Pão d'Avó Maria

Pao d'Avo Maria began as a small family bakery in Odiaxere around 20 years ago, when Dona Conceicao and her husband Jose Correia baked bread in two small wood-fired ovens heated with esteva (rockrose) branches, selling mostly to neighbours in the village under the name 'Pao de Odeaxere'. As demand grew, the business kept its focus on tradition and quality while also supplying supermarkets across the Lagos and Portimao municipalities. That growth led to the first of what are now four 'Pao d'Avo Maria' shops, combining a bakery counter with a small cafe. A second shop opened in Sto. Amaro, Lagos, in 2006, and a third in Ameijeira, Lagos, in 2007, alongside a fourth shop in Portimao. All of the bakery's products are made without dyes or preservatives, using organic seeds and traditional wood-fired masonry ovens. The bakery's specialities include pastel de nata made fresh daily to a house recipe, lemon and poppy seed cake, homemade palmiers, fresh bread baked throughout the day, folares (Easter breads, plain or with cinnamon) and queijo de figo (fig 'cheese', a traditional Algarve sweet). The original Odiaxere site is now home to the group's production factory and office, at Rua da Alegria no 6. This listing uses the flagship Lagos shop (Loja 1, Rua Vasco da Gama, Urbanizacao Rossio de Sao Joao) as its primary address; the other three shops and the Odiaxere factory are listed separately in the report, each with its own phone number as published on the bakery's own site.