Macao Trading Company
Look for the red lantern on Church Street. Behind it a room turns its ceiling fans slowly. A caged catwalk balcony above them is stacked with antique roulette wheels and trunks.31
Why go
Jason Kosmas came off Employees Only, David Waltuck came off Chanterelle, and Billy Gilroy built the room.1 A discreet stairway goes down to a lounge with a few tables and a small bar. Vintage Chinese erotica hangs on its walls.1
The drinks carry the theme and they carry it well. The Drunken Dragon's Milk puts green-tea-infused vodka and Thai basil under coconut puree. The Hong Kong Cocktail is a margarita leavened with port and pandan-leaf syrup.1
The kitchen is the argument. Waltuck ran Chinese and Portuguese dishes down the menu in parallel. The clams come Portuguese style with chorizo or Chinese style with black beans and chilies. Time Out's reviewer found two restaurants side by side, a Chinese one and a Portuguese one, where a Macanese one had been promised. Stang's objection was about the cooking itself.12 Both of those reviews are from the room's first years and I haven't found a newer one.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Drunken Dragon's Milk. Time Out's reviewer called it excellent and it is the drink that explains the room.1
- Order: the Manila clams Portuguese style, small ones in a spicy broth with chorizo. Chris Stang calls them a pretty good dish and reports the kitchen ran out of them late in the evening.2
- Avoid: ordering widely. Stang worked through seven dishes and liked two of them.2
What locals & experts say
- Chris Stang, co-founder of The Infatuation, on a table of seven dishes:
nearly everything was overcooked, over seasoned, and overrated.
2 - Time Out New York, in March 2012, splitting the difference:
The meal was less sure-handed
than the drinks, which the same reviewer rated excellent.1
Good to know
- The door: 311 Church Street, between Walker and Lispenard.3
- The crowd, in Stang's account: people on early dates, and people starting a night that finishes somewhere else.2
Verdict
could-visit — Come for a drink and a look at the room, and keep dinner short. The bar is the half of this address that has always worked.