photos by ron cruz

We are both caffeine fueled creatures (Homo sapiens caffeinensis fabulousness). Starbucks is a basic necessity and it can be found at the bottom of our food pyramid. So it is imperative to say that whenever we travel we make it a point that we spend several unproductive hours sitting on an al fresco chair, shifting to trance mode while almost robotically sipping our fix.

It is also our way of recharging the energy that we exhausted while walking around the city. So we found a Starbucks shop (the only one, actually) in the middle of Largo Do Senado. It is a small space fitted in a turn of the century building together with other shop niches. It is narrow and the seats outside are limited. I guess residents of Macau are not a huge fan of this brand, because I realized that most of the customers are actually Filipinos and/or tourists.

photo by Ron Cruz

The Baristas are not as surgically obsessive compulsively neat as the ones found here in the Philippines; they don’t mind staining their aprons with coffee spills. The view in front of the shop is an endemic McDonald’s food chain, so it is not really compelling enough to do a prolonged hanging-out. So we opted to simply walk away with our cups to stroll around the plaza.

A tall cup costs around MOP36 (PhP200, US$4.20)

Santa Casa da Misericordia