Like most children who were raised by native Portuguese parents can attest to - our dietary upbringing traditionally consisted of staple food items including fresh paposecos, queijo São Jorge, sumol and pasteis de nata.
Pasteis de nata were the host dessert of every family gathering. Tucked closely beside your Tia Maria's arroz doce that she swears is better than your Tia Conceicao's (who of course, is within ear shot), are these sweet, deliciously perfect egg tarts. You're glad everyone is too focused on the slew of insults being thrown at one Tia to another because this gives you *just* enough time to shove a tart into your mouth and run off with another in your hand before anyone notices.
Tia Maria and Tia Conceicao still aren't speaking to each other a decade later making family get-togethers a rare commodity, so now when you need to quell the hankering for pasteis de nata, you gotta find a bakery.
Which brings us to Pombalense Bakery. Tucked in a seemingly inconspicuous plaza with a prime real estate spot in the corner, Pombalense is the answer to my craving when I have the time first thing in the morning to pop in to fill the void.
Pombalense has that distinctly homey smell of fresh baked bread and espresso that greets you immediately when you step inside. To your right, is a coffee bar. In the middle is where a wrap-around counter hosts baked goods, a hot table, and the cash register. One side of the bakery is lined with bread racks, and a small fridge housing Sumol, Laranjada, Perrier, etcetera - the other side, shelves full of Portuguese ingredient essentials.
Whether you like them slightly burned, or light in colour, the pasteis de nata at Pombalense are typical of what you expect from any bakery - perfectly balanced, not too sweet, and definitely not too eggy. I'm 50% sure that most bakeries order them from the same supplier in Toronto, which guarantees some consistency. (And for the love of all that is good and right in the world, do not buy pasteis de nata from the grocery store; it's convenient, but it's not the same.)
This place is pretty quiet during the week first thing in the morning, but I can't speak to what it's like on a Sunday morning after church.
Pombalense provides exactly what I expect from a Portuguese bakery - fresh bread, Portuguese pop, and these little tarts of heaven. read more