Fans of BBC 1’s Saturday Kitchen will probably have seen last week’s show in which that fine chef (and all-round good egg) Ken Hom helped publicise the little-known cuisine of Macau. Little known in Britain, at any rate, there being not a single restaurant here that specialises in it. Most of us, I suspect, don’t even know where Macau is. Like Hong Kong, which is nearby, it is a former colonial possession (of Portugal) and now one of the Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China.

The Macau Tourist Authority, as hardly needs saying, are keen to promote the attractions of the place, which extend beyond the opportunity for gambling of which I was previously only dimly aware. These include a rich heritage, both cultural and culinary.

It was a great privilege for me and Rosemarie last Thursday to join in a celebration of these at a special evening hosted by the authority in Brookes Restaurant. Students learn valuable lessons at an event like this about how tourist destinations can shape their image by publicising their individual cuisines. For our invitation, I had to thank our friend Donald Sloan, who heads the Brookes-based Oxford School of Hospitality Management.

We were all just back from six days at the Gibraltar Literary Festival, where Don had been involved in a number of food-themed events, including a lunch prepared by Claudia Roden (Ken Hom had performed the same office last year). Singularly well-fed though we had been there, an opportunity for further indulgence could hardly be passed over.

The evening’s special guest — if that is really an appropriate description for someone who worked so hard — was chef Florita Alves, who had flown in from Macau to do her stuff. With her was husband Vitor, later to prove a merry presence with us over dinner, where his description of a wine-tasting awaiting on his return turned me green with envy.

During the first part of the evening, Florita gave a demonstration for the students in which she prepared three characteristic Macanese dishes.

One of the world’s first fusion foods, Macanese cuisine reflects the unique history of the place, blending Portuguese and Chinese flavours and drawing on influences from South America, Africa, India and Malaysia. And if you think these sound like someone else’s words, you’re right. I lifted them for a speech of introduction by the Macau Tourist Authority’s UK representative Sue Whitehead, also part of the jolly dinner group.

First up from Florita were grilled prawns, with garlic and spices and a white wine glaze. Ken showed viewers this dish on Saturday, along with Portuguese chicken curry with coconut.

Then came Galinha Africana (African chicken), a roast bird marinated with mixed spices, and Minchi, a classic dish of minced beef and pork sautéed with onions, shallots and garlic and seasoned with three types of soy sauce. I can confirm the deliciousness of both of these since they formed part of the buffet dinner we were served.

I also greatly enjoyed a number of dishes not featured in the demonstration, including Capella, a baked pork meat loaf with olives, Parmesan cheese and Portuguese chourico, and Bolinhos de Bacalhau, a cake of thinly-shredded salt cod with puréed potato and parley.

As usual, I passed on pudding but others present — including the 25 or so students — praised the Bebina de Leite (a coconut milk dessert).