lisbon stories :: pastéis de belém

my friends, i am back with something sweet! before i go on to a small wine tasting party occurring {here}, i just wanted to share a few pictures of one of my favourite places in lisbon for my sweet tooth. i live quite near this place (lucky, lucky me!) and we often go there in the summer, after dinner for some cafe and one of these delicious pastries. they are the typical pastries in lisbon and are called {pastéis de belém}. belém is the name of the neighborhood. and they bake 14 thousand of these every single day. and yes, they are all sold.

they are said to be made under a secret recipe that just one person knows about. the recipe comes from a monk that belonged to the monastery next door. with the 1820 revolution, several monks and nuns were left homeless, and this monk, that was also a master confectioner, was invited to work in the refinery. through the years the recipe has neither changed or even shared. everyone that is involved in the process knows only a part, its own. i think that the logical question would be “so why don’t they gather and share the several parts?”

first, the current master confectioner was chosen by at least one requirement, he had to have been working there for at least 25 years. everyone else that knows a part of the recipe signed a contract in which they promise not to share anything about the recipe, otherwise their properties would be taken and they could even go to jail. thank goodness no one ever tried this, because i like the whole mistery.

i have eaten quite a few over the years and i can state that they always, but always taste the same. eating one (or two as you see!) makes me very happy. i tend to feel happy when i eat certain things. one of these things is sushi, the other one is eating one of these pastéis.

so, my friends… if coming to lisbon, please, please… do eat one of these! yes, you will face long queues (forget going there on a sunday afternoon if you have zero patience), but you will not be disappointed. i promise! oh, and eat more than one… no one will look at you in a strange way! you can browse more information about these {here}!