NATA Lisboa: the tiny tart from Lisbon - Vienna Würstelstand

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NATA Lisboa: the tiny tart from Lisbon

Pastel de nata-aaaaah!
BY

We can’t help but saying it without letting out a prolonged aaahhhh at the end, imagining strumming some fast flamenco tunes on an acoustic guitar, and finishing with a rose clasped tight between our teeth. We have no idea why, as this all has nothing to do with NATA Lisboa, the latest addition to the third district’s main street, Landstraßer Hauptstraße.

NATA Lisboa is the Portugese franchise success story that has made it to Vienna within the last couple of months. And pastéis de nata (nata, for short) are the cute, flaky little custard tarts that feel like a really old person’s cheek when you touch them on top, but taste heavenly, and make you want to hug the tall handsome man that’s just taken them out of the oven. That’s Fernando, one of the two owners of this outfit that comes from the tiny Portugese island, Madeira.

The other half of the outfit, Paulo, is cheerful and won’t stop telling us how good Portuguese food, wine and coffee is. And we can’t help but nod our heads in avid agreeance, with a little bit of the pastry spewing out now again from our mouths filled with the savoury empadas. We each take a bite out of all of them, until we’re fighting over the last one – the spinach and feta, the mushroom and duck, the flavoursome fish. There are 10 different sorts of the small filled pastries. We’re going to be here a while.

But the real star attraction here are the pastéis de nata, the eggy wonders created by Catholic monks way back, and eaten throughout the coffeeshops, and just about everywhere else, in Lisbon.

“It’s typical that when you’re hungry in Portugal, you stop into a café or a bar, stand at the counter and eat a few empadas or natas – it’s Portuguese fast food,” say Paulo.

But calling these little miracles fast food feels cheap. There is no wonder the NATA franchise is popping up in cities all over the world. Their slogan rings true – ‘the world needs NATA.’ Well, we don’t know about the world, but our cravings tell us that we sure do – ever since we dusted one of the little beauties with powdered sugar and inhaled it within a minute.

Everything comes directly out of Lisbon, where it’s prepared by a ‘crazy chef.’

“I don’t need to sell anything, as I believe my customers when they tell me it’s lecker (German for: yummy),” Paulo says with a cheeky grin.

And while it may be a franchise, Vienna’s version of NATA Lisboa feels like home. Paulo and Fernando are somebody you could picture yourself in a bar with later on, slapping each other on the back as if you’ve been friends since you wore diapers. The melodic Portuguese language is often heard here during our stay, and Paulo tells us that locals sometimes just drop into to speak it.
The space is small, narrow and black and white – besides the neat yellow logo – and there’s only four tables inside. While we’re there, a warm breeze flows in, along with numerous curious noses following the delicious scent the oven gives off. The place couldn’t be smaller, but why sit when you can stand and scoff your nata the Portuguese way – with a kick-ass espresso, and a whole lot of racing, animated banter that sounds like it should be on a stage.

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