pastéis de nata
before going to macau with victor, we consulted the LP hong kong world food guidebook to find some good eats. LP said that macau made the best egg tarts, and so i decided that i was going to try one over there.
we headed out to sweet street, an ex prostitution row turned pastry street that LP likes to call "tart street", pun intended. we arrived and surprisingly, every shop on the street was shut down except for the big, non mom 'n' pops one. what happened to the sweets, we don't know. but we were faced with rows of locked red doors.
we finally found some tarts at the base of the ruin of st paul's church, an iconic macanese sight.
the tart was warm, and it was flaky, with a silky smooth filling that had the perfect level of sweetness. it was delightful. this is the kind of stuff addictions are made off.
we continued our walking tour and even managed to find a portuguese restaurant on the island close by (finding such restaurant isn't as easy as it sounds) but afterwards, we were craving more tarts. so, we hopped on the bus and headed back to the main island's historical district (unesco protected and very charming) to eat some tarts and take in more sights. unfortunately, we arrived there at 9 pm and macau being the good little christian city that it is, had hardly any shops open. no tarts to be found. disappointed, we started to head back to the ferry for hong kong.
on the way there, we spotted a bakery that was selling some tarts. they weren't as good, but we were happy to get more of them.
on return to hong kong, i looked at the egg tarts there with a vast quantity of nostalgia. tarts in hk don't look nearly as good... i wanted the golden brown top of the macanese version. and guess where we found it? at kfc! yes, that's right! kfc. i never eat there but i made the exception for the tarts. they were greasier but quite tasty. and i curse hk airport for not having a kfc and thus, not allowing me to eat one more satisfying warm egg tart before flying back home.
we headed out to sweet street, an ex prostitution row turned pastry street that LP likes to call "tart street", pun intended. we arrived and surprisingly, every shop on the street was shut down except for the big, non mom 'n' pops one. what happened to the sweets, we don't know. but we were faced with rows of locked red doors.
we finally found some tarts at the base of the ruin of st paul's church, an iconic macanese sight.
the tart was warm, and it was flaky, with a silky smooth filling that had the perfect level of sweetness. it was delightful. this is the kind of stuff addictions are made off.
we continued our walking tour and even managed to find a portuguese restaurant on the island close by (finding such restaurant isn't as easy as it sounds) but afterwards, we were craving more tarts. so, we hopped on the bus and headed back to the main island's historical district (unesco protected and very charming) to eat some tarts and take in more sights. unfortunately, we arrived there at 9 pm and macau being the good little christian city that it is, had hardly any shops open. no tarts to be found. disappointed, we started to head back to the ferry for hong kong.
on the way there, we spotted a bakery that was selling some tarts. they weren't as good, but we were happy to get more of them.
on return to hong kong, i looked at the egg tarts there with a vast quantity of nostalgia. tarts in hk don't look nearly as good... i wanted the golden brown top of the macanese version. and guess where we found it? at kfc! yes, that's right! kfc. i never eat there but i made the exception for the tarts. they were greasier but quite tasty. and i curse hk airport for not having a kfc and thus, not allowing me to eat one more satisfying warm egg tart before flying back home.
posted by Magalie at 8:02 p.m.
2 Comments:
You can make your own egg tarts pretty simply with some pie pastry and egg yolk mixture!
I am addicted to them too, but after I made them myself, the amount of sugar and egg yolks scared me enough to stay away from them.
but i do occasionally dream about the warm yummy custard with flaky pastry.
These egg tarts are based on a centuries-old Portuguese Recipe. The Portuguese version is healthier then the egg tart and it's called a NATA. There's a place in Macau selling these and they are really great. Everytime i'm in Macau I pop by the cafe and have a bunch with my family. For me the portuguese NATA tastes much better. This is the only place you can get in Asia them as far as I know.
The coffeeshop is called CUPPACOFFEE and is in Taipa Island... let me get the card: R. Fernao Mendes Pinto, 104 near a chinese cafe everyone knows called Hei Lin (you can mention that name to the taxi driver).
Barry,
UK
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
<< Home