A very good friend of mine recently told me that she’s planning her first visit to Lisbon. The first thing I shouted said was: “You have to go to Pastéis de Belém and have ten one of their tarts!” She asked me what exactly they were and I told her they are “egg-custard-thingies-from-Heaven”. Her response: “Egg custard? That sounds kind of gross.” I stared at her for a moment, declared our friendship over, then turned around and walked away. I don’t need fools who spout this type of nonsense in my life.
Just kidding. We’re still friends (but I trust her a little less than I used to).
I guess going forward – since my aforementioned description of the tarts was obviously lacking – I’ll just show people a picture of them. How’s this?
Just look at the delicate layers of pastry and the beautiful color of the custard. Biting into them, so many flavors and textures fill your mouth that it’s hard to describe at first. The crust is light and flaky…but has an almost caramelized taste and feel to it. The custard filling is rich and creamy, with hints of vanilla. The burned spots actually add to the overall flavor, instead of detracting. Many people sprinkle cinnamon or powdered sugar (or both…but we just did a bit of cinnamon) on top of them for even more flavor.
In Lisbon, you will find similar tarts (known elsewhere as pastéis de nata) in basically every coffee shop or bakery. However, we were informed by a local that they are not all of equal quality. We didn’t try them anywhere else, so I can’t offer alternatives. But, honestly, you really can’t go wrong if you go here. The nuns that came up with this still closely-guarded recipe back in the 1800s knew what they were doing – it has remained unchanged to this day.
Given its geographic location, the fact that Lisbon restaurants offer an abundance of fish and seafood dishes should come as no surprise. Since we were only in Lisbon for two nights, we sadly didn’t have a chance to try all of the restaurants I had hoped to. One that I do want to give a shout-out to is As Velhas. We had a really great overall experience at this restaurant that was not far from our hotel (the Sofitel on Avenida da Liberdade).
We felt very welcome from the minute we walked in, and had a great experience in every way. The waiters were wonderful…very friendly, willing to answer questions and make recommendations. It was hard to not fill up on the delicious bread they brought to the table – you should definitely try it. We started with a garlic shrimp appetizer…the flavor was bold and they did not skimp on the garlic!
The grilled sea bass I had was fresh and simply – but perfectly – prepared. They brought it to the table as shown below, but then deboned it for me (thank goodness).
With our dinner, we enjoyed a very reasonably priced vinho verde (a Portuguese wine) that our waiter recommended. It was light, fantastic and paired perfectly with our meals.
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you that I ordered dessert, which was a mouth-watering chocolate mousse cake:
For a great end to a great meal, our waiters brought out complimentary glasses of ginja (or ginjinha) – a delicious liqueur made with ginja berries (sour cherries).
As Velhas
Rua Conceição da Gloria, 21
There are many great flavors and delights to be found in Lisbon, and I wish we had had the time to experience more. It’s definitely a city that I plan to visit again, so let me know in the comments below some of the places you would recommend!
Great, I'm hungry now… 😉 These pastries do look amazing! I guess we will have to plan a visit to Portugal soon.
Irene – I wish we had time to do some taste testing on those pastries! If you go, you'll have to do it for me and let me know if they are, indeed, the best! 🙂