The Best Pastéis de Nata in Lisbon: rating the top rated

Hello, everybody!

Firstly, apologies for being MIA the past couple of weeks, but we are back with delicious content!

If you’ve ever thought about travelling to Portugal and done some research about it, you’ve probably read something about the Pastel de Nata (custard tart, or if you literally translate it from Portuguese, cream pastry). The Pastel de Nata is the most known classic Portuguese pastry, and it is basically a cream, egg, flour, sugar and a bit of lemon cream inside a small crunchy puff pastry base.

You will be able to find a Pastel de Nata in basically any pastry or cafe all around Portugal. They are usually served plain and Portuguese people usually add a bit of cinnamon or icing sugar on top - I personally love them plain, I think the toppings take away the magic of the Pastel de Nata.

Since you can find these tiny sweets all around the country, of course some places are best known for having the most famous ones, such as Pastéis de Belém, in Lisbon. On the other hand, you can also taste some pretty bad ones if you don’t know where to search (please please please, don’t go for the supermarket or gas station ones on your first try, I beg you to try one of the good ones, ahah). SO, for this post, I dragged Sebastian out of the house to come with me and get some of the best rated ones - and I will share with you our own rating.

(Drum roll)...

6. Aloma

Price: 1 EUR

Rating: 3/5

Aloma was on the top rated list of many websites. We went to the one located in Campo de Ourique, which means it’s not exactly in the old center of the city, you will probably want to ride there or take the bus. They are a small corner cafe in some secondary streets of the area, and they have a small outside seating area. The cafe is nicely decorated with some vintage inspiration.

They give

themselves the title of having the best custard tarts, however both me and Sebastian thought this was the lowest one of our list (please, mind that this was the lowest of the best rated ones, which means they are still pretty good!). The reason why both of us rated 3 out of 5 is because the cream was way too sweet, although it had a nice creamy texture The puff pastry was also a bit soft instead of being crunchy as they usually are.

5. Fábrica da Nata

Price: 1 EUR

Rating: 4/5

Fábrica da Nata has two locations, both in the city center: one is in Rua Augusta, and the other one is near Avenida da Liberdade, which is the one we went to. They have quite a large space with a lot of light, and also an outside seating area on the sidewalk.

I liked the custard tart there, it was pretty good - it can be quite greasy though. I took it home in a paper bag and the bag was really wet due to the grease, so I think it helped taking some out and making it a bit more tasty. The puff pastry has a huge crunch to it, which is something I really like - it almost falls apart especially if you’re not used to eating it. I think the cream could use some improvement as it was a bit lumpy and not creamy and smooth as it should be. The taste was spot on, not too sweet and not too dull.

4. Manteigaria

Price: 1.10 EUR

Rating: 4/5

Manteigaria, as well as the other cafes I mentioned previously, has two different locations: one in Time Out Market, in Cais do Sodré, and another one in Largo Camões, which is the one I visited. So, basically, both of them are pretty central.

The one in Largo Camões was pretty small from what I could tell. I did not go all the way inside since the counter was right by the door and I took it to go. It also didn’t seem to have an outside seating area, or much else to eat besides the custard tarts. The outside is a pretty classic old Portuguese facade which I think it’s beautiful.

The custard tart can be easily distinguished from any other on this list because the cream tastes like cinnamon. As I mentioned, it is customary to add the cinnamon dust on top of the tarts, so if you like the taste of it it can be really nice to have it already tasting like cinnamon. This is not the case for me, as I like the classic pastel de nata taste. However, it was not bad at all. The puff pastry was crispy and the cream was really soft, so the overall consistency of the pastel was divine.

3. Pastéis de Belém

Price: 1.15 EUR

Rating: 4/5

The mother of all custard tarts. This is where this classic Portuguese sweet was born, and it is based on an ancient secret recipe made and sold by someone from the Jerónimos Monastery in an attempt to survive. To this date, they are the best known custard tarts, and probably the ones you will see people recommending all over the Internet.

I might be crucified for saying this, however they are not my favourites. I will not take away any of their worth in this post, because they are truly amazing. The reason why I rated 4 out of 5 is because they don’t really taste like classic custard tarts to me. Their taste is slightly different from anything else. The puff pastry is really crispy as I love it, and the cream is the softest. However, it is not really sweet. Some people like this and maybe that’s why they are the most famous ones, however I like them a little bit sweeter. Just for comparison, Sebastian rated these 5/5 and said they are definitely the best ones, so I think it’s a matter of personal preference.

One thing I really like about Pastéis de Belém is their location - although they are not in the city center, Belém is a whole day-trip you can take. The pastry has some of the most beautiful Portuguese monuments right next door, and the actual place is huge. If you see big queues of people wanting to buy their pastries to go, don’t be scared: for some reason, the take-away queue can be quite crazy, but they have many rooms inside with dozens of tables where you can sit and enjoy your pastel de nata. In fact, I would recommend doing this over queueing for the takeaway, as I never had to wait to be seated inside of all the times I went there. Afterwards, make sure you enjoy the remaining attractions around the area, as this is part of the whole Belém experience.

2. Pastelaria Versailles

Price: 1.25 EUR

Rating: 4.5/5

Pastelaria Versailles is also a very well known pastry in Lisbon, where you can enjoy plenty of traditional sweets. It is not very central in terms of cultural attractions, but you can easily catch the 736 bus downtown and be in Pastelaria Versailles in 10 minutes.

They have quite a large outside sitting area - although it’s on the sidewalk, it’s by one of the busiest avenues in Lisbon, so I don’t know if I would consider it a very nice location. The facade is again very traditional, and the inside is also quite large and can fit dozens of people, since they have a lot of tables. In their large counters you will be able to drool over the hundreds of pastries they have displayed.

This was definitely one of my favorite custard tarts ever. It has everything going on for me: really creamy and sweet filling, crispy puff pastry and amazing taste. It was sweet but not too sweet, so the perfect amount of sugar for an after-meal treat. If you want to take it all the way Portuguese, you need to have it for breakfast with an espresso.

1. Sacolinha

Price: 1.10 EUR

Rating: 5/5

Ok. So this pastry is not on any of the lists you will find on the internet if you are searching for the best custard tart. However, I grew up across the street from one of their pastries and I know for a fact that this one has my favorite one!

This is the perfect pastel de nata: creamy sweet inside (not as sweet as the one from Versailles pastry, so the perfect amount of sweet - bold intended) and a puff pastry that has the most satisfying crunch to it. Also, I need to mention that the consistency of the cream on this one is just perfect, it’s a slightly thicker cream than the other ones. This was a little bit burnt for my taste but still good!

Although the cafe I usually go is way outside of Lisbon, I know that there is one near Chiado (which means, it’s very central) and a few others throughout the district. They make and bake their own products and I have to say all the ones I’ve had are amazing. This is one I really recommend trying out. Although it has become a larger chain during recent years, they haven’t lost any quality and they have all the classic Portuguese goods you will want to try.

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Overall, all of these were good. It can be easy to find not-so-good custard tarts around the city, so make sure you do your research before trying one on the first place you find. Besides trying out custard tarts, there are plenty of other classic Portuguese sweets that are worth searching, so I hope you bring your appetite when making your way to Portugal!