Have You Bitten Down On A Pasteis de Nada?

My wife Alex and I went to Lisbon over New Years – and it was a magical adventure for many reasons like this one!

Check out Lisbon Portugal’s legendary tarts – crispy and caramelized creamy confections that are literally everywhere you go in the city – and they hit you with them as soon as you arrive in town!

They were waiting for us as we checked into our hotel – along with a bottle of Porto of course, another Portugese treat.

The term “pastéis de nata” is Portuguese for “cream pastries.”

Oh, and here is something to know: “pastéis” is the plural form of the word for pastry, so if you see “pastel de nata” that just means a single one!

Phil Rosenthal made a joke that no one will ever say “pastel” because they are simply too delicious to eat only one! In fact, we headed to one place where Phil took us on his show “Somebody Feed Phil” to sample several…

Welcome To Time Out Lisboa Food Market!

We headed to the terrific Time Out Food Market, which is filled with stall after stall after stall of great local food by local Chefs – Manteigaria is one of the best!

Alex waited in line for a few minutes in order to dig into the first “pasteis” of our trip – and we quickly understood why there is always a line!

Look at this!

By the way, Time Out Lisboa is an incredible food adventure! After Alex got her treat, she was quick to post this great shot of the deliciously creamy and crispy treat:

First, it’s important to state that there is a reason they are iconic: they are absolutely delicious: smooth and creamy custard inside a delicious, slightly crispy shell!

The next day, we headed to the most legendary Pasteis restaurant in Lisbon!

Welcome To The Birthplace Of The Pastel de Nata!

Here is how one online list of great Lisbon restaurants described Pastéis de Belém:

“Pastéis de Belém, the birthplace of pastel de nata! This is a good time to clarify the difference between Pastéis de Belém and pastéis de nata: pastéis de nata (plural for pastel de nata) are literally custard tarts, the ones you’ll find all across Portugal and even beyond borders; Pastéis de Belém are also pastéis de nata, but specifically those baked and sold at Antiga Confeitaria de Belém.” 

This restaurant originated in 1837 – here’s how that website described it:

“Monks from the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon neighborhood of Belém were trying to make a living after the religious institutions were shut down due to new government orders. These monks sold their pastries to Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, which started making the sweets popular with visitors who’d come to Belém for a stroll.” 

Pasteis de Belem is about a 20-minute walk from the center of Lisbon, just a few blocks in from the Tagus river.

Oh, and they sell about 25,000 of these tarts every day!

Look at that crispy edge, the slightly caramelized top and the creamy center: a slightly caramel/vanilla flavor to the custard, and absolutely delicious.

This is an iconic pastry that is enjoyed all day and night – and they are everywhere!

After a great night out for dinner, we happened upon a storefront bakery busy making them!

They are just one of a myriad of delicious desserts that I can’t pronounce well but here I am trying!

Lisboa loves its pastries, and we loved trying them – in fact, I even tried to make one of them!

I used a Lisbon cookbook to make a variation on the Pasteis – here is the recipe for a “Queijada de Leite!”

As I said, we decided to go to Lisbon after seeing it profiled on “Somebody Feed Phil” – if you haven’t seen the show, click here for a look at just how much fun it is!

Click here to see our entire meal at Cervejaris Ramiro – where they also serve a steak sandwich for dessert!

Another aspect of Portugal that we loved is the incredible history, like when we toured Pena Palace:

Click here for the whole tour, including beautifully maintained royal living quarters!

If you enjoy these posts, why not subscribe and never miss out? It’s easy, and there are NO ads of any kind, just stuff I like…click on the main page and “follow” me on the upper right!

https://johnrieber.com

Leave me a comment and I you liked this story, feel free to share on social media – thank you!

Categories: Art, cookbooks, Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Food Review, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Wacky Food

Tags: 52 in 22 challenge, 52 in 22 cooking challenge, 52 in 22 cooking challenge chocolate tacos, 52 in 22 cooking challenge Portuguese tarts, 52 in 22 food cooking challenge, 52 in 22 recipes, Adventure Travel, Author Michael Ruhlman, baked egg recipes, baked eggs and chocolate taco recipes, Barbara Passion Chocolate For Breakfast, best cooking recipes, best Lisbon restaurants, best Lisbon seafood restaurants, best pork recipes, best recipes, best scrambled egg recipes, best sicilian recipes, best sicilian wineries, best tart recipes, best wineries, Bite eat repeat, bite eat repeat webiste, bite eat repeat website, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, carrot cheesecake tart recipe, cassatedde recipe, cassatedde recipes, Ceervejharia Ramiro Lisbon, Cervejaria Ramiro restaurant Lisbon, Chef Sara Lawson, Chocolate for breakfast cookbook, chocolate for breakfast cooking challenge, Cookbook Author Michael Ruhlman, cooking challenge 52 in 22, Cooking Under Fire cooking competition, Cooking under fire tv show, Cooking Under Fire!, egg recipes, el Bulli, el bulli cookbook, el bulli recipes, Etna wine sicily, European travel adventures, Food, food travel, hiking mt. etna, legendary swan depot secret menu, Lisbon Portugal tourist attractions, Lisbon restaurant with steak sandwich dessert, Lisbon seafood, Lisbon sightseeing, Lisbon tourism, Lisbon travel adventures, Lisbon's best restaurants, making Portuguese tarts two ways, making scrambled eggs with potato chips, Michael Ruhlman cookbooks, Michelin 3-star restaurants, Michelin 3-stars, Michelin Guide, Michelin guides, michelin recipes, michelin red guide, Michelin restaurants, Michelin Stars, Micheline 3-star Chef Dominique Crenn, most inventive female Chefs, Mt. Etna lava caves, Mt. Etna volcano active, Pasteis de Belem Lisbon Portugal, Pasteis de Belem restaurant, Pasteis de Nata, Pasteis de Nata tarts from Lisbon, PBS cooking series Cooking Under Fire, Petit Crenn, Petit Crenn San Francisco best San Francisco restaurants Petit Crenn, Petit Crenn San Francisco restaurant review, Phil Rosenthal The Kelly Clarkson Show, Phil Rosenthal TV show, Phil Rosenthal TV show Netflix, Pier 39 San Francisco, planeta Etna wine sicily, planeta winery in sicily, planeta winery sicily, pork recipe, Portuguese milk tart recipes, Portuguese tart recipes, potato chip egg frittata recipe, pulled pork pasta recipe, pulled pork pasta with almond cream sauce recipe, pulled pork recipes, Recipes, Restaurants, restaurants in san francisco, ricotta tart recipe, Scarlett Shrimp Lisbon, sicilian pastry cassatejdde recipe, sicilian recipes, Sicilian ricotta tart recipe, Sicily travel, sicily wineries, travel, travel adventures, Wine