Pastel de nata is a Portuguese custard tart. If you’ve never tried it… stop reading… look up a place that does it near you and go try it! These are perfect one (maybe two) bites of joy. I absolutely love them. The first time I tried one in Portugal, I was blown away. It was one of those life changing bites. Since then I’ve been searching for that very taste. I’ve tried it in the Paris airport, in Beijing China and also in London. It’s still really good, but just not the same.
The first time I tried one in Portugal, I was blown away. It was one of those life changing bites.
These wonders of the food world originated in Portugal and are also popular in China (because of Portuguese colony – Macau). In China there are two versions – one which is the sweet custardy version like the original Portuguese one and the other one is more eggy. I prefer the sweet one.
The first time I tried this was while on an excursion up a mountain in Faro, Portugal. We were exhausted and this was a pit stop. And what a pit stop. This is going back over a decade now. And I am still in search of that taste. I’ve come close, but nothing truly compares.
I tried it in the Paris airport while on a transit – not as memorable. I tried it during my stay in Beijing – I had it from a few different places – some were delicious (because they were warm and fresh) while others were underwhelming (because they were cold and pre-packed). I tried some from a bakery and some from a supermarket – don’t waste your time and money on the supermarket stuff. Even though it is cheap, it isn’t pleasant at all. And you just don’t appreciate this treat for what it should be. With this, you truly get what you pay for. Regardless, during my time in Beijing I got close to experiencing that taste, but not exactly.
My latest try was closer to home. Cafe de Nata in London (4 branches) do the traditional classic version as well as some really interesting creative variations too. They are one of the most famous and popular in London! I mean, David Beckham has visited!
We tried:
– Classic
– Blueberry
– Apple and cinnamon
We loved the classic as we prefer our custard tarts warm. Think it tastes better. The other two were cold. The blueberry one was tart, which was interesting, but not my favourite. It was definitely an interesting take. 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.
Have we found the one? Read about our latest attempts:
[…] pastel de nata is a classic. I’ve done a separate post on it (read it here). If you have not tried one of these, what on Earth are you waiting for? One of my absolute […]