A third pastel de nata shop has hit Dublin.
For the past decade or so, Dublin has been a city dictated by specific, timely food trends. 2014 - year of the burrito. 2015 - year of the donut. 2018 - year of the wood fired pizza. 2020, for obvious reasons - year of the horsebox café.
Skip to today, and it's hard to ignore the latest trend that's slowly but surely tightening its grip on Dublin - the pastel de nata trend.
Pastel de Natas, image via Lisboa
Not one I think any of us saw coming, but nonetheless - three cafés specialising in the Portuguese custard tarts have opened in Dublin in the last four months. Before this, to the best of my knowledge, the only place you'd really find them here was by the till in Nandos.
The most recent addition to the pastel scene is Lisboa, a new pastelaria on Andrew Street Dublin 2. The new café specialises in Portuguese pastries, traditional sandwiches, salads and coffee, with an intriguing array of pastel de nata flavours to choose from - chocolate, raspberry and blueberry. If you don't mind.
Owners Lee Sim and Marcin Skudlarski predict that the ‘Francesinha’ - a sandwich layered with ham, sausage, chorizo and steak, then covered with melted cheese and topped with a secret tomato and beer sauce will be an instant favourite. The sambo originally hails from Porto and has been dubbed “the hangover cure of the century”.
Also on the menu, you'll find the Bifana: a sourdough bread hosting thin layers of pork marinated and simmered in a peppery tomato sauce, as well as the Frango Piri Piri chicken roll with tomato and lettuce and a spicy mayo finish. The pastelaria will also be serving up a range of pastries including Queques (filled muffins in a range of flavours), Bolas de Berlim (large donuts filled with custard, raspberry jam and whipped cream), Biscoitos (giant cookies) and gateaux slices. Finally, there'll be an offering of sausage rolls (vegan options available), savoury pastries and croissants.
Exterior of Lisboa on Andrew Street
Lisboa opens tomorrow (29 November) on Andrew Street and to celebrate, they'll be giving away 500 free pastel de natas from 12pm.
And if you'd like to read up on Dublin's other recent Lisbon-inspired cafes you can find out more about Café Lisboa in D7
HERE, and Alfama of Windy Arbour
HERE.
Header image via Lisboa
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