Portugal – Part II: Food Exploration

A park in the Bairro Alto overlooking the city of Lisbon

 

The next day, day two, the men had meetings all day so my new friend Elsie and I had agreed to meet early for breakfast and then head out for a site-seeing extravaganza.  Early probably wasn’t the smartest choice for me, what with all the wine and the jet lag, but I got it together and we ate and then headed out.  We decided that we needed to get to Belém, which is a suburb of Lisbon.  I hoped to see the massive Jeronimos Monastery built in the 1500s.  It took between 50-70 years to complete and it is where the famed explorer Vasco de Gama is entombed.  I also wanted to see the Tower de Belém and The Discoveries Monument  (honoring Portuguese world explorers).  But, most of all, I wanted to visit Antiga Confeitiaria de Belém to try some of their pastéis de belém – a slightly sweet egg custard baked in a light and flaky crust.  These famed pastries, called pastéis de nata outside of Belem, are found everywhere in Portugal, but Belém is home of the most famous confeitiaria which has been making them since 1837 and sells around 10,000 tarts a day (the record was 55,000).  

 

 

The place was packed with locals and tourists.  Inside the main room was a glass counter holding many different types of pastries and other treats.  Several men behind the counter scurried about frantically trying to keep up with the many customers in a line that snaked out the door.  It was organized chaos but it smelled so good and I couldn’t wait to find a table and take a much needed break.  Off of the main room was a labyrinth of rooms, all filled with tables and chairs and lots of folks drinking coffee and eating pastries.  We saw a couple of Swiss ladies who were getting up and we quickly took their table, after chatting with them for a minute.  We ordered a few pastries and a couple of espressos and settled in to people watch.  As we waited for our treats I spotted another corridor where I could see a plate glass window and it appeared as though it overlooked the kitchen.  I hopped up with my camera and sure enough, you could sit and watch the bakers making the pastries. 

 

 

 

 

Of all the gastronomic delights I experienced in Portugal, these were my favorite.  They seem like such a simple treat, but the process of creating these beauties is a long and laborious one.  If you’re at all curious about it, check out this youtube video.  Every day thereafter I treated myself to a pastel de nata and since returning to the states, I’ve missed them.  As many of you know, I am not a skilled baker and so I would never even attempt to recreate these pastries.  Maybe I could come up with a makeshift substitute w/ a custard and some phyllo sheets?  I’m sure I would be disappointed. 

After we ate, we headed back to the Baixa (downtown) via trolley car.  We decided that although we were tired and hungry we needed to continue on to the Alfama area of the city.  Alfama is a hilly region that overlooks the Tagus River and it’s cobbled streets wind through the hills.  The buildings look as though they are anchored by a thread.  San Francisco’s hills have nothing on this place.  At the top of the highest hill sits Castelo de São Jorge which itself dates back to the 10th – 11th centuries.  We decided to explore the castle the next day, but we did want to walk the streets and check out the view.  Interestingly, on the trolley ride up to Alfama, we somehow managed to piss off an old Portuguese woman.  The trolley car was very crowded, standing room only.  At one of the stops, a couple of women got up from their seats and exited so Elsie and I quickly snagged their seats.  A couple of stops later an older woman and her small granddaughter got on and she quickly looked at me and angrily yelled something.  I ignored her – didn’t want to get into a throw-down with this one, let me tell ya.  She continued and Elsie and I looked at one another, not understanding what this ladies’ problem was.  She said “UP! UP!” and so we both started to get up to give them our seats.  She said, “NO! One!”  So, Elsie relinguished her seat and I remained.  Another stop later another large woman got on with a small child and now the grisly old woman next to me ordered me up and so I got up and gave my seat to this new woman.  I quickly found another seat, by a window, and so I took it.  The grumpy old lady got off at the next stop, came over to my window, pointed up at Elsie and began cursing her in Portuguese.  What could we do but laugh?  I wanted to figure it out – we must have done something wrong.  Well, as the trolley cleared out I noticed a very small sign, above our old seats, that indicated those seats were reserved for the handicapped, elderly and women with small children.  Oops!  Our bad!  Guess she had little tolerance for tourists.  In retrospect, who can blame her.  Desculpa, Senhora! (I’m sorry). 

That evening we had dinner with Kevin’s colleagues (our group totaled 15) at a bustling seafood restaurant called Solar dos Presuntos.  We had so much seafood and wine.  Everything very simply prepared but so fresh – we sat beside the giant tank where they held the lobsters.  It was like theater the way the servers scurried about hauling large platters of live lobsters and grilled seafood.  Oddly, the gentleman that extracted the live lobsters from the enormous tank was a tiny man, whom Stefan referred to as “Luigi” (he did resemble the Luigi of Donkey Kong).  This short-statured man would whip out this step ladder and go shoulder deep into that tank and snag his next victim.  It was here that I had the strangest food experience of the trip – percebes.  I had never heard of these ugly little creatures, but apparently they are a delicacy in Spain and Portugal.  They are gooseneck barnacles that cling to coastal cliffs and I was told that men have to repel down the sides of these sea cliffs to harvest the barnacles.  Well, they brought out several plates of these for our group.  I was horrified by their appearance.  They looked like prehistoric bird claws or feet.  I shuddered to think of eating one of these ghastly things.  It’s amazing what one will do after a couple glasses of wine and a lively environment.  Everyone else was doing it, right?  God, I thought I had outgrown that reasoning a long time ago.  Ha!  In any event, I ate one and it tasted of the sea.  Nothing special really, but interesting to say the least.  The server graciously demonstrated how to extract the slimy edible part from the hard shell.  It still gives me the willies to think of it. 

 

A plate of percebes - gooseneck barnacles

 

A barnacle next to a fork and a piece of cured ham

 

Other yummy treats included grilled sole, lobster and prawns.  Two of my favorites that night were a lightly dressed octopus salad and a wheel of cheese called Serra da Estrela.  The octopus was grilled and tossed in a simple vinaigrette.  The cheese I had read about before leaving for Portugal.  It’s a raw, sheep’s milk cheese and looks similar to a wheel of Brie.  When served, they cut a small hole in the top and you use a knife to scoop out the creamy goodness onto rounds of crusty bread.  Since I’ve been home, I’ve already visited Dean & DeLuca and asked their cheese monger to order it for me! 

On our last day in Lisbon Elsie and I were moving a bit slower, losing the steam and adrenalin that kept us in motion the previous days.  We visited the castle in Alfama and had lunch off a square in the Baixa.  I was not interested in being adventurous for this meal.  I ordered a chorizo omelet and a bowl of bread soup w/ a poached egg.  I barely ate either one.  The soup was so garlicky I’m certain I developed dragon breath from just one bite.  Ugh.  The omelet was more chorizo than egg and just wasn’t doing it for me.  I finished my Coke Zero and was ready to head back to the hotel and sleep.  Incidentally, we saw Coke Zero everywhere, along with Fanta orange soda.  Weird. 

Okay, my hand is cramping from all the typing.  I’m going to wrap this one up for the day.  I’ve saved the best for last: The Pig.  Stay tuned, friends, I’ll report on this very soon!