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On the opposite side of Senado square, walk up the little street, the first right street is rua da felicidade, Macau’s former red light district - also how the street got its name “Happiness Street” from its former seedy, heady colonial past. Today, it’s a busy street filled with shops and local restaurants (sharks fin particularly popular here). At the end of the street is Fat Siu lau, one of Macau’s oldest and most popular restaurant serving up Macanese/Chinese food at steep prices. Interesting Trivia, Indiana Jones and the temple of doom was filmed here on this very street.

One of the underrated landmarks in Macau, it’s a beautiful walk along the sea at sunset and very serene with the huge golden statue seemingly floating over the sea at high tide.

Almost every local I know shop for their seafood and fresh produce here. The three story building was built in 1936 and its name derived from the red bricks. While nothing fancy, there aren’t many markets of this scale and layout in Macau, unlike in Hong Kong where every neighbourhood has a wetmarket and cooked food centre.

The Eight is classy fine dining Cantonese located at the Grand Lisboa. The base of the chef’s cooking techniques lie in classic dishes done brilliantly – light, fresh, delicate and pristine – the best ingredients in their purest form, soups light and rich, seafood cooked a perfect medium rare – the hallmark of Cantonese cuisine and most dishes at the above Macau Chinese fine dining restaurants passed the litmus test. The ambience and decor stunning and tastefully decked out, with an interactive pond projector on the floor with fishes that swim past with every foot step and beautiful private dining rooms – we ate in one with a goldfish theme. With wintermelon in season, most Chinese restaurants are serving the rich double boiled soup – the one at Eight comes with shrimp dumplings wrapped in a delicate thin layer of melon flesh, a trompe l’oeil and lovely surprise. Dimsum presentations are made a little more exciting with beautifully done goldfish looking shrimp dumplings hargau 虾饺 served alongside the Shanghainese xiaolongbao and a hedgehog BBQ pork bun charxiu bao 叉烧包 accompanied by the traditional deep fried taro nest topped with a fresh shrimp - all packed full of flavours and textures, a great duo combination on both dishes that balance the rich flavours lightness of the dimsum.

This patisserie has a French pastry chef behind those beautiful creations and came hot on the scenes with a great market entry winning the hearts of locals with their cute and beautiful pastries and cakes. I like their choux and chocolate fondant, didn’t quite take to those cute cakes nor beautiful pantone perfect macarons. There’s the French egg tart that’s really a flan, croissants and little snacks – a popular thing with the locals. Everything is made fresh daily and they often change the selections, so it’s never dull coming back here.

You can smell the flavours of the sea from a couple of metres away. (plenty of salty, scampy scent) as the family that owns this little shop still do it the old way. They sun the shrimps and put them into large ceramic jars to make a sauce, then they dry it outside to make a bar of shrimp paste and the rest they bottle. They may be the snappiest and grumpiest shopkeepers in Macau, at times really rude and nasty, but their shrimp paste is the real thing, and worth having them bark at you. 40MOP a bottle and the bar of shrimp paste slightly cheaper.

This Macanese bakery, or pastelaria, is renowned for making and bringing in the best of Macanese snacks to Hong Kong. Once just a seller of peanut brittle candy and ginger sweets, they now have shops all over Hong Kong and Macau selling traditional treats like nougat and almond cakes. We especially loved the limited edition packaging that is an ode to vintage design. After pondering between the choices, egg rolls and “salty cut biscuits”, which are crispy and salty-sweet, ended up in our shopping basket. But who were we kidding? We also added some phoenix egg rolls, pineapple cakes and sesame biscuits to bring back for friends and family.

Evidently Lord Stow’s Bakery is a Macau-based chain with a handful of locations in Asia, but we weren’t aware of that as we found it while strolling through Seoul on a frigid February morning. We simply saw the cute-as-a-button, closet-sized space with tarts in the window and went in, seeking heat and a bite to eat. The one worker (I don’t think there’s room for more) had just pulled these eggy little delights out of the oven. It was the perfect time to eat them. Warming, subtly sweet, and served with a friendly welcome, they—and the young woman who made them—were a simple yet memorable part of our super-quick visit to Seoul. The address: Kim’s Pass Co Dae Hyun 60-8 Dong Suo Dae Mung, Seoul

Simple blank notebooks with black covers curl with moisture to create a textured wall here. Desserts are fabulous (run by a Macanese couple, one half trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu) as are the pastas and sandwiches.

Despite being just a 40-minute drive away from the airport, the Mandarin Oriental is located in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central district, surrounded by major business hubs, the thriving art scene, and cultural sites.

Inside the 432 rooms and 67 suites, the decor nods at the hotel’s Chinese heritage, and there’s high-speed Internet and an interactive entertainment system. A SMART lighting system and pillow menu make sure you have a restful night’s sleep, and butler services are on hand as well. For an ultimate indulgence, the stunning 3,843-square-meter presidential Mandarin Suite provides a stay that you will never forget.

You’ll have to spend quite of time in Hong Kong to work your way through the hotel’s many gastronomic offerings: 10 on-site restaurants, including three with Michelin star accolades, will satisfy every craving. Meanwhile, the award-wining spa specializes in traditional Chinese medicine therapy to ease post-travel muscles. A 24-hour indoor pool and fitness center allows you to keep to your exercise routine while away from home.

The Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, is truly representative of contemporary luxury, and has remained one of the most iconic hotels in Hong Kong for over 55 years.

Since it was built back in 1976, the CN Tower has topped the must-visit list of most Toronto tourists. Until recently, a visit was pretty standard; hop in elevator, shoot up to the observation deck, and ogle the city from a hawk’s vantage point. While this was certainly fine and enjoyable, the since-developed EdgeWalk experience has ramped up the Tower’s bucket-list potential. Thrill-seekers can now do a hands-free, breezy circumnavigation of the tower’s roof, up at 1,168 feet. And, yes, they do perform sky-high weddings complete with elasticized rings and special attire for the big day.

Casa de Porco Creto is trying to raise the bar with the quality of meats available in Macau in an independent restaurant. Owner Vanda Rodrigues gave me the low-down on farming practices they have run in her family for over 200 years in Herdade Galveias Portugal the region of Alto Alentejo known for agriculture, farming and cork production. You taste the difference in the flavours and richeness of the meats. They were happy animals bred in open green fields and imported into Macau.

Sardines are a staple of the Portuguese diet, and this influence is very much alive at Lojas das Conservas Macau where shelves are lined in beautifully packaged cans of sardines of various vintages, qualities and marinates. Check the wall for information on each fisherman and producer, a form of preserving part of the artisanal food craft. Best kind of souvenir to take home from Macau if you ask me!

Japas is a beautifully fitted restaurant with classy rustic interiors helmed by Macau chef Anthony Sousa Tam whose culinary experience spans from the kitchens of Noma to Michel Bras’ Laguiole. A nice independent spot outside of casino hotels doing quality food.

While most children and girls come here for the Hello Kitty mania, the hokkaido milk egg tarts are really good and I’d highly recommend it. The butter cookies are good but gimmicky. I’d pass on the macarons.