Grand Lisboa Macau + The 8 Restaurant.

Grand Lisboa at night.

Grand Lisboa as seen through a residential area. It's one of the tallest buildings in central Macau. You can't miss it's futuristic and shiny features.

[Photo credit for Crispy Pork Bun & Shimp Ball (Har Gow)]:  Trip Advisor Member-  Nicolen451.
I just love how cute these are!

So, after viewing all of the amazing pieces of art (I just included a few here for example), what does one do?  Why not have an awesome meal in one of their restaurants?   This visit, we dine in their 3 Michelin Star Chinese restaurant, "The 8" (they also have a 3 star French Restaurant by famed chef -- Joel Robuchon --
"Robuchon Au Dome" which is on my wish list).

I know most of you are confused because Chinese restaurants generally are stereotyped as inexpensive, and with cold or bad service. But if you visit The 8,  you may just be convinced otherwise.

Originally we wanted to visit during lunch, as they are well famed for their intricate dim-sum designs which I've grown obsessive over (not to mention that a lot of reviews online say it's a steal).  But our schedule didn't work out so we opted for dinner instead (we made reservations in person and was advised of the strict business dress code).

If you are wowed by Las Vegas, you may want to give the Grand Lisboa in Macau a visit.

Their lobby art collection literally left me speechless.   It was the most amazing (and free) hotel lobby that I've seen so far.

The owner, and Tycoon-- Stanley Ho has impeccable taste.  (Wow, I would too if I had that much bank roll).

On display, was the world's largest, flawless, D Colored-Cushion diamond (218.09 ct), and Cushion Emerald (210.34 ct)--heavily guarded of course.  Not to mention all of the relics that puts the Forbidden City to shame.  Some of his pieces I've seen their counterparts at the Taipei Palace Museum before.   There's mammoth tusk carvings, gold and jade pieces (even a replica of the Jade Cabbage that was once buried with Empress Dowager Empress Ci Ci).
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The original Casino Lisboa is right across the street (we didn't visit it this time).

After confirming my reservation through the gatekeeper (hostess), the large floor to ceiling doors opened up wide.   It's dark yet tranquil, but we stepped in anyway, and see that there's water flowing on both sides.  We looked around, and out of nowhere a holographic goldfish swims up from under us and leads us to the other side. 
I can't really explain it well, but it's a really cool experience.

Once seated, I noticed how serene it felt, yet very opulent
(the table tops were inlay-ed with mother-of-pearls).

All of the main servers were dressed in long, black velvet Qi-pao.  The way they walk reminds me of the elegance of Goldfishes.  I was going to speak Chinese to them, but realized that some of them spoke Mandarin (which I was horrible at) so they found us a server that was bilingual.  Both the Menu and your bill is shown in English.

If you are a wine lover, you won't find shortage of choice as their wine list tops close to 15k+ bottles. It's no wonder Grand Lisboa was one of the first to receive the Wine Spectator Grand awards in Asia (they share their list with Robuchon Au Dome). 
Their wine list consists of close to 500 pages alone. 
But we decided not to drink wine tonight as tea felt more appropriate.

Everything was just spectacular from plating presentation, ambiance, to service. 
While the restaurant tacks on a 10% "service charge" (~ $18 usd in our case) to our final bill, we felt so well taken care of that my friend and I agreed that we needed to tip our server additionally (I know, we are radically ruining the concept of "no tips" in Asia).  
I think we slipped an extra 400 MOP (~$50 USD) to our server for their service
​ and gave it to her personally.

We couldn't finish all of the dishes, so the server was so kind to package it very nicely for us (in reusable containers & gave us a pair of re-useable chopsticks
(the type you would use at home, not the cheap ones).

When we first saw our bill, we were quite shocked.  

Did they forget an extra zero or two??

We were expecting to run up quite a tab, but it turns out it was a lot less than we thought;  1600+ MOP (~$200+ USD total).  

Do note there is a small charge for Jasmine rice (15 MOP | ~ 2 USD each).   
I guess it helped that we didn't ordered anything too exotic
​(abalone, birds nest, shark fin soup).

Of course, you can definitely spend a lot less by not ordering seafood.   Overall, it was such a bargain for such amazing food, service and overall experience.   This restaurant definitely deserves their 3 stars!   I can't wait to return to Macau and eat here again.
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