What to eat

Macanese food is a vibrant blend of flavours from across the former Portuguese empire. If you want the upscale version, Paula Carion suggests booking a table at Restaurante Litoral. “But if you want to experience everyday cuisine, then head to Cozinha Aida”. The Macao Institute for Tourism Studies has also just launched a Macanese buffet on Saturdays.

What to watch

If you’re able, catch a performance by Miguel de Senna Fernandes’s Patuá theatre group Dóci Papiaçám di Macau. Can’t make it in person? Songs and skits can be found on their YouTube channel. “Nobody but us will do this,” Fernandes says. “It’s not Cosa Nostra, but it’s our thing.”

What to listen to

If the Macanese were to be represented by a song, many might choose the beautifully plaintive “Macau, nôs sa téra” (Macao, Our Land). The lyrics are a paean to the “Small land of so much grace / a flower for those who are sad”. A more recent candidate would be Dóci Papiaçám di Macau’s ditty “Macau sâm assi” (This Is Macau), with lyrics by the late Macanese poet José “Adé” dos Santos Ferreira.

What to read

Jorge’s aunt, Edith Jorge de Martini, was born in the 1930s and went on to marry an Argentinian diplomat. While living in Buenos Aires in 1986, she says she “felt this sudden urge to write”. The result was The Wind Amongst the Ruins (Vantage, 1993), a richly evocative account of her affluent Macao childhood, before the wind blew her and “other young Macanese away … and spread them all over the world”.