Pearl Dragon

Pearl Dragon, Macau — Verdict

If you are planning a special occasion dinner in Macau and want refined Cantonese cooking without defaulting to a Michelin-starred room, Pearl Dragon at Studio City is worth booking. It scored 91 points on the La Liste Leading Restaurants list in 2025 and 89 points in 2026 — a slight dip, but still placing it firmly among Macau's better Cantonese tables. The $$ cuisine pricing (a typical two-course meal sits between $40 and $65) makes it more accessible than the $$$$ rooms like Robuchon au Dôme, and the kitchen leans on lychee wood barbecue and traditional technique rather than novelty. For a celebration dinner or a business meal where atmosphere matters as much as the plate, this is a reliable call.

The Restaurant

Pearl Dragon sits on the second floor of Studio City Macau, the Melco Resorts property that opened on Cotai in late 2015. The room reads formal without being stiff , think considered presentation, attentive floor staff, and a setting that signals the evening matters. The kitchen, led by Chef Otto Wong Wai Ho, turns out contemporary Cantonese with a few touches borrowed from European fine dining: meals open with an amuse-bouche and close with petit fours, a structural choice that sets a clear pace for the meal.

The lychee wood barbecue is the dish most associated with the kitchen here, and it is a reasonable proxy for the house style: classical technique, quality sourcing, presentation that doesn't sacrifice substance for spectacle. The dim sum lunch programme covers the expected range , shrimp dumplings, barbecued pork, crispy turnip puffs, deep-fried taro dumplings , and is priced more gently than the dinner menu, making it a good entry point if you want to assess the kitchen before committing to a full dinner spend.

The dinner menu runs wider, with highlights including roasted suckling pig (reportedly lighter than it sounds), hot and sour soup, Mongolian lamb chops, and wok-fried scallops. For diners who want to push further, the kitchen also offers abalone marinated in Chinese wine, deep-fried duck tongue, and jellyfish head with black fungus. These are not decorative additions , they reflect a kitchen that takes Cantonese breadth seriously. Desserts stay traditional: almond sweet soup with dumplings, red bean preparations.

Drinks programme is one of the more developed in Macau's Chinese-cuisine tier. Sommelier Vic Wang oversees a list of around 400 selections with an inventory of approximately 6,000 bottles. Strengths run across Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and selections from France, Portugal, and Italy. Corkage is $50 if you prefer to bring your own. Beyond wine, a tome-like drinks menu covers classic cocktails and Chinese-inflected options. The tea programme is a genuine differentiator: over 50 premium teas are on offer, with a dedicated tea sommelier who can guide you through a selection of specialty pu'er teas aged over 30 years , a detail that puts Pearl Dragon ahead of most Cantonese rooms in the region when it comes to non-alcoholic pairing depth.

On the subject of the editorial angle here: Pearl Dragon closes at 10 PM every night, so this is not a late-night destination in the sense of a bar or supper club. Last seating for dinner runs until the kitchen closes at 10 PM, which means if you are arriving from gaming floors or a show at Studio City, you have a workable window for a late dinner provided you arrive by 9 PM at the latest. For genuinely late-night Cantonese in Macau, this is not your answer , but for a dinner that extends through the evening in a polished room with a well-paced service structure, it holds up well. Compared to some of Macau's casino-adjacent Cantonese rooms, the service rhythm here is deliberate rather than rushed, which makes it a better fit for occasions where the meal is the event rather than a precursor to it.

Pearl Dragon sits in a strong peer group within Macau. Lai Heen at The Ritz-Carlton and Jade Dragon at City of Dreams are the obvious comparators for refined Cantonese at the $$$ tier; both carry Michelin recognition and have slightly higher name recognition internationally. Wing Lei at Wynn is another option at a similar price band. Pearl Dragon's La Liste scores keep it competitive in that group, and the tea programme and wine depth give it a distinct character worth weighing if those elements matter to your occasion. For a broader sense of the Macau dining scene, our full Macau restaurants guide covers the category thoroughly.

If you are comparing across Greater China's Cantonese tier more broadly, Forum in Hong Kong and Le Palais in Taipei are the regional benchmarks for classical Cantonese at this level. Within mainland China, Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou and Xin Rong Ji in Beijing are worth knowing if your travels extend north. For Macau specifically, Chef Tam's Seasons and Ying round out the shortlist for Chinese fine dining in the city. You can also explore our full Macau hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide to plan the full trip.

Practical Details

Reservations: Recommended but not required , book by phone or the restaurant's website before your visit, especially for dinner. Booking difficulty is moderate. Hours: Lunch 12 PM–2:30 PM, Dinner 6 PM–10 PM, seven days a week. Dress: Smart casual is the standard; for dinner, men should avoid open shoes, short-sleeved shirts, and shorts. Women should dress to match the room's formality. Budget: Cuisine priced $$ (approximately $40–$65 for a typical two-course meal, excluding drinks); wine list at $$$, with corkage $50. Location: Second floor, Studio City Macau, 1 Estr. Flor de Lótus, Cotai. Wine: 400 selections, 6,000-bottle inventory; strengths in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, France, Portugal, Italy. Tea: 50+ premium teas available via a dedicated tea sommelier, including 30+ year aged pu'er selections.