Pastel de Nata Lisboa Patisserie - Best of London Little Portugal Local Gem in Nottinghill

Lisboa Patisserie can easily be crowned as the best place in town for pastel de nata. Located at the Little Portugal area in London (around Nottinghill and Ladbroke Grove), this little café offers a local Portuguese experience to Londoners.

I was of course drawn by the raving reviews on their pastel de nata. As mentioned in an old blog post about this other shop called Café de Nata, pastel de nata holds something quite dearly to me while I was growing up back home in Hong Kong. I couldn’t describe how excited I was when I first found out this place.

The place is not too far away from where I live so I decided to take a long walk during the weekend to pay this place a visit. As I arrived the spot I immediate love the place. What really struck me is its resemblance to a classic Portuguese café in Macau. Macau is really close to Hong Kong and is a popular quick weekend getaway destination for us. Not only is it the Asia ‘Las Vegas’, it also has a lot of truly stunning food to offer (imagine a mix of Portuguese and Chinese).

There is nothing really fancy or extravagant about the interior of this cafe. Unlike many other cafes in the city, it doesn’t go for anything urban, hippy or minimalistic. Instead, it sticks to being traditional, stayed humble and has this homely atmosphere. Everything is simple and efficient – exactly how it is at a local cafe in Macau (I’ve yet to visit Portugal so Macau is the only thing I can compare with). It’s small but it has a lively and bustling vibe which makes me feel as if I’m transported back home to a local cafe where the whole community goes there for an afternoon tea or something.

At the counter inside, they have a huge variety of pastries to choose from. There’s so much to choose from where it’s actually incredibly hard to make a decision as everything looks tremendous!

Anyway, I already know what I’m getting before going all the way there so I didn’t have the trouble of picking what to order. I treated myself not just one but two of these lovely Portuguese custard tarts and a small latte to complement them.

The staff were really speedy and my order was ready at the counter in a blink of an eye. Full of anticipation, I immediately took a bite of the pastel de nata after taking a quick photo. Instantly after my first bite, I understand how they’ve been crowned as the best pastel de nata in town for years.

Visually it definitely looks very alluring – such a gorgeous golden colour with a crisp crackling surface. The egg custard was very luscious with this smooth and curdled texture. They were pretty generous with the amount of custard for each tart as well. It was beautifully rich and with the perfect balance of sweetness and flavour.

Back home we normally have it warm so I personally would definitely prefer to have the tarts served warm or, even better, straight out of the oven. I have came across many bakery stalls selling pastel de nata cold and when I tried them it often feels like the flavours get lost as it loses temperature. However these custard tarts from Lisboa Patisserie, though not served warm, still retained the flavours and hit all the right spots to your taste buds. I can really get used to grabbing a custard tart and coffee/milk tea as an afternoon snack from nowin just like the good old times as a kid and teenager back home.

Speaking of coffee, the latte was impeccable as well. No fancy latte art but served in this really cute ceramic mug that is exactly how we serve our coffees and teas at a traditional cafe back home! The coffee was smooth to taste with this velvety texture – an absolutely beautiful pairing with the pastries.

This place is certainly a gem in the city that shall not be missed. Make sure you arrive early during the weekends if you want to have a try of their famous pastel de nata as they may sold out by the afternoon!