Don Manuel pastry shop, artisan confectionery in Bilbao.

Don Manuel is a reference point for patisseries in Bilbao; it stands out for its quality, variety and good customer service.

José Manuel Angulo, master confectioner, has been sweetening days for 57 years. He opened his first bakery in Bilbao in 1984, in Deusto. When he moved to Alameda de Urquijo 39, in the heart of the city centre, he was already Don Manuel.

A little over a year ago, he also opened a bakery boutique in Plaza de Campuzano, although it is run by the same bakery. It is one of the few artisan bakeries that remain in Bilbao of the many that used to flavour the streets not so long ago.

Don Manuel is one of the great masters of the typical pastries of Bizkaia. “The pastries from here are the butter roll, the Carolina, the rice cake, the Jesuitas, the canutillo and the baldosa de Bilbao”, he lists.

And he adds that “the emblem of the artisan bakeries is the carolina, fresh, made the same day and a very perishable product”.

Their shop in Alameda de Urquijo is a genuine eye-catcher. Transparent counters full of temptations, the open door to the bakery at the back and an exquisite aroma of coffee pervading everything.

“Good coffee, good tea, good chocolate, with a butter roll or a rice cake, all make for a great experience”, explains the master confectioner.

He stresses that “nowadays, a cake is not expensive: it requires a lot of well-prepared labour and very good raw materials”.

That is probably why people who travel to Bilbao come back to the counter. “We have hotels in the surrounding area, and those who travel to Bilbao are used to coming here for a coffee or tea for breakfast, and they usually have a pastry. And they usually come back the next day”, boasts Don Manuel.

José Manuel Angulo has passed on his knowledge and recipes to his daughters María and Nadia. What he learned from the bilbaíno Felipe, from the school of the legendary Francisco Torreblanca and from his stays at the Parisian Fauchon, a reference point, and his visits to patisseries in Bonn and Vienna.