:40Soy el donor de Macalhau y Gelados de Portugal, y soy el chef de executive en Vicks restaurant y Rocks
00:47Hotel.
00:49After having the first experience of working in a Michelin-recommanded Portuguese restaurant here in Macau,
00:56I went to try five-star hotels.
00:59But then I always wanted to open my own thing,
01:01so Macalhau was that concept that I wanted to try here in Macau.
01:06Macalhau is a project really important to me,
01:09because it's like a homage to my grandpa.
01:13He was actually a codfish fisherman back in the 70s.
01:21Macau got recognized in 2017 by UNESCO as a creative city of gastronomy.
01:27So I think it's the right place if you want to open a restaurant, a takeaway shop.
01:33There's still a lot of demand for it.
01:35Opening Macalhau was quite easy,
01:37even though I didn't have any previous experience as an entrepreneur.
01:42But I found that it was really easy,
01:45and going to government departments, they are really helpful.
01:49And in the beginning it went very well.
01:52We had a lot of attention from local people.
01:56I always try to go get the freshest products.
01:59Here for Macalhau, obviously,
02:01bacalhau has to come from Portugal,
02:03but all the fresh vegetables,
02:05all the other fresh products that we sell here,
02:07I tend to go to the local market.
02:09I always go to the markets,
02:11and all these years I made a lot of friends there,
02:13and they really welcomed me there.
02:20After Macalhau, I found this Portuguese ice cream brand in Portugal.
02:24And with a great name, Gelados de Portugal.
02:27So I decided to contact them,
02:29and see if they were interested to come to Macalhau.
02:32The locals like the flavours,
02:34because we have really Portuguese flavours,
02:37like pastel de nata, chestnut with port wine.
02:48Currently, I'm the executive chef at Vic's Rocks Hotel,
02:51so I need to look after all the preparations.
02:55We bring a lot of recipes from Macalhau,
02:57we added to their menu,
02:58and we need to make sure it's being cooked properly.
03:02We try to go with the traditional Portuguese recipes,
03:05although we try to adapt to the local market, as we have to.
03:09We even recreated one local dish called Minchi.
03:12The original is made with minced pork and beef,
03:15served on the top of rice,
03:17and with fried potato cubes.
03:19So we do that version with Macalhau.
03:45I think the Portuguese culture is still very present here in Macalhau.
03:48There are plenty of spots here in Macalhau where you can feel like you are back in Portugal.
03:53For example, San Malu, Leal Senado,
03:56Ruinas de São Paulo.
03:57And I really enjoy Ruinas de São Paulo,
03:59because of the greatness of it,
04:02and to see such a big church there.
04:04So it's a big cultural heritage that Portugal left here.
04:08There is a very close Portuguese community here in Macalhau,
04:11and we tend to gather around whenever we are free from work,
04:16and we go to a local cha-chan tank,
04:18and we love to try the local snacks and the local food.
04:30Macalhau gave me the opportunity of building my own family,
04:33building my own business, building my career.
04:36And I feel like in Macalhau,
04:38you have the opportunity of being an active member of the society,
04:43of giving back to the society.
04:44I always knew my purpose here is to give back to this community,
04:50to this region that gave me this opportunity,
04:53so I'm very thankful.
