Cafe de Nata is quite possibly the most famous and the most popular place to try the world famous pastel de nata. I mean so famous that even David Beckham paid them a visit! One may argue that they were one of those who truly popularised and made more main stream these Portuguese sweet treats. The artisan bakery/cafe pride themselves in the high quality of their end result items i.e. the pastel de nata. The cream and dough is always made fresh on the day every day and it is never made from frozen. They have five branches across London; South Kensington, Hammersmith, Soho, Camden Town and Knightsbridge. Prominent London locations as you can see. So, it is likely that on your London day out you will be near a Cafe de Nata. The founders are three: a Portuguese and two Muslim men. Nice to see. Read more about them here.
Pastel de Nata
The Pastel de Nata is known as the king of pastries in Portugal and rightfully so! History tells us that 300 odd years ago Jerónimos Monastery monks in Belém (Lisbon) created this wonderful treat. Left over egg yolks were used by monks and nuns to create desserts and from them is the most famous one: the Pastel de Nata. Eventually the monasteries needed to raise money so they started selling the pastries. When the monastery shut in 1834 the recipe was sold to a family in Belem. This family still run the Fabrica de Pastéis de Belem – check it out if ever in Lisbon! Now, they can be found all around with Hong Kong even having its own version – the HK egg tart (it is more eggy and less sweet). What exactly is it though? A pastel de Nata is a Portuguese custard tart. It is made up of a crispy, flaky pastry that is filled with a smooth creamy custard. It is then baked at a very high temperature to give it an iconic caramelised appearance. Information taken from here.
Their offerings
What I found unique about them is that they have experimented with the classic and they have a variety of interesting nata flavours to choose from. Apart from the Classic Nata, you can go for the Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Apple & Cinnamon, Coconut, Chocolate, and Passion Fruit natas. They even do plant-based vegan natas!
We tried:
– Classic
– Blueberry
– Apple and cinnamon
We loved the classic as this was the only one that came out warm and we prefer our custard tarts warm. Think it tastes better. The other two were cold (not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be?). The blueberry one was tart, which was interesting, but not to my liking. I don’t think the sweet custard tart needs a tart twist. It was definitely an interesting take though. The apple and cinnamon was quite close to the classic, but with a bit of apple filling. But if I were to get more from them, I’d get the classic again. We also really wanted to try the new passion fruit one, but unfortunately, it wasn’t available.
Getting there
There are numerous branches scattered around London.
