A Lisbon Pastry Adventure

Eating new foods is half of the fun of traveling. During my trip to Lisbon last summer, my sister and I were on the search for amazing Portuguese pastries (aka eatings lots of pastel de nata). Here's the pastry adventure we went on.

Antiga Confeitaria de Belém / Pastéis de Belém

what i ate

the pastéis de Belém

the details

Antiga Confeitaria de Belém or Pastéis de Belém is the bakery where the Portuguese pastel de nata originated. 

According to their website, they started making the original Pastéis de Belém with an ancient recipe from the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in 1837.

There is a long line as it is a super famous bakery, but it moves really quickly, so don't worry too much about the line. They do have a dining area but there will be a much longer wait to be seated than getting it to go. Their service model is really efficient and gets you your pastéis de Belém in no time.

While they have a variety of pastries, I only tried the famous Pastéis de Belém. When we got them, they were warm and flaky, just as they should be. We were also given packets of cinnamon and icing sugar to sprinkle on top of our pastries, which I think was a nice touch.

bonus points

+ service
+ fame

location

Belém
R. de Belém 84-92
1300-085 Lisboa, Portugal

Pastelaria Suiça

what i ate

pão de deus, pastel de nata, madeline, coffee

the details

I want to preface by saying that Pastelaria Suiça is now closed. I thought about whether I should include it but I decided to mention it anyways since it was a big part of the pastry adventure and the first bakery I visited on the trip. However, since it's closed, I'm not going to go too in depth into the details.

The cafe was located in Rossio, which was a really convenient location. One of the reasons that I enjoyed the bakery was because of the outdoor seating right in the square. It made for relaxing people watching and enjoying the fresh air while indulging in pastries.

location

sadly now closed!

Confeitaria Nacional

what i ate

bunny pastry, eclair, lemon meringue tart, hot chocolate, latte

the details

Confeitaria Nacional prides themselves on "the most antique and traditional pastry shop in Lisbon" and were founded in 1829. It's in a great location, just by Praça da Figueira and Rossio station, so it's really convenient to stop by at.

The place has a nice classy interior that feels a little like a tearoom. There is also a nice wide variety of pastries to choose from. It definitely feels like a very traditional shop and on a hot summer day may potentially feel a bit stuffy, but I generally enjoyed the experience at Confeitaria Nacional.

bonus points

+ location

location

Baixa

Praça da Figueira 18B 

1100-241 Lisboa, Portugal