You have to try the Portuguese Breakfast

By Halal Xplorer England Food Portugal October 24, 2021

Portuguese Breakfast

In Portugal it is common to have a strong coffee and something sweet for breakfast – the sweet tooth in me loves a sweet European breakfast. In this post we’ll cover the most popular treats including the national doughnut, a classic and a savoury seafood treat.

Bola De Berlim - Portuguese Doughnuts

After conducting a short survey on our instagram page it seems most of our audience have not tried a Portuguese doughnut (bola de berlim as it is known in Portuguese). So, let me introduce you to these bad boys.

When you think of Portuguese sweet snacks, you’ll probably be thinking of the pastel de nata. And, unfortunately, that’s probably all most of us know about Portuguese sweets or pastry. But they have so much more to offer including this unsung hero. It is super popular in Portugal, but rarely found outside of the country except in Portuguese cafes. A bola de berlim is a Portuguese take on the Berliner classic, but instead of jam, egg-based Portuguese cream is used as the filling (this is a cream that is used in a lot of Portuguese desserts and pastry and don’t worry it isn’t eggy in taste). And I like that because I prefer cream over jam!! Also, the size is a notable difference – these are huge! With a capital H. They are simply irresistible. Fluffy, creamy and the right amount of sweet! Super addictive.

Pastel de Nata and Rissol de Camarão

The 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 favourite snacks/sweet treats!! Sooo good! The fresh ones are always the best. Never go for the pre-packed ones. The Rissol de Camarao is a shrimp filled Portuguese turnover. It’s decent and if sweet breakfasts aren’t your thing, you can try this. I prefer the sweet goodies.

Where can we try it in England?

You’ll need to find a Portuguese cafe or patisserie to try the bola de Berlin, but the pastel de nata can be found in good pastry shops and supermarkets (but make sure you get the fresh ones and not the pre-packeted ones). There are some Portuguese cafes scattered around London (with Lisboa Patisserie in Notting Hill probably being the most famous authentic one). I’d advise you try these treats from one of them. There is of course the more commercial Cafe de Nata and Santa Nata you can try too. Our first experience was in these two different places. An independent doughnut business and a quaint Portuguese cafe.

We found this quaint little Portuguese cafe (Lagoa Cafe) near the Luton train station and town centre to try out a Portuguese breakfast.

We got a pastel de nata (how can you not?), bola de berlim and a Rissol de Camarão.

The pastel de nata was of course splendid, but here the star was the Bola de Berlim! You cannot miss them due to their distinctive extra large size and the vibrant coloured Portuguese cream that is filled inside. This one here at this cafe was absolutely amazing. Sooo good it actually pipped the nata even to my favourite thing from this quick breakfast meal. It was fresh and the dough was soft and not tough. The cream complimented it perfectly. The Portuguese cream was something we had never tasted before and it was a nice variation on your usual cream filling. Perfect! This one here blew me away and I have been craving it since!

Overall, a great little Portuguese cafe serving some authentic goodies and the staff are always super friendly. If in the area, make sure you check it out! Especially the bola de berlim!

[AD – gifted] We were also kindly gifted some Portuguese goodies to try including the bola de berlim and pastel de nata. @ddonuts_uk (check them out on Instagram) are based in Luton and they specialise in Portuguese doughnuts.

We got to try:

– Portuguese cream

– Nutella

– Choco sprinkle classic ring

– Pastel de nata

The original – Portuguese cream one was unique and delicious. Fluffy with a good amount of cream and sweetness. The dough was soft and spongy and it smelt like fresh doughnuts! I’m not a huge chocolate guy, but I still enjoyed the two chocolate ones. My wife likes chocolate and she like how they tasted. But our favourite was the Portuguese one. I love pastel de nata (see pastel de nata post) and I’ve been searching for the authentic Portuguese taste. Let me tell you – this right here tasted better than the famous cafe de nata one in London!

Go give @ddonuts_uk a follow on Instagram and Facebook and try a doughnut or two from them (and a nata of course). I’d definitely try the Portuguese cream one. Their menu has many other amazing items on it too (e.g. the rainbow long one filled with cream looks like its got my name on it). So go check them out!

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