About a five to ten minute walk from the Largo do Senado in Macau, in a small courtyard hidden from the street by buildings, one may find Margaret's Café e Nata, a small bakery serving (as the name plainly says) coffee and egg tart. Sure, there are other items on the menu, but the egg tart is why one would come. This is why I came.
Let me tell you straight away that I love egg tarts. And those I've had from Margaret's are among the best I've had. I love this single solitary serving of baked heavenliness. Even from behind the protective plastic, a tart's bright yellow top shines like a sun in splendor ringed a glossy brown with an outer margin of golden flaky crust. Dropping one on a plate, a quick sniff: that bakery perfume of eggs, cream, butter, and a dab of vanilla. I do not detect cinnamon. Picking the tart up from the paper plate, the crust threatens disintegration. I'm glad it's not too hot. (In the past, I had picked up a tart with fingers protected by layers of napkin only to burn my mouth on the custard, overeager foolish glutton that I am.) There's that satisfying crunch as my teeth make short work of lovely crust right before it yields its lightly salted buttery goodness and the creamy custard floods my mouth. It is sweet, but not aggressively so. Three bites, four bites and all that's left of the tart are buttery flakes of crust on my fingertips.
The coffee isn't worth talking about. Totally forgettable. Expect to get the same sort of swill at a Dunkin' Donuts.
Margaret's is not "touristy." Although quite a number of the people living up for their caffeine and sugar fix are undoubtedly travelers, locals make up most of the clientele. The breakfast crowd consists mostly of people getting breakfast before work or after pulling the night shift. The staff expect customers to already know what they'll be getting and it is not unheard of for them to raise their voices impatiently when someone breaks protocol (i.e., one must pay first before picking a tart from the trays). This is not the place to expect servile obsequiousness. Not that I would call them unhelpful. A trió of Japanese tourists ahead of me on the queue were asked by a stern-looking East Asian lady (perhaps, Margaret herself?) if they were Nihonjin, and, in a voice that recalls audio tracks from Introduction to Japanese listening tests, asked them whether they needed help choosing what to order. To be fair, the place is in an alleyway and the view is of parked scooters and the greying backs of old buildings. They even let their canvas awnings go grimy. Conclusion: They never meant to be touristy.
Margaret's is the bakery-equivalent of a surly aunt in a shabby sweater who you put up with because she makes you the loveliest egg tarts.
Gum Loi Building, Rua Almirante Costa Cabral
25-40 MOP for breakfast
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