At Aji, the fine-dining restaurant inside MGM Cotai in Macau, executive sous chef Pan Sihui has built a menu that refuses to pick a side. His cooking technique is rooted in French training; his palate was shaped growing up in Singapore, surrounded by Malay, Chinese, Eurasian and Indian food. The restaurant's name is the Japanese word for taste — and the food lives up to it, earning a Michelin star along the way.
Pan calls his style 'Asian bistronomy' — Western cooking with Asian flavours in a refined presentation. When Aji opened, the concept was quick, affordable and Asian-inclined, served a la carte or as a shorter tasting menu in the main dining room. Since the star arrived, the food has become more layered, and the chef's table now runs a longer tasting menu with dishes that can't be executed in the main room due to temperature and precision requirements.
The plates themselves tell personal stories. The East Coast Night Carabinero reimagines the curry crab Pan ate growing up on Singapore's East Coast: Spanish carabinero steamed tableside over heated volcanic stone with VSOP Cognac, served semi-cooked for sweetness, with prawn roe and curry-enriched sauce for dipping warm brioche. His foie gras with hazelnuts swaps the traditional cherry pairing for gula melaka cooked with five-spice, alongside compressed rose apple. There's caviar over a ginger-almond foam on dashi-kombu egg custard — inspired by a dessert he tasted in Guangzhou — and a house-made fermented soy sauce spiked with green tea powder, born from his habit of sipping tea between sushi dips.
Pan's sourcing philosophy is pragmatic rather than showy: quality products within the guest's budget, not automatically French truffles or Viennese mushrooms. He's relaxed about the 'fusion' label too, saying it only works with curiosity and genuine understanding of both sides.
Changes are coming. The dining room is set for a redesign next year that may integrate The Spectacle — MGM Cotai's vast indoor LED screen showing curated digital art — into the dining experience itself.
For travellers, Aji offers something rare in Macau's casino-dining scene: a Michelin-starred meal with a clear personal voice, where the reference points are hawker-centre prawn noodles and Guangzhou desserts rather than generic luxury. Choose the main dining room for a shorter, more accessible tasting or a la carte; book the chef's table if you want the full showcase.
