Back to Lisbon for pastéis de natas

Although the Pastéis de Belém Café was a haul from our hotel in Lisbon, it was essential that we visit. This 171-year-old bakery claims to have invented pastéis de natas—those deliciously sweet custard tarts that we had been inhaling all week. Were they worth the hype?

When we arrived, the café was blissfully crowd-free, giving us the opportunity to admire the old time-y charm and the pastries in the display.



Of course we were there for the pastéis de natas, but, as good tourists, it was our duty to sample the other treats too.

We settled on a simple but delightful corn muffin, sweet bread and coffee and juice to wash it down. A beautiful breakfast spread.

The muffin was light, moist and sweet.

And the pastéis de natas were everything promised—sweet, light, creamy and totally indulgent (though we thought the ones from Doce Real a wee bit better).

Still, that didn’t stop us from cleaning our plates.

Just in the nick of time. As we left the bakery and make our way to Sintra, the rest of the tourists were clogging the sidewalk, hungry for their turn.