Magical Mouthfulls - 'Pastéis de Belém'

I have always realized that abhay is a very determined person. When he wants something , he achieves it!  :)

On our trip to Lisbon , Portugal,in the first week of June, we happened to have a tour with an impressive historian named Paulo who apart from introducing us to the city, introduced us to the portugal culture and food. He recommended us to visit one of the most prized bakery shop in the city called 'Pastéis de Belém' and I am so glad we tried his recommendation and tips. This is exactly how he had quoted :

If you have a sweet tooth or simply want to try the famous Pastel de Nata,then you cannot and shouldn't leave the land of lisbon without paying a visit to this place -Antiga Confeitaria de Belém. It is a place that's on every tourist map for tasting their delicious custard creamy tarts. Take the tram no 15 from downtown lisbon and go to a stop called Jerónimos. The bakery is right next to the Monastery of Jerónimos and you cannot miss it. You will see a lonnnngggg queue of tourists milling around the doorway , queuing to buy some of the famous Pasteis de Belém. Now here is the tip that he gave us and I would like to pass on. When you see the queue, simply by-pass the queue and walk 'Like you own this place' (I am never going to forget this line! :D) and this is because there is a huge bunch of seating areas inside which people do not know about and mostly is empty because tourists end up joining the queue instead of checking for free space inside ;) Go inside , find a good place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with the famous 'Pasteis De Belem' for just 3 euros.

The famous tram of Lisbon

Done! Abhay had this event sealed in his iterinary. How can he leave lisbon without trying something so soo famous? We decided to pay a visit to the bakery shop when we will visit Vasco da gama statue and the Monastery of Jerónimos on our third day of the trip but unfortunately by the time we reached there , it was very dark and we assumed that the shop must be closed. That left just 1 day in our hands and we had lot of things planned for that day already. So, I started to brain wash abhay by passing these subliminal messages - "Its just a tart", "I think we should drop the idea of trying it" , "You know, sometimes the locals just over hype things" etc etc :D I know that none of the excuses were working in my favour but if we would go there again, we would surely have to cut short of time on other plans which I didn't want to. Apparently we met Paulo again that day and he asked us if we visited the shop and tried the tarts! I still recon the look on Abhay's face. He was definitely feeling very sad and It acted like a ignition catalyst. Abhay asked Paulo about the time when the shop closes and the reply was 10:30 PM. Now that was like a ray of light for Abhay. That means we can manage to visit the place after completing all our other tours to different places in the evening and still make it. We got free in the evening at around 8:30 PM and we rushed towards the downtown tram station. We got into the tram and after spending 15-20 minutes in the tram , reached a stop called 'Belem'. We got down from the tram and headed straight towards the Monastery and we could see the bakery shop from a distance already. Abhay was ecstatic! I am surprised how come he didn't scream 'Eureka' ;)

Our Eureka Moment!

 Before I talk about my experience of tasting these famous custard tarts, let me talk about the bakery shop and its mysterious secret recipe first.

The  recipe goes back almost 200 years to the nuns who baked the pastries at the nearby Jeronimos Monastery. During the 1820 revolution, many religious orders were forced to disband. Money talked during those hard times, and the recipe was sold to the confectioner of the bakery and it remained a secret only known by 3 of the chefs at the bakery.I have been told that the secret is kept hiding in one the special rooms inside. Everyday approximately half a lakh tarts are being made AND SOLD in the shop and relished by thousands of tourists. The main ingredient is egg yolks. There is a story behind it too :) During Portuguese medieval history, the convents and monasteries of Portugal produced large quantities of eggs, whose egg-whites were extensively used for starching of clothes and for clearing the wines in the wineries. This resulted in a large amount of leftover egg yolks resulting in the birth of this illustrious recipe!

Unlike Paulo's description , this place was absolutely quiet. There was no one standing outside, no queue and no tourists. Possibly because ideally all the tourists must be giving up by this hour :).Without much ado , we went inside and to our surprise, we found that there must be hardly 2-3 tables booked and the entire place was literally empty.We headed inside and grabbed a table for two next to the door. An old gentlemen came and addressed us in Portuguese and scribbled down the order even before we spoke :D He knew why we were there :) 2 Pasteis De Belem and 2 Cappuccino :) Slurp! I couldn't wait to taste it. While waiting for the order to arrive , we decided to take a look around the shop. The whole shop had an old charm to it. Nothing was mordernized .The display area had wooden work and the walls were beautifully decorated with portuguese blue tiles.It was a beautiful evening, partially dark, cool breeze and peaceful.

View from our table !

The seating area inside ... there were 4-5 such rooms inside.

Finally the waiter brought the order on our table and we kept staring it for few seconds :D Then,I grabbed my camera and abhay grabbed his and we literally strted taking pictures like paparazzis. If the natas were humans , we surely must have made them embarrassed :D Abhay asked me to take the bite and before I could do this horrendous mistake , the waiter came for my rescue and asked me to stop. He sprinkled the cinnamon and the sugar powder on top of the pastel* and I tasted the famous 'Pastel De Belem' for the first time! The smoothness of the custard, the crunchiness of the flaky edges and the pleasant sweetness of the tart is unbeatable.I have tasted Portuguese natas before as well (Abhay had introduced me to them) and had never liked them so much but this one is sensational and deserved to remain much prized dessert of Lisbon. The pastéis were still hot and probably fresh from the oven.It was a magical moment. Our trip was coming to an end and what a perfect way to conclude it :)

If you haven't googled it yet and waiting for the curtains to rise ;) then  here I present : 'Pastéis de Belém'

If you ever plan to visit Lisbon, then do not miss out to taste their signature tarts. You will not regret it :)

A Pastel de Belem packed for my Mommy :)

*(Pastel is the singular form of Pasteis)