Adorable little cafe serving a giant selection of Portuguese pastries and snacks! I stumbled upon…read moreCasa São Miguel after a bit of Googling / Yelping about for the best pastry shops in Lisbon and was immediately entranced by photos of their giant pastry case -- after all, while I love a good pastel de nata as much as the next person, Portugal has SO many different types of pastries and treats to try out! It's a super cute, hole-in-the-wall shop nestled into a charming, narrow street in Alfama. As I walked inside, I absolutely fell in love with the gorgeous, cottage-core-esque decor and lovely pastel colours. The layout is a bit confusing, as the line starts in the back of the store, but the shop is so narrow that you have to squeeze through the half-foot space between the tables and the rest of the people in line. This also makes it a smidge uncomfortable to stick around and enjoy your treats in the cafe, which is a shame because the treats are so tasty and the shop so adorable that I wanted to soak it in for as long as possible! My mom and I decided to sample three of their pastries, including the classic pastel de nata, a beautiful green tart made with some type of bean, and an apple tart. They were all gorgeous, as well as served on the most beautiful little porcelain plates, and they tasted just as beautiful as they looked. The green tart had a great spongey, slightly chewy texture, and it wasn't overly sweet, which I really appreciated. The apple tart was also delightful, with a great fruity flavor and hit of cinnamon; the pecan pieces mixed in also offered a great crunch. The pastel de nata was, of course, delightful as well, with a creamy, custardy center and light flaky crust. Everything was the perfect level of sweetness (i.e., not overly sweet), but I do wish they had warmed them up. They were super tasty cold, but I can only imagine how much more scrumptious they would have been slightly warmer.

We visited here based on the instagram post about hot chocolate. The hot chocolate took a long time…read moreto make but my husband said he saw them mixing it in the back so it was made fresh which was the highlight. It was nice and thick and not too sweet and also very large. The pastries were disappointing as they were cold and some were very very sweet. The fish shaped pastry did not seem fresh. I would come again for the drinks only.

If you have tried the delicious in Sintra, here's a chance to get them right in Lisbon without…read moremaking the long trek! A bakery since 1862, Piriquita is most known for their Travesseiro. The name translates as pillow, and the pastry is exactly that. Pillowy airy and soft, it has a light almond filling in a flaky shell, with a dust of sugar on the outside but not overly sweet. In short, pastry heaven. The pastries are made in Sintra and then driven over to the shop every morning. Enjoy a Travesseiro or two with a nice cup of coffee, and if you want more, there is a small number of other pastries as well.

This small bakery is exactly what I needed to start my day in Sintra! It is very busy and you need…read moreto start by grabbing a number, once called be quick and know your order. The one women show behind the counter kept the customers moving! I would skip the coffee as it all comes from a automatic machine but do get the ham and cheese croissants! They are hard to find on the menu and are not displayed in the counter but they are the perfect breakfast for a long day in Sintra.

We stumbled on this place while roaming through the charming alleyways of Alfama. It's a tiny spot…read morewith limited seating, but great pastries, and probably the best coffee. The owner is super nice and helpful. We grabbed some coffee, a pastel de nata and an orange roll, which were wonderful. It quickly became my husband's favorite spot to grab a quick bite before starting our day.

Queijadinha 葡式椰香小蛋糕…read more Will return. A charming little café right off a busy street. Seating is limited unless they have a backyard. Their queijadinhas are delicious. I saw a woman bring a dozen to our breakfast spot, Cafe Saudude. The egg tarts are well known in Macau, Hong Kong, and now in China. The queijadinha, 葡式椰香小蛋糕 or 巴西椰蓉球, is less popular. Per wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queijadinha - Queijadinha is a custard tart that originated in Brazil. The locals, aka the Portuguese, beg to differ. Another aspect of Brazilian influence on Portugal is that, even though Portugal was the colonizer and Brazil was the colony. It's funny to get different answers on who or where Queijadinha originated. Our guest house lady from Sintra said, "Wiki is wrong. It's from Portugal." One Uber driver from Brazil said straight, "Oh, it's from Brazil." Wherever it originated, it's delicious from Sapa. They have a minimum of €4.5 for a credit card purchase.

Adorable bakery & cafe with delicious little treats. I honestly have no idea what they were called…read morebut we had two of the little mini cakes that were in the glass dome and they were so scrumptious! Our tour guide recommended it at the start of our ride as a perfect compliment to some coffee and he was absolutely right! There is seating and bathrooms to the right of where you order that is very quaint and adorable, there's also seating of course on the patio near where you first enter. Highly recommend stopping in or taking your order to go!

There are many bakeries selling Pastéis de Nata (egg custard tarts) in Lisbon. Manteigaria was on…read moreour itinerary because it was featured in several YouTube tourist videos as having some of the best egg tarts in Lisbon. We visited this location as we were walking by on Rua Augusta towards Praça do Comércio. Manteigaria offers a superb egg custard tart, with more cinnamon flavor and less grease -- at least compared with those from Fábrica da Nata (located a few blocks away, also on Rua Augusta), which we sampled moments earlier. Manteigaria's egg tarts were also far less greasy than the ones we had at Nata N' Friends. Like most other bakeries selling pastéis de nata, extra cinnamon and sugar are available for those who want to add more flavor.

