The main streets around the Ruins of St. Paul’s are always crowded with visitors. In contrast however, go down the alleys nearby and there is almost no one. But it is on one of these alleys that a delicious secret awaits – a new bakery, The Factory, looking very cute and exotic, squeezed in among a couple of traditional local restaurants. Number 73 Rua Da Barca Da Lenha – that’s where The Factory is located.
“90 percent of our clients are local people. They walk in, taste one piece of cake, and fall in love with it,” says João Carriço, the chef of this newly-opened bakery. “In Europe, nobody doesn’t love this cake. It’s very soft and almost melts in your mouth – Magic in your mouth! Chocolate magic!”
One of the featured products of The Factory is “the best chocolate cake in the world”, which is very popular in Europe. All the ingredients are imported from overseas. The chocolate they use to make chocolate cake is a French chocolate called Valrhona, one of the top three chocolates in the world.
“It’s different from the original version, there are two versions of our chocolate cake. We make one exact copy from Portugal; and we make another one 30 percent less sweet to suit the tastes of local Macau people,” João explains.
As well as the very popular chocolate cake, there is another unique selling point for Factory: all of the breads and cakes are hand-made on the same day.
“I have to make the products in the morning. All the cakes are hand-made, no machines, so it takes around four hours to make them. We must make sure that every customer can have freshly made products,” comments João.
Every month they plan to launch new products, and adjust the menu according to customers’ reactions. For example, they will soon launch a typical milk bread with coconut called “bread of gods”. “It’s very famous. I’d say 50 percent of Portuguese eat it for breakfast.”
As well as this, The Factory has launched some sideline products, such as fabric bags with their logo printed on them and bags of tasty cookies.
Regarding the location, João says the tourists rarely go to other places besides the main street, so they need more people to know about their bakery. They held a large party in September, inviting people to taste their cakes. “Once people know The Factory, they will like it!”
In the future, they will launch sandwiches and toasts, with coffee and freshly-made lemonade – a perfect lunch choice for those working nearby.
Open from 9:30am to 7pm, closed on Mondays
