Pastéis de Nata (custard portuguese pastries)

“I am a sweet tooth!"... Is a phrase that really doesn't apply to me. Sometimes I fell like a chocolate millefeuilles from Versailles, but even those can't move me anymore.

Never been of a cake fan. Occasionally, it suits me well to have those kinds of dry cakes at home, marble cake and such, so I can eat at my whim and evoke memories of my grandparent’s and other borrowed grandparents. Now, to move around looking for them and not being able to go through the day without some sort of cake, that was never me. If we're speaking about chocolate, now, that is a diametrically opposed conversation.

Well, I do enjoy a bola de berlim at the beach, but the old ones. I like Piriquita's travesseiros. I like, I repeat, the chocolate millefeuilles from Versailles and I used to rather like the pastéis de nata from a patisserie, which I admit not knowing if it still exists, called Moinho Vermelho and, lucky for me, was in front of my driving school.

I have not had a real pastel de nata in a while. Maybe since that time when I was having my driving lessons, which of course I'm not telling how long ago it was.

I would like to reinforce that I am a peaky eater, or rather I would like to call it refined taste and smelling senses, behond some nearly psychiatric reasons that maybe someday I will let all of you know... This to say that "A Padaria Portuguesa this", "L'Éclair that", and "Sacolinha what's her face"... really doesn't mean anything to me. They are eatable, but far from stupendous...

I haven't eaten pastéis de nata for some time now, but I do like Pastéis de Belém, which are not pastéis de nata! I must confess that when I see the queues at the door, I quickly adbicate them. In fact, queues and hordes, discourage me in General (which I think will, one day, be a worthy theme for discussion ...).

I love walking around and one of these weekends I decided to park my car at Avenida da Liberdade and go down to Tejo river, go by Mercado da Ribeira, go up Rua do Alecrim, go through Largo Camões, up Rua da Misericórdia, go down again to the Avenida, up to São Jorge's cinema to finnaly traverse the street and arrive, finnaly, to my car again. Did that leave you tired? I know I was! But happy nonetheless, with a full belly and a bag that promised to make a delight of the evening. In the Rossio area something caught my attention. I think the name was Fábrica de Pastéis de Nata or something...and that was when suddendly an urge of trying them took over me. Nevertheless, something made me contain. I took "my" Zomato to know what it was... With this something crossed my eyes, another "factory" where I have been planning to go, and postponing, the Manteigaria. I postpone, because I fear disapointment. I really wanted to find some pastéis de nata that fullfill my measures (well, those little ones from Sacolinha aren't terrible at all, might I say!) .

Because I was hungry when I got to Mercado da Ribeira, I had some "croquetas" of the "different" kind, taht I love e at the same time I chewed, I remembered that Manteigaria was also around there... Afraid of the disappointment I podered not to go, bit I simply could not resist.

I stared at them and found them too yellow. I like it when they have a bit more black spotting... not necessarily burnt, but for yellow I am enough.

I ordered one in order to try. And I devoted time to it. To look at, push a little, I might have even (and god forbid my mother reads this...) smelled it! That was when I decided the time had come for me to taste, and enjoy. (I do not add icing sugar or cinnamon in ... pastéis de nata!) The batter was crispy, very ve _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ry very good. To the filling, I allowed it time to win me over. There is an abcensse, for me, of the exact taste that I remember pastéis de nata to have, slightly lighter, but I was entirely won over and convinced taht, for now, this can be the substitutes of my dear memories reagarding this subject.

I think they're between Pastéis de Belém and the ones from my memory, but surpass, for me by a long way, the famous belenenses.

I was served by the nicest, who convinced me to take a few extras, and I'm glad she did!

I loved them so that in that same day I've had another 2 and on the next day 3 more. Fortunately, you all will think, that because I am so skinny I can eat regardless... make no mistake, I can't. I am thin, yes, but I have some extra stuff in undesirable places and I can't seem to make the pastéis and croquets and such accommodate in places I want them! Scoundrels!

#Manteigaria #lisbon #portugal #zomato #opinion #foodie #custardportuguesepastries