First spot that I tried a pastel de nata in Lisbon and it was yummy! I have to say probably my…read moresecond favorite spot of 4 places I tried in my short 5 day trip to Portugal. This is a local chain with multiple locations and this one is on a main pedestrian street Rua Augusta along the way to the Praça do Comércio which is a plaza along the waterfront of the old city center. There are several other bakeries along this street that serve these delectable Portuguese pastries and this was the first one we tried. Walking up to the storefront it's a small one so there's only room inside to order, there's seating in the street outside where they have some outdoor tables and chairs set up. Inside you can see and smell the warm custardy pastries being taken out of the oven. They make them in-house on location and you can watch the baking staff hard at work prepping them out behind the counters. Slightly burnt on top, a sprinkle of cinnamon as the locals do it, and you're ready to take a bite. Mmmm.... The custard filling was maybe a little looser than I expected though this could've been due to the fact they'd just taken it out of the oven maybe 20 minutes prior. A lovely vanilla egg custard. If I recall correctly the crust was perfection--flaky, crisp, not too sweet and the right conduit for the filling inside. Not pictured I got an espresso and that was a terrific foil to the pasteis. They serve coffee and tea drinks. Would recommend dropping by if you're in the area.

One of the top competitors of the Pastel de Nata in Lisbon. This location is right in the heart and…read morecenter of everything. This was our last stop in our food wand wine tour for dessert! Manteigaria for Pastel de Nata! This one has powdered sugar on top. We've also had it with cinnamon. It's so creamy on the inside and so flaky and crispy on the outside. Beware it can get messy eating. Dreaming of the Pastel de Natas right now. It gets busy and they make them fresh there. Lots of hustle and bustle and service is quick! They're also quite affordable. You have to eat at least one a day when you're on vacation in Portugal! This shop is on a busy street with tons of stores and restaurants, so a nice place to also people watch and relax.

There are several locations of the manteigaria pastéis de nata throughout Lisbon. This location is…read moreon one of the main roads, Rua Augusta, that has many restaurants, bakeries, and souvenir shops. It's not hard to find and tends to get busy. The pastries are great and the service is quick! The space inside isn't too large and has few counter top spaces.

So here's the interesting thing - this was one of *many* places to get pastel de nata that made to…read moremultiple lists of places you had to stop, which meant I obviously had to stop at as many of them as possible over the course of the couple weeks I was in Portugal, a couple months ago, in both Porto and Lisbon (also to a lesser extent, Coimbra). This means I can now say who made them best, and more importantly, why. The interesting thing is, I didn't think the pastel de nata here were particularly great, on any dimension - fairly flimsy, doughy crust, with a pudding-like, drippy filling that was too sweet and not quite eggy enough. Don't get me wrong, I'd still eat them any time someone offered, they were still tasty, you just have a ton of options nearby, some of them notably better than the ones here. I also tried one of their fancy-looking cookies, which definitely looked fancier than it tasted. Was just a cookie. Dessert-wise I was unimpressed. They were also always fairly busy, which made ordering feel a bit rushed. So why am I still giving this bakery 5 stars, and why did I come back here a couple more times, including to get food to-go the morning we left, to get food to take on the plane with us? For exactly one reason, and it's a weird one: oddly enough, the samosas here are the best samosas I've ever had, and by a wide margin. You'd think the best samosas ever would come from an Indian restaurant or bakery, but nope, they're here. The other small savory food items we tried were also pretty good, but the samosas are the juiciest, meatiest, most perfectly bursting with spices samosas I've had. Who knew? They also had pretty solid espresso and pretty solid free-squeezed orange juice, but those aren't hard to find in Portugal (I miss seeing inexpensive fresh squeezed OJ all over the city... especially *truly* fresh squeezed, to order, from whole oranges. Portuguese OJ definitely was the best. Though obviously not *better* than other places you can get the same thing around - probably indeed the same oranges. Definitely better than anywhere you can get fresh OJ for a few bucks in the US, though, if you can find such a place. :p)

The first spot we stopped in Lisbon after getting the recommendation from our driver. The pastel de…read morenata was incredible here, and went well with our morning coffee.

Gorgeous Brazilian coffee shop! If you love specialty coffee, super chill and cozy cafes, or…read morehanging out with some of the friendliest staff known to man, you're sure to enjoy Baoba Cafe! I popped in around 4:30 PM on a Thursday, and was immediately greeted by three super warm, welcoming faces; one of them included Carina, the head barista, who not only helped me get settled in the cutest little window nook, but also walked me through Baoba's history. The cafe exclusively orders from Brazilian coffee roasters, and it has a close relationship with each of the farmers and roasters, so they can tell you literally everything you want to know about where the coffee came from and how it was prepared. Of course, all that knowledge isn't just for show. They're able to leverage all of the information they have about their coffee to produce some of the most phenomenal cups of joe you can find in Lisbon. I got their latte with oat milk, and it was absolutely perfect; the beans were nutty and rich, and they were strong enough that you could still taste them incredibly well through all the milk. The latte art was very cute, and the coffee went wonderfully with my little treat of the afternoon, a traditional Brazilian cheese bread. The pao de queijo was super soft and pillowy, with a slight chewiness from the cassava flour. The cheese inside had a lovely stretch, and it was generally a great little savory afternoon bite. I ended up staying at Baoba until they closed at 5:30, and it was super cozy to just curl up in the window nook (a lovely round table nestled into the corner of the two halves of their couch, accompanied by a bunch of pillows) and read.

Food: Came here for some morning coffee and bites! Beautifully delicious coffee and delicious…read morepastries to compliment the coffee! Tried their cake and my friend tried their croissant which she enjoyed! Cost: Reasonable cost- was always happy to come back when I was staying around the area during my trip! Environment: Cozy and warm- lots of earthy toned accents/themes and it worked very well with their coffee atmosphere/vibes. Service: Quick! Had no issues and was even followed up with as I sat and enjoyed my time there which was very nice of them! Uniqueness: Always on the hunt for delicious coffee and Baoba Cafe did not disappoint! If you're in the hunt for a morning or midday caffeine boost, don't hesitate to head on over to try their coffee and yummy pastries that they have to offer!