Royal’s Mollete: Spanish native brings Barcelona cuisine to Monroe

When Antonio Viedma opened Royal’s Mollete Barcelona Bakery in July, he didn’t realize business would be so good that he’d need more staff.

Viedma, a Spanish native, owns and operates the independent business at 600 N. Telegraph Road. The master bread baker currently has three employees but wants to hire more.

As the only baker and cook, Viedma starts working at 4 a.m. and doesn’t finish until 8 p.m. So managing his shop with a limited staff can be challenging. His current employees work afternoons and weekends, making mornings difficult to serve customers while preparing orders.

“I’m looking for a staff as my best team. When a customer leaves the bakery happy, they’ll send a good review. Not only because they like the food but because the treatment they received is very important,” he said.

In March 2021, Viedma moved to Monroe with plans to open a bakery in Detroit’s Eastern Market. While waiting to get his driver’s license and other necessary paperwork, he walked throughout the city.

“Everything was delayed about four months. While I waited, I walked around downtown Monroe and Sterling State Park,” he said. “I walked every day, in the morning and in the afternoon. I like fishing and one day, while sitting on a bench in front of Lake Erie, I thought, ‘I love this city. It has everything I like,’ and, at that moment, I decided to open in the city of Monroe.”

For almost 40 years, Viedma has worked in the food industry. His Monroe eatery specializes in authentic Spanish pastries and sandwiches.

The significance of the name comes from a type of Spanish bread.

“Royal’s Mollete is the name of the company because of the bread that we sell in the bakery,” Viedma said. “It is from a recipe that is in the archives of the city of Antequera, from the year 1554. It was the bread that the cook of the kings, Maria Enriquez, made for them.”

Molletes come in a variety of options including garlic beef with cheese, Grandmother’s chicken (chicken cooked with vegetables) and pinchito, spicy chicken.

Viedma uses family recipes to create his Barcelona-style sandwiches and other Spanish cuisine.

“My father was given the diploma by the president of Catalonia in 2003 as the best artisan baker,” he said. “He was my teacher, and many recipes are from him.”

Spanish omelets or Spanish tortillas top the list of customer favorites. Unlike Mexican tortillas, a round, thin flatbread, Spanish tortillas resemble thick omelets and are made by layering potatoes and eggs combined with onion, olive oil and salt. Additional ingredients can also be added.

One of the bakery’s most popular desserts are the pastries with Barcelona cream similar to a crème brulee.

“Barcelona cream, originally called crema catalana, is popular in Barcelona and Catalonia among artisan bakers. Each baker has their own secret to making the best type of cream,” he said. “My Barcelona cream recipe is one of the best. Barcelona lost this cream, but Monroe won it!”

The Xuxo, pronounced "choo-cho," is a deep-fried, sugar-coated pastry filled with Barcelona cream, peanut butter and chocolate or Nutella.

“According to a legend from Girona, the invention of the Xuxo has to been credited to El Tarlà, a very pleasant entertainer that frequently appears in legends from that region. According to legend, this acrobat was quarantined during an epidemic, and fell in love with the daughter of a pastry chef. When he visited his beloved, the girl’s father appeared so he hid in a bag of flour. Unfortunately, he sneezed, which sounded like Xuxo (choo-cho), and he was discovered,” Viedma said. “Before the pastry chef could get angry, he promised to marry his daughter and give him the recipe of a special pastry, the Xuxo. He named it after the sneeze that betrayed him.”

Viedma said the story of the Spanish pastry is so popular, there is a Xuxo parade in Girona, a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, where citizens walk through the streets of the city. Following the parade, the participants receive Xuxos, prepared by some of the city’s most talented chefs.

For a first-time customer, Viedma recommends trying the garlic beef sandwich and some blueberry cheesecake.

Many of Viedma’s cheesecakes are topped with fruit and sold by the slice. Customers can purchase a whole cheesecake, but the bakery requires a 48-hour notice.

“Our pastries are made fresh every day. Our food is fresh, and we cook with olive oil following the Spanish diet as one of the healthiest in the world,” he said. “We try to be as fast as possible. It’s a new concept — artisan fast food.”

With more employees, Viedma said once the bakery works efficiently and he knows customers like the food, he’d like to offer franchises and open a factory in Monroe so that his products are known throughout the state.

Giving back to the community is also important to Viedma. On the 17th of each month, 100% of the proceeds from coffee purchases at the bakery are donated to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Royal’s Mollete Barcelona Bakery

Owner: Antonio Viedma of Monroe

Address: 600 N. Telegraph Road.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday; 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday

Specialties: Authentic Spanish cuisine and pastries

Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063715161042

Website: www.royalsmollete.com

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Royal’s Mollete: Spanish native brings Barcelona cuisine to Monroe