Come with me to a Pastelaria (pastry shop)??????

I woke up this morning with this intense craving for some portuguese pastries, but not just homemade ones.......the ones that you smell as you walk into one of Portugal's little Pastelarias (pastry shops) that are spread out all over Lisbon.


Will you allow me to show you the ones I remember going to while living in Portugal? It might give you some ideas on where to go if you're planning a trip to Lisbon.


one of my favorite things to do was sit in one of the Pastelarias and enjoy a nice cold coke and one of the many fresh pastries available.

By far my favorites were the Bolas de Berlim (portuguese cream filled donuts), piramides de chocolate (chocolate pyramids) , guardanapos (little cakes folded like napkins), Bolo de Arroz (Rice Cake) and Pasteis de Nata (Cream cakes).
I literally drool at the thought of one of these little pastries in my mouth, they are to die for.

Portugal is full of these pastry shops, some spilling over onto the sidewalks and others hiding in beautiful old buildings. If you've been to Portugal you know all about the gorgeous architectural buildings that fill the magical city of Lisbon.

I truly miss not having these available to me, so I'm thinking I may need to get the recipes for my favorites and start making them. It's something I want my husband and children to experience too, now if I could just make bread like this one too, I would be one very happy camper.


It's really hard to resist when you walk into a Pastry Shop and are faced with this sight.

One of the things I most enjoyed about the Pastry Shops is that they have this really old feel to them and it's great to sit back and enjoy a wonderful treat while watching the crowd that comes in and out. You have grandmothers, families, school kids, businessmen and tourists all walking in and out as they go about their day. The weekends has a different feeling to it, I remember many an afternoons, we would meet up with family from all over the country and get together at one of these little shops for an afternoon cup of coffee and cake.

Image credit: Delicious Days

This is one of the pastelarias that I remember visiting, it's called Pastelaria Versailles and it's in Avenida da Republica in Lisbon. Could you not imagine sitting there a whole afternoon just enjoying a steaming cup of coffee???

Other ones in the beautiful city of Lisbon that I visited were:

Cafe Nicola, R. 1º de Dezembro, Lisbon

It was here that the first Portuguese woman dared to break the male stranglehold on

café-going. Linked to many other historic events, this place is an essential part of
Lisbon.

Pastelaria Suica, Pç. D. Pedro IV, Lisbon

One of the best known tea-time venues.
Excellent pastry and one of the most popular terraces in Lisbon. During World War II this was the meeting place where those in exile negotiated their tickets to freedom.

Now I have to go make myself some Pasteis de Nata, I'm seriously craving them. I guess I'll take my coffee and my cake outside and imagine I'm sitting at one of the sidewalk tables, surrounded by other cafe goers enjoying their Bicas (espresso cafe) and their pastries.

Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about these wonderful little pastry shops and next time you visit Lisbon be sure to stop in and grab yourself a tasty treat, I can guarantee that you will NEVER look at pastries the same way again.