a sweet (or savoury) treat in portugal
more than the pastel de nata
If Portugal is famous for one thing, that thing is the pastel de nata. Lisbon and ‘natas seem to go hand & hand, and it’s the dessert everyone tries when visiting the city. And yeah, I probably ate half my body weight in custardy goodness, but today, we are not going to talk about the pastel de nata. Their time will come and they are, indeed, worth the hype. But… I feel obligated to address the fact that PORTUGAL HAS SO MUCH MORE TO OFFER. They have phenomenal baked goods- both sweet and savoury, and I taste tested a lot, so I’m ready to get on my soap box!
But first, a brief history lesson. You know how I said Portugal does eggs really well in my previous newsletter? Yeah, that extends to the baked goods- which is obvious in hindsight, since natas are filled with egg custard. Nuns actually used to bleach their clothes with egg whites, resulting in many unused yolks. To reduce waste, they began using them in their baking- lucky for us. Now, I’m not just telling you this because it’s a fun fact. I am trying to give you a strategy based on my observations. I found the all the baked goods I ate/saw fell into two categories: either they were made with brioche or puff pastry. The overarching theme was that every brioche pastry (which of course, uses eggs!!) I had was 10x better. The puff pastry ones were still good!! I just liked the briochey ones more. So, eat what your heart desires… but if you can only choose one or two items, I’d prioritize things that look fluffy rather than flakey. I do realize this is also my preference, buuut I think this is good advice.
Okay, now for the goods, which I ate in Lisbon/Lagos (a must visit city in the Algarve region- so cute and peaceful):
Pao de deus
This is a sweet brioche bun topped with coconut. Simple, pillowy, delicious. We got this once during a food tour in Lisbon at the historic Confeitaria Nacional and once in Lagos at Padaria Centrale. The one at Centrale was HUGE and had a more toasted coconut quality, while the one at Nacional was sweeter and topped with powdered sugar. You can also order this bun at any typical pasteleria for an affordable breakfast and get it sando style with options like butter (which I regret not doing) or even with cheese and ham (which, I found odd and do not regret not doing this). Bonus: order a meia de leite with it- it’s like a cortado and it was my favourite espresso drink in portugal.
Bola de Berlim
Every country seems to have their own donut variant, and the bola de berlim is Portugals! It’s a soft, (you guessed it) brioche donut often stuffed with egg custard. We crushed a few of these on this trip from Confeitaria Nacional. They aren’t terribly unique, but they are good!
Portuguese croissant
Basically a brioche bun shaped like a croissant haha. I was not planning on ordering this, but one day I got hungry for a snack while shopping in our favourite grocery store in Portugal (Pingo Doce <3), saw that they were 90 cents and bought one. Honestly it was so friggin’ good. Lightly sweet, brushed with syrup, pillowy to the point of a near melt-in-mouth quality… I didn’t expect to love a grocery store pastry so much. Funnily enough, we ordered one at Padaria Centrale the next day, expecting it to be better, but it was less sweet, so we liked Pingo Doce more. Do not sleep on Pingo Doce.
Falhado de carne
Okay the “falhado” items, as far as I could tell, are puff pastry based. We ordered this at Pasteis de Belem (aka the brith place of pastel de natas) as it was described as puff pastry with meat filling, and I love savoury pastries. This description was accurate, but the filling was very Pâté-like which I didn’t expect. In all honesty, I was not the biggest fan, and had neutral feelings about the puff pastry in general.
Falhado de salsicha
This time, puff pastry with a sausage! Very hotdog like in nature. This was a Padaria Centrale order, and the pastry was better than the the other falhado item. Still, I found it quite crumbly rather than flakey. The sausage was very tasty… but again Pâté like. This really comes down to preference, but I did wish it had more of a bite, ya know?
Chicken Empanada
Okay, now this was my favourite savoury pastry. Kinda like a mini chicken pot pie- except with shredded chicken rather than chunks. Meaty, nicely spiced, and all wrapped in deliciously buttery pastry- I could not get enough! Get it at Padaria Centrale if you find yourself in Lagos and thank me later.
Rissois
A deep fried shrimp turnover! We ordered this as a side with a dinner we got in Lagos one evening, since it was quite cheap and I was curious. It was small, but packed with meaty shrimp in a really good sauce! I really liked it. Crisp, and had that greasy fried feel- but not in overwhelming or bad way.
Bolo de Carne
My second favourite savoury pastry, and everything I wished the falhado de carne would be. Really, its similar in concept, but instead of puff pastry it was brioche encasing the meaty goodness. And the meat was not pate, but rather generous chunks of ham and bacon. The fat from the ham just melteddd into the brioche, and man was it ever good. Very generously packed too! Order this at Padaria Centrale with the empanada!
Mystery pastry (sorry)
Okay. So I tried my best to figure out what this pastry was. I made endless google searches, stalked google reviews, scoured pictures online- all in vain. I have no idea what this is!! And I am SO SAD. I got it at Padaria Centrale, and let me walk you through how this went. Essentially, when purchasing here, you go in, grab a ticket, and wait for your number to be called. This was slightly chaotic, as, of course, the numbers are said in Portuguese and the place was brimming with locals and tourists alike- so it was even hard to see the screen where your number pops up. We missed our number so we had to sheepishly go up, and felt a bit in the way, so we tried to order quickly. Anyways, a lot of the sweet items are not labelled, so we kinda pointed to items that looked good, and this was one of them. Kinda like a brioche roll situation, it was sweet, citrusy, and oh so melt in your mouth soft. It seems they often have it, so again, if you find yourself in Lagos, go to this bakery and point away! Whatever this was, it was my favourite sweet item at Centrale!
So that was about ten days worth of pastry consumption broken down for you guys. There were more things I wanted to try, but simply could not for the sake of: I value my health. Portugal has so much to offer, and has as great food scene overall- I’d honestly go back just to eat. Well, eat, and enjoy some of the most phenomenal views I have ever seen in the Algarve region. If Portugal wasn’t on your bucket list as a foodie destination- trust me- it should be.