Nuts Over Nata

First made by nuns nearly two centuries ago, the pastéi de nata still tastes like heaven on earth. Rathina Sankari seeks out guardian of the custard, Penélope Clarinha

- Rathina Sankari 

IT IS A warm day and I cool off in the Lisbon heat with a pitcher of yellow-hued sangria in one of the al fresco restaurants at Belém. From the other side of the road I watch a long queue of locals and tourists — young, old, tots, all eagerly waiting for their share of the sweet that defines the very identity of Portugal, the pastel de nata.

While there is an abundance of Portuguese sweets, this custard tart is perhaps the most prominent in the global culinary scene, having crossed numerous international borders. My own first experience of tasting it was in Macau, once a Portuguese colony. But I was not content savouring its clones and had long desired to relish it in its very birthplace. So that afternoon, I walk through the crowded entrance of the renowned Pastéis de Belém (or Antiga Confeitaria de Belem) just down the road from the stunning Jerónimos Monastery with its Manueline architecture.