Pastéis de Belém

Pastéis de Belém is the bakery that made Lisbon’s custard tart famous. Since 1837 it has baked its pastéis de Belém, small round tarts of crisp, flaky pastry filled with a soft egg custard, to a recipe that came from the Jerónimos Monastery a few steps down the road. For a child, a warm tart is about as easy a treat as Lisbon offers, and it comes with a good story.

The same kind of tart is sold all over Portugal as a pastel de nata. The bakery writes Pastéis de Belém with a registered trademark sign, and says its own tarts are the original ones.

In the early 1800s there was a sugar cane refinery next to the Jerónimos Monastery, with a small shop attached. After the liberal revolution of 1820, the government shut down all the convents and monasteries in Portugal in 1834 and sent the monks and workers away. To make some money, someone from the monastery began selling sweet pastries in the shop, and people soon called them pastéis de Belém.

Belém was then a long way from Lisbon, and most visitors came by steamboat to see the monastery and the Belém Tower. They got into the habit of buying the tarts. In 1837 the bakery began making them in buildings next to the refinery, following the monks’ recipe.

The recipe has stayed secret ever since. According to the bakery, only its master pastry makers know it, and they make the custard and the pastry by hand every day in the “Secret Room”. Children who like mysteries tend to enjoy that detail, and it makes a nice link to a visit to the monastery itself.

The tarts are the reason to come. The bakery also sells other cakes and savoury snacks (salgados), an assortment of pastries, English-style fruit cake (bolo inglês) and quince paste (marmelada). Around Christmas there is bolo-rei, the ring-shaped Portuguese king cake, and its sister cake, bolo-rainha.

There is no children’s menu. This is a pastry stop, not a place for lunch, so pair it with a proper meal elsewhere.

Expect a queue. Time Out Lisboa joked that if there is no line at the door, something must be very wrong, and Visit Lisboa lists tens of thousands of reviews. Inside there are rooms lined with blue and white tiles where you can sit down, and Time Out notes they fill up with locals as well as visitors. Visit Lisboa also lists Wi-Fi.

Going at opening time, 08:00, on a weekday morning is the easiest way to avoid the longest waits. In July, August and September the bakery stays open until 22:00, which makes an early-evening visit after a day in Belém possible. It is open every day of the year, with shorter hours (until 19:00) on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.

Visit Lisboa puts it in its under-€20 bracket, so a box of tarts for a family is a cheap treat. The website does not publish prices.

Belém is full of things to pair with a tart. The Jerónimos Monastery, where the recipe began, is a few steps away. In a wing of the monastery, the Museu de Marinha has ship models, royal barges and seaplanes, and the Planetário is beside it. The Museu Nacional dos Coches, full of gilded royal carriages, is a few minutes’ walk east. Along the river, the Central Tejo power station at MAAT shows children how Lisbon made its electricity from coal.

Is Pastéis de Belém worth the queue with children?

It depends on the wait. The queue at the door can be long, but the tarts are quick to buy and the story makes it more than a snack stop. Go early on a weekday to keep the wait short, or send one adult to queue while the others look around the monastery square.

Can you sit down inside?

Yes. There are tiled rooms with tables inside, which get busy at peak times.

What time does Pastéis de Belém open?

Every day at 08:00. It closes at 21:00, or 22:00 from July to September, and at 19:00 on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Is it the same as a pastel de nata?

It is the same type of tart. Pastéis de Belém are the original version, made only at this bakery to its secret recipe.