Dining at Sands Cotai – Rice Empire & Edo Japanese Restaurant

With so many dining options at Sands Cotai right next to Sheraton Macao Hotel we didn’t need to go anywhere else to eat.

Our first dinner was at the carb paradise called Rice Empire. 

The menu had rice dishes from all over Asia. I really had a hard time deciding between Korean stone pot rice, Singaporean rice noodles or Portugese chicken rice.  I gave in and ordered my favorite Chinese rice dish which was glutinous rice with sausage and preserved pork.

Any time I see this on a menu I order it. Normally this dish is only available in Hong Kong during winter months. That’s why when I saw it in Macao in August I immediately ordered it. Unfortunately it wasn’t anywhere as good as the ones I’ve had in Hong Kong like this and this. This version lacked flavor and meat. 

 

 

I was surprised to see a variety of katsu in the menu including this unagi or eel.

 

It was my dad’s first time to try Japanese eel battered and fried. I found it a bit oily but he loved it.

 

For lunch the next day we ate at Edo Japanese restaurant. We loved our meal there before so it was an easy decision to eat here again. 

 

This branch at Sands Cotai was more casual but the interiors were beautiful nevertheless. 

 

 I have a thing for fried oysters. Big or small I simply love them. But these have got to be the plumpest and biggest fried oysters I’ve ever had. The best thing about them was the thin dusting of flour that made it crisp without the usual thick batter. I could taste the freshness of the oysters and not just the usual thicker batter or breading. 

 

Here’s another angle. Aren’t they gorgeous?

 

Three kinds of fish and super tender, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly slices on rice, what more can you ask for? 

 

When my dad ordered fish head soup we didn’t expect a huge casserole of it. 

 

The soup was milky but lacked salt which was easily remedied.

 

Not the best gyoza but then maybe this restaurant isn’t the place to order such an ordinary dish. They seem to excel in more unique dishes. 

 

Of these two restaurants I highly recommend you try Edo Japanese Restaurant. I can go back there over and over again and still can’t try a tenth of the delicious food. 

 
Rice Empire (menu)
Level 1 Shoppes Cotai Central, Sands Cotai Central
telephone: (853) 8113-8930
website

Edo Japanese Restaurant
Shop 1027, Shoppes Cotai Central, Sands Cotai Central
telephone： (853) 2885 2918
Opening hours： Sun.-Thu. 11:30a.m.-11:30p.m.
Fri., Sat. & the day preceding public holiday 11:30a.m.-12:30a.m.
website