Mariví Martínez and Antonio Risco took over the business in 1989. The couple bought the secret recipe from the Albás family, who had run the pastry shop for two generations and had no descendants to carry on the business.
The founder’s four children were unmarried and, when retirement arrived, they planned to close the shop. That was when Mariví and Antonio decided to take over and acquire a formula that had been part of Barbastro’s history for decades.
Thirty-seven years have passed since then, and the couple remains at the helm of Pastel Biarritz Albás. Antonio, a master pastry chef, works in a bakery that almost no one is allowed to enter. The recipe is kept under lock and key, and even photographs are restricted. "It tastes exactly as it should," Mariví says when asked about the secret behind a product that continues to bring customers to their shop generation after generation.
Mariví Martínez and Antonio Risco took over the pastry shop in 1989 and have kept the original recipe alive ever since. Photo: Diego Sanz
At 66 and 67, respectively, both acknowledge that they could have retired, but they still go to work at the business every day. Mariví mainly handles customer service and tells the story of a pastry shop that has become part of Barbastro’s gastronomic heritage.
A PRODUCT ONCE MADE ONLY TO ORDER
The business dates back to 1903, when Pedro Albás opened the La Imperial confectionery shop. At the time, its star product was not available every day: it was made just one day a week and always to order.
Mariví and Antonio’s arrival brought a change to that way of working. The couple decided to start making and selling it every day, without customers having to reserve it in advance.
Pastel Biarritz Albás preserves in Barbastro a pastry-making tradition dating back to 1903, when Pedro Albás opened the La Imperial confectionery shop. Photo: Diego Sanz
"It used to be made one day a week and to order. We decided to make it every day," Mariví explains in an interview with ARAGÓN DIGITAL. The decision helped expand the customer base and enabled the product to reach buyers in other parts of Aragón.
Pastel Biarritz Albás currently also has a shop in the city of Huesca. For a time, its products even reached Zaragoza, where they were available at Helados Italianos, as well as at various craft fairs held in Plaza de los Sitios.
A TRADITION THAT ALSO HAS NEW VERSIONS
Although the original recipe remains at the heart of the business, over the years the pastry shop has added various creations linked to different times of the year.
These include a chocolate-covered version, available from October to May, as well as the Imperiales, chocolates filled with pastry, wine, orange and coffee that pay tribute to the former La Imperial confectionery shop.
The business has added new creations over the years, although the original recipe remains its main hallmark. Photo: Diego Sanz
They also make Candelarias, almond pastries associated with the Feria de la Candelera held in Barbastro every February 2; Biarritz Doré, with a touch of gold and designed for Christmas; and Delicias Biarritz, small coffee, cocoa, orange and coconut treats prepared during the summer.
Despite the new additions, the foundation remains the same. "It is the recipe we bought back then," Mariví says, emphasizing that one of the business’s keys has been preserving the essence of the original product.
AN IMAGE THAT IS MORE THAN 100 YEARS OLD
The tradition is not limited to the recipe. The pastry shop has also preserved elements of its identity that have remained virtually unchanged for decades.
One of them is its logo, which retains the same old-fashioned typeface that identifies the establishment. It is one of the details Mariví and Antonio have sought to preserve throughout the years, along with a way of working centered on keeping the product in the spotlight.
The pastry shop preserves elements of its historic identity, such as the original logo that has accompanied the establishment for decades. Photo: Diego Sanz
The bakery, meanwhile, remains one of the business’s most private spaces. There, Antonio prepares the recipe passed down by the Albás family before the business came close to disappearing.
THE GENERATIONAL HANDOVER IS ALREADY UNDERWAY
The story of Pastel Biarritz Albás appears to have a secure future. Mariví and Antonio have two children, and one of them already works at the Huesca shop, where he is preparing to take over when the time comes.
In this way, the recipe that came close to disappearing in 1989 continues to pass from one generation to the next. More than a century after Pedro Albás began making it in Barbastro, Pastel Biarritz Albás continues to operate a business whose history is tied to a single flavor.
