Lisbon offers tourists the best delicatessen in Portugal. A culinary tour through the capital is therefore recommended for holidaymakers. One curiosity is that many delicatessen stores specialize in canned food.
Regional delicacies are very important in the city
For more than 100 years, delicatessen shops and restaurants have been offering regional delicacies to holidaymakers who love cakes and pastries. The culinary specialties of Lisbon have even been the subject of a play in the past. If you stroll carefully through the streets, you will discover a large number of shops that offer cakes, sweet pastries and other specialties for those with a sweet tooth. An abundance of sweet delicacies entice travelers to fill their suitcases with sumptuous souvenirs. Everywhere, cozy street cafes, cafés, pastry shops and bakeries invite tourists to linger over coffee and delicious cakes.
A visit to Lisbon is a must on culinary trips to Portugal
The lively, interesting city is famous far beyond the country’s borders for splendid cakes and other sweet dishes that make the hearts of those with a sweet tooth beat faster. A visit to the capital is therefore a must on every culinary trip to Portugal. The metropolis is the perfect destination for a family vacation and for an exciting city trip. If you travel to Lisbon, you should definitely try the delicious pudding tarts Pastéis de Nata. It is practically sold on every street corner. It tastes most delicious in a special, famous pastry shop, in front of which queues of residents and strangers form every day. Definitely worth the wait. Of course, the countless cafes in the narrow, beautiful streets also offer delicious pastries, cakes and strong coffee, for which the country is internationally famous.
What makes the popular pudding tart so unique?
The custard tart is the most famous specialty of Portugal and the capital. At any time of the day, holidaymakers and residents flock to the pastry shops and bakeries, only to leave them with at least one of the delicious delicatessen pies and a coffee-to-go. The roughly palm-sized Pastis de Nata (puff pastry pies) with their caramelized, sugar-sweet egg cream filling are an inseparable part of Portuguese culture. The origin of this unique pastry is entwined with legends and sagas, which are most likely embellished with and are deeply rooted in the history of the country. According to tradition, Portuguese nuns used to strengthen their clothes and bonnets with egg white. Therefore, large amounts of egg yolks were left in the monastery kitchens. The nuns baked them into pies with lots of sugar. The nuns wanted to please the monks with the sweet pastries.
The tartlets are popular with people of all ages. The number of stores selling these pies is huge. As with other products, the quality of the custard tarts on offer is not the same in all stores. Tourists recognize perfect Patéis de Natas by the fact that the filling is caramelized as sweet as sugar, the puff pastry is not excessively sweet and the pastry is lukewarm. The custard tarts should come straight out of the oven so that the delicious egg cream filling can melt on your tongue.
Where can you get the best pastries / Pastéis de Nata in the capital
The most delicious Pastéis de Nata are baked and sold just outside the city center. Therefore, a trip with the always overcrowded tram is definitely worthwhile. Every day, countless customers wait in the pastry shop to grab one of the 400 seats and taste the tasty tartlets. There is also a specific queue for people to be collected. If you queue up here, you can take the most delicious puff pastry pies in town and enjoy them on the beach, for example.