Food festival kicks off with Singapore food village

Chui Sai On (center) attended the opening of the event

The 18th Macau Food Festival kicked off on Friday with 23 food merchants from Singapore serving up their native dishes at the lower deck of Sai Van Lake Square.

Singaporean merchant Sandy Tan, owner of Kueh Ho Jiak, expressed her hopes for more Macau residents to visit her store in Singapore. She plans to explore business opportunities throughout the food festival and eventually open a branch in Macau.

Tan told the Times that she had brought a different version of her trademark curry dishes – which use sweet potatoes as a key ingredient – to the Macau festival.

“After I go back to Singapore [following this fair], I will set up a few more stores. I want to sell curry. Now, I am trying to promote my curry,” said Tan.

“I lived in Macau for quite some time. One of my partners is also a Macau resident. One day, I will come back to Macau. We were thinking that maybe in 10 years, we will have a shop here. Macau is a wonderful place.”

Sandy Tan, owner of Kueh Ho Jiak

Tan, however, was slightly disappointed in the poor turnout for the first day of the festival, which saw many tables still vacant during dinnertime.

“I think [the organizers] have to do something to let people know more about this fair, and to attract a lot of tourists to come here,” she remarked.

This year’s festival offers more electronic payment options for guests. 

Carmen, the promoter of Mom’s Dry Noodle, told the Times that young people rely more on e-payments, whereas older customers still prefer to use coupons.

Despite the variety of dishes available from more than 150 food stalls, several guests said the price of food had gone up compared to previous years.

“This is my fourth time here. I am not here for any specific thing,” said a local resident, surnamed Li. “I felt the price is a little bit more expensive than previous years.”

Another local resident, surnamed Cheang, said, “The festival is okay. We come here every year. It’s more or less the same every year. There are always so many people.”

“The Singaporean village is quite good. The year before last, which featured the Korean village, was not that good,” Cheang continued, adding that the price of food at the festival was high every year.

The 17-day event features 125 local food merchants, 55 of which are participating in the festival for the first time.

The festival, which is supported by several government departments, is intended to serve as an international marketing platform and to open up more business opportunities for participating merchants.