The journey of the pastel de nata: From Lisbon Monasteries to Glasgow bakeries.
Lauren Sculthorpe investigates the rise of the pastel de nata from a Portuguese staple to a global delicacy, featuring exclusive insights from expert bakers and a business that has perfected and popularised this sweet tart in Glasgow.
The pastel de nata, over the years, has become the emblem of Lisbon. Attracting foodies from all over the world to a small bakery in the city. These delicious Portuguese custard tarts have an unlikely beginning. Made using layer upon layer of puff pastry and a dollop of set custard, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a pretty basic dessert. In reality, it’s a pastry shrouded in history.
The story begins with the Jeronimos Monastery, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the Belem district of Lisbon, where monks and nuns crafted these pastries. At the time the time, convents and monasteries used egg whites for starching their clothes, leaving them with an abundance of egg yolks. At a time were nothing went to waste they used the abundance of surplus egg yolks to create desserts, but most popular, even then, was the now famous pastel de nata.
Known for their unique crispy, flaky crust and creamy custard filling they quickly gained popularity with the locals. However, the monastery began facing financial difficulties following the 1820 Liberal Revolution. Religion within Portuguese society took a step back. Many convents and monasteries closed, but to sustain themselves the monks at the Jeronimos Monastery began selling these pastries to a near by sugar refinery. By 1837, the recipe was sold the refineries owner, who opened the Fabrica de Pasteis de Belem, still in operation today. This bakery became a Portuguese icon and draws foodies from all over the world to try the original pastel de nata.
Portugal’s expansive maritime explorations and colonial empire facilitated the spread of Portuguese culture and cuisine. Portuguese immigrants brought the pastel de nata to different parts of the world, including Brasil, Macau, and colonies in Africa and Asia. Each place adding its own unique twist to the tart to suit the taste of locals, but the core recipe remained largely unchanged preserving its original taste.
In recent years, the pastel de nata has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity globally, thanks to people’s broader appreciation for global cuisine. Many European countries have exported their cuisines across the world with huge success – The Spanish tapas and paella, Italian pizza and pasta, French banquettes and croissants – but one that hasn’t always been so easy to reproduce was the food of Portugal. Nando’s doesn’t count, sorry, it’s actually a South African chain and uses a sauce infused with Afro-Portuguese sauce. Though they did have a part to play in introducing many to the pastry as it features on their dessert menu.
The pastel de nata however seems to have taken the world by storm. Translating to ‘egg tart pastry’, these little delights have received numerous accolades over the years from being crowned as one of Portugal’s seven wonders of gastronomy to earning a place on The Guardian’s list of the 50 best things to eat in the world.
An authentic pastel de nata made its debut to the Glasgow culinary scene in 2022. Emma Airley and Sebastian Bacewicz launched Pastéis Lisboa, in a prime location on Byres Road
Working with a consultant fifth generation Portuguese patisserie chef they developed an “authentic recipe”.
According to Emma there is only one difference, she said: “So the recipe is an authentic fifth-generation recipe from Lisbon.
“Although there is one slight difference between this recipe and other traditional recipes and that is the way the custard is made.
“Traditionally the custard is made with sugar syrup, and that means you have water inside the custard, which to a certain extent makes it lighter and sweeter. In ours there is only milk.
“We think it makes ours much creamier and slightly less sweet which is better suited to the Scottish pallet”
The pair dedicated to only working with and producing the best Pasteis de nata possible partnered with local organic dairy farm Mossgiel which features in both their natas and all hot drinks.
Sebastian explained the difficult process of changing the recipe to include real milk rather than the UHT milk used in Portugal: “We have to reduce the sugar content to balance the sweetness of the milk.
“We also balance it across the seasons as the flavour will change depending on what the cows are feeding one. We work very closely with Mossgiel though and they will tweak things in the feed if we ask them too. You just wouldn’t get that relationship with a bigger dairy.”
Although the pair consider themselves ‘purists’ when it comes to the pastel de nata they did decide to introduce a few flavours. Raspberry and white chocolate, bramley apple, rhubarb and custard all feature year-round however the bakery introduced some seasonal flavours last year including a blueberry flavour last summer.
Their dedication to sourcing only the best local produce still remained unwavering with their decision to include flavours. With quite a unique personal touch.
“When we started our bramley apple tart the apples came from the apple tree in my parents’ garden” Emma explained.
“The rhubarb in our rhubarb and custard tart also came from a rhubarb plant that originated in my grandparents garden in Dumfries that was there in 1930 when they bought it! When the house was sold my dad dug it up and divided it amongst us.”
Freya Ross, a Glasgow resident and frequent customer at Pasteis Lisboa, said “It’s a family tradition now to pick up a box of six on Sunday and eat them on walk around the Botanic Garden.
“I went to Lisbon in January and I actually think these are so much tastier than any I tried there!”
Looking ahead at the future of the pastel de nata in Glasgow and the UK. More people are falling in love with the delightful pastry. Supermarkets such as Sainsburys and Lidl have started to stock them, alongside authentic pastelarias popping up around the country.
One thing is for sure, the pastel de nata has travelled over 1000 miles from its creation in a monastery kitchen to the bustling streets of Glasgow and into our homes, and its here to stay.
