Charming house of tapas

The Almond and Octopus Soup is wonderfully delicious. Photos provided to China Daily

Macao is known for its glitzy casinos, Portuguese architecture, Portuguese and Macanese food, antique furniture shopping and sights such as the ruins of St. Paul's. New dining spots are also opening on a much more regular basis here.

In Old Taipa, a quaint area made up of narrow pedestrian streets for visitors to stroll along and admire the art deco buildings, a charming Spanish restaurant has opened up. Near the main pedestrian street of Rua de Cunha sits Casa de Tapas, housed in a three-story restored traditional Macanese shophouse.

Upon entering the restaurant from the ground floor, I imagined myself enjoying a relaxing glass of wine or two at the stylish bar before heading upstairs to the main dining floors. The floor area is not large, but each floor has a simple and welcoming layout.

We dined on the first floor where chef Alfredo M. Perez-Dobon Batlles prepared a few of their cold tapas for us to try.

Casa de Tapas is chef Alfredo's first foray into opening a restaurant outside his native Spain. He talked about his passion for bringing the food, flavors and textures from his homeland to Macao, and from what we tasted, we are happy he decided to move here.