Literally meaning “creamy pastry”, it is the most famous of Portuguese cakes, but even that comes in several individually named varieties: the original Pastel de Belém (bottom centre), named after the Lisbon monastery, has a thinner dough than the “classic” pastel de nata; the often called “natão” (top left and right) version is the same but extra tall; the “bom bocado” or “good bit” (left) has a different type of shell to the usual; the cylindrical “alsaciano” (centre) has the same dough container and filling as the bom bocado, but with a crystallised cherry inside (there is a very practical reason for this, and we can explain you later); and finally there is “miniatura” or “miniature” (right), a one-bite version of the classic. We are thus in the presence of a classic example of redesign, where an ancient shape gains a new interpretation. And this is just one example of how design can look into this special part of our world.
