The Sweetest Trip

The most delicious pastries in the world are made in Lisbon. The sin is not in trying them, but in avoiding the temptation of these age-old delicacies.

In 1837, as a consequence of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, all monasteries in Portugal were closed. In order to survive, the monks sold sweets made from a secret recipe of a shop close to the Jerónimos Monastery, in the Belém district. Almost two centuries later, the recipe for the Belém pastries, passed down through the generations, is still a mystery known only to three master bakers. The cakes are still offered to the public as they were then, but today the store is a bakery and café called Pastéis de Belém, whose blue awnings set it apart from other establishments. The spacious rooms invite passers-by to sit down and enjoy the pastries with coffee. If you ask at the huge counter they will wrap them for you as a souvenir. There’s usually a small line, but the wait is worth it. Have a look around inside even if you don’t have coffee and see the kitchen through the large window.

Its exclusivity guarantees the difference in taste from other cafés and bakeries in the city: the people of Lisbon are blessed with a notoriously sweet tooth and every street is dotted with cafés replete with tasty treats. While the rest are made with cream, the Belém pastries are made with an egg and sugar cream which gives them their distinct yellow color.

Less well known but no less appealing are the pingos de tocha, shaped like drops of wax, hence the name, originally from the Santa Clara de Amarante Monastery. Made of only egg yolk and sugar, even the sweetest tooth will be satisfied. And then there are the Brisas, flaky pastry filled with egg and marzipan. Lovers of cheese and all things sweet will find a new favorite in the Madeira and Sintra Queijadas (cheesecake tarts). Sintra also produces Traveseiros, with the same ingredients as the Brisas but with the addition of almonds. Rochas are rock-shaped and made with nuts, cinnamon and honey. And speaking of nuts, many shops will sell you a handful of nuts bathed in chocolate and covered in colored caramel, or pralines, ideal for keeping the appetite at bay during excursions.

And what better way to give the stomach a rest from all that sweetness than another traditional product created by a monk: the famous Ginjinha, cherry liqueur. The most celebrated place to try it is La Ginjinha in the Largo de Săo Domingos, close to the Plaça do Rossio, a place as old as the Belém bakery, where customers take their glass of liqueur and a few cherries (or not if they prefer) out onto the street, and hang around and chat until dinner time.

Oficina do segredo

The Secret’s Workshop, is what the bakers of Pastéis de Belém call their kitchen, where only they can enter. This is where the cream is prepared before being taken to the 20 women who will use it to fill the pastry tarts. When they are hired, they sign a confidentiality agreement and are not allowed to travel together to avoid the ancestral secret being lost forever in case of accident.

Drink the Ginja and eat the cup

This slogan has spread throughout Portugal since it was first used in 2002 at the first Chocolate Festival in Óbidos. The idea emerged to mix flavors and textures by drinking Ginjinha from a small chocolate cup, which was then eaten. So if you didn’t get enough sugar from the pastries and liqueur, you know what to do.