Alda Maria Doces Portugueses

The tradition of Portuguese sweets, passed down from generation to generation, has made ALDA MARIA DOCES a reference in Portuguese baking. For 30 years Alda Maria has kept up the family tradition of making fine Portuguese sweets. She comes from a family with a long history in confectionery — with records of pastry makers going back to 1700 — and the recipes ALDA MARIA DOCES inherited and still uses have been in the family for nine generations. The sweets came from Portugal, many of them once served at the Portuguese court, and were brought to Brazil by the first Portuguese immigrant couples, who settled in Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul. The town became known as the capital of sweets. Today those centuries-old recipes sweeten Rio de Janeiro, bringing a piece of Pelotas and of Portugal to the city. The sweets are supplied for parties and weddings, and over the years the shop has been covered and interviewed by all the major press. ALDA MARIA DOCES is a reference in Portuguese confectionery and has been named and nominated, several times, the best sweet in Rio de Janeiro. The shop opened in 2001, on the main street of Santa Teresa, in an easy spot to reach. Anyone visiting the Alda Maria shop will find, besides the famous sweets, the Museu do Doce (Sweet Museum). The house is decorated throughout with pieces from the Museu do Doce, which keeps a permanent display of books and instruments the family used to prepare these delicacies.