Lord Stow's Bakery Taipa Store — Restaurant in Taipa

I honestly wanted this to flop. To me, seeing all these carbon-copied stalls all over the place felt like yet another soulless over-franchised over-hyped McDonald's run by kids who are hired to turn up for work punctually and fold paper boxes. Knowing the difference between egg tarts and creme brulee isn't important as long as they know how to count money.

And then I took the first bite. My mouth was saying something that my brain just couldn't register. I bid my time, safe with the knowledge that there is still a second piece in my bag, I took the ferry back and deliberately detoured to the Bakehouse at TST. Side-by-side, Stow vs. Michaud, I was now able to decipher what my mouth was trying to say earlier - sorry Greg, not even close.

To be fair, Bakehouse (seems to) specialise in bread - their pastry shell is really very delicious, savoury buttery with a daring high-heat nearly-burnt crisp texture. And the serving-staff (kids) are quite pleasant-looking with great smiles and friendly personalities. These are all key ingredients that add flavour to the overall experience of actually eating the egg tart.

Lord Stow doesn't have good looking staff. Lord Stow doesn't need to smile at you. Lord Stow doesn't care how your day went. Lord Stow just wants to know how many pieces you want, how you want to pay, and next please. The only key ingredient is your stupid tongue telling you that you just ate something fantastic but your brain is unable to register. Just like what happened to me earlier.

There's something really quite magical about the custard - it's about 2 grains of sugar too sweet for me, but the fragrant whiff of the egg and the light fluffiness of the custard reminds me of eating a very gentle tau fu fah (soya bean curd). Kudos to Lord Stow for perfecting their recipe that balances the smell, taste, and texture. This also proves that you don't need your staff to be good looking as long as they are hardworking and can follow your instructions.

While I genuinely prefer Bakehouse's pastry on its own, Lord Stow's pastry isn't bad at all - it's a commendable Breitling compared to an Omega - at these high levels we're just splitting hairs. It's more important that the pastry complements the custard, and this is where Lord Stow takes the cake, no pun intended.

I really do think this is one of the better Portuguese egg tarts I've had, if not the best. Unfortunately Margaret's is closed every Wed, so I didn't get the...

Walking down the crowded taipa food street in the late morning, our noses were lead to this shop by the scent of delicious baking pastry. There wasn't any queue and when we looked in, a staff was yelling at us.. we only realized later that she was saying "no sampling available here!" in Cantonese. Nonetheless we headed in and placed our order which was promptly packed and handed to us. It's only after we stepped out of the shop did we realised it was the famous Lord Stow's bakery 😅 we must have been lucky to just walk in and buy without any long queue.

The egg tarts were one of the best I've ever had. The were a good size and you can finish it in 3-4 happy bites! The egg custard was a perfect texture and not as sweet as I had expected it to be. The flaky tart pastry was crispy but I thought it was just a tad bit on the oily side. overall, the perfectly textured custard and fresh crispy pastry were a match made in heaven. Very glad to have been able to chance upon this...

This egg tart just ruined all other egg tarts for me.

So I wandered into Lord Stow’s Bakery in Macau thinking, "Yeah yeah, famous egg tart, how good can it really be?" SPOILER: It slapped. Hard.I took one bite and literally whispered “god damn” like I was in a food-themed soap opera. The crust? Flaky AF. Like, "don’t even breathe near it or it’ll crumble into buttery confetti" flaky. The custard? Smooth, warm, and creamy like it just got out of a spa. Slightly caramelized on top like it’s been kissed by the pastry gods.

I’ve had some good egg tarts in my life. I thought I knew love. I was wrong. Lord Stow’s said, “Let me show you what you’ve been missing.”

These are hands down the best egg tarts I’ve ever had—until I make it to Portugal and start a new tart love affair. But for now? Lord Stow has my heart, my stomach, and probably my next ten Macau...