Seng Kei Congee

Every time when feel unwell after working long night shifts or when the weather turns cold, the first thing I immediately think of is Seng Kei porridge. Most people in Macau often go for their traditional breakfasts. Seng Kei has a history of more than 70 years, currently the third generations taking over this century-old store. I especially like to go to Toi San and Taipa branches. Other locations are convenient too: Avenida Ouvidor Arriaga, Hac Sa Wan, Almeida Ribeiro, etc.

The hand-painted pictures on the wall in each store described the story of their first-generation store. Seng Kei Congee was first opened in Rua do Patane, and have moved to Rua da Barca during World War I. They currently owned five branches;

The decoration of each Seng Kei store went almost the same. The loveliest thing was when you enter the restaurant, you will noticed the super busy cashier lady at the counter – all food serving area located on the right hand side, stationed with a full staffed feminine team; All orders made fresh and delivered on the table just in three minutes.

Common Dining area for public

This is a famous congee shop for majority people “Dai-Dat-Dei”- definitely not a “high-end” restaurant pick, purely focusing tourist businesses only; or a well-known local chain store where exceptional service highly emphaised. All staff engaged in each branch showed almost the same aligned “grounded neighborhood greeting service attitude”; if anyone like me feeling in a good mood one day, can freely speak to one of the “Ladies”. Each of them would send their best regards warmly, with a great smile on their face.

If you don’t like it, you can also think of a “Quick bite”. No matter what dining atmospheres it lasts, it’s always the stereotype “Eat and Pay the bill – off and go”. When settling bill, just simply present the circled white marked paper present at the counter; the cashier in charge will quickly calculate the corresponding subtotal in seconds from heart, settling the bill in all different payment method available: Cash, Alipay, credit card, consumer card, Macau pass, we chat, BOC Easypay, QuickPass, etc. Almost e-payment ready to go; that really keep up with the biz trend!

I have tried their dine-in and it only take ten minutes to complete; this is how the neighboring operation flow like. That’s not just showing heart-warming act, but also running a fast, systematic, user-friendly flow; Well, also of course, using the fastest way collecting money; “If you go on regular basis, all stationed Auntie must have recognized you when got in.”

Seng Kei Signature items

Seng Kei congee mainly sell Chinese breakfast as its bests; white porridge, radish cake, rice roll, mango and green tea tofu dessert are always “must order” every time when visiting, and they are very popular in Macau local neighborhood and tourists groups.

In addition to fish dumplings, rice noodles, bacon rice dumplings and chinese fried items, Seng Kei congee launched various new products in these recent years including: sago, jelly, mango, green tea, and black pearls for as little as five patacas, able to put in any kind of dessert item. The most important thing is that you only need to spend about thirty patacas each time when you pay the entire bill, in a super reasonable price-sets, way more cheaper than buying a cup of high-quality take-away coffee, that is so hard to find in Macau.

Famous fried items

Deep-fried stuff is also quite famous; In Macau so called Fried egg slices, Ox-tongue crisps, Chinese fried donuts and Sachima are one of its famous. Usually I prefer eating fried item of a kind, with a cup of cold soy milk over summer times; if weather gets cold, I would surely love to order a bowl of hot congee! Many people reckoned Seng Kei white congee is relatively tastes light, like soy milk. When tasted can feel the rice and dried bean curd boiled for hours after slow cooking, it almost became a paste form. Adding a small amount of salt not only can reset our internal inflammations, but also warm-up our stomach; by the way having said, it ended up more effective than taking pills to clear off intestines and stomach discomforts. It is a good option incorporating with natural dietary food remedies healing early illness symptoms.

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Every time I order the “three precious item”; that is rice rolls, rice dumplings, and radish cakes. As soon as they delivered on the table, I immediately make a plate of “mixed sauce”; it consists of seafood sweet sauce, peanut butter, chutney, soy sauce and sesame well mixed together; All sweet, sour, spicy and bitter combined in one, slightly altered special made.

You can also put miscellaneous sauces on the radish cake too; with the sprinkled small shrimps and shallots on top with soy sauce. The radish cake looks so attractive; It tastes a well-steamed, transparent radish after attempted the first bite. The added ingredients spend a fortune for sure, which differ from other common spongy and loosen radish available in other store – which you can taste seriously a unpleasant, mouthful of powdered radish cake textures when tried. You can taste their the rice dumplings without any MSG and coloring in it, and the fat inside is not greasy at all. The three kinds putting them altogether are just a perfect combination!

Highly recommended

Specially recommended preserved egg and lean meat porridge; They have salted eggs, preserved eggs, lean meats and dried oysters. It tastes a little bit seafood and tastes like salted pork bone porridge. It will make one spoon after spoon.

Dried fish Siu Mai is my favorite. The taste is similar to that of Siu Mai. The fish filling and the outer skin are very firm, and the outer skin wrapped up the whole thing. It has a solid feeling when bitten. Just pour soy sauce on top to make the taste more flavored; alternatively, using their soy sauce and add your favorite mixed sauces.

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Finally, please do order their most famous mango tofu dessert; I prefer the original flavor more, occasionally with a cold black jelly as a base, or given a try other traditional sweet desserts such as red bean paste, green bean paste, sesame paste, or mixed both.

This way of eating has started since my childhood. I believe most youngsters, even the elderly, have visited Seng Kei ever since. Such childhood memories helped to raise their ego up by cooking non-stop in the past years, showing their gratitude that support them over the years around the neighborhood area; Work from 7 am to 8 pm, open 7 days a week. With such professionalism, it is really difficult to find such kind of century-old shop in Macau again. We should visit them more often, feel their intentions and recall their past memories.