The Famous Egg Tarts at Lord Stow’s Bakery Macau
If you visit Macau, you will soon hear about the famous Macau Portuguese egg tarts from Lord Stow’s Bakery. They even made it into the 2018 Michelin Guide. An honor those beautiful concoctions of egg custard caramelized like creme brulee and encased in the flakiest of pastries very much deserve.
Despite multiple visits to Macau, I had yet to taste them and resolved to fix that on this trip. I accordingly took a taxi to original Lord Stow’s Bakery in Coloane from Cotail, about ~$8USD. You can also take the bus if you have more time, that’ll only run you $1. There are now multiple bakery locations but local wisdom suggests you’ll have the best experience at the original takeaway location in Coloane vs the more convenient outlets in the Venetian or Taipa.
The original location is also famous for long lines throughout the day, so I was pleasantly surprised to see empty sidewalks when I arrived on a Tuesday morning. The bakery is modern and functional, with an unimpressive facade but a helpful summary of the history of the egg tart.
Inside there were displays of pastries and beverages, about half the room is an open air kitchen where you can watch them making the tarts. They had warm tarts already pre-bagged, so it only took about 90 seconds to pop in, pay 8MOP (~$1USD) for my egg tart and head out.
There are shaded seats and tables across the street or you can wander a block to the water to enjoy your treat. If you want more ambiance with your egg tart they’ve also opened two sit-down options around the corner.
- Lord Stow’s Cafe open daily 9AM-6PM for drinks and light meals.
- Lord Stow’s Garden Cafe open 10AM daily for drinks and light meals, dinner until 10PM Tuesday-Sunday.
Coloane Village waterfront
What did I think of the famous Lord Stow’s Bakery egg tart?
The lack of pictures tells you something. It smelled so good I only snapped a quick pick before taking a bite. I’m not really a dessert person and loved it. The perfect balance of filling and crust. The custard was flavorful without being too cloying and the flaky buttery pastry made for great texture.
Definitely worth trying. If you have the time to get down to Coloane, worth visiting the original location.
There’s also an outlet in Osaka, Japan.
You need to try the famous pork chop on a bun sandwich in Macau too.
Of course, Lord Stow’s egg tarts are just one of a number of Macau specialities… Crusty fresh bread, African chicken, Pork chop buns, Almond cookies, Pork jerky… to name a few
Have also found that Macau is also a good place to pick up some inexpensive (for Asia) Olive oil, Wine and a variety of Port (tawny, ruby & blanco).
A pretty good write-up about Lord Stow’s. It is also worth looking up our other famous maker of Portuguese style tarts- Margaret’s Cafe e Nata. Together they share a neat bit of history when it comes to pastel de nata and Macau.
Heading to Macau in 6 weeks. We will definitely put Lord Stow’s on our list.