I’d coaxed my sister, Katie, into joining me for a cooking class whilst in Lisbon. Begrudgingly, she said yes… excellent.

I search for well-rated cooking classes on TripAdvisor and ‘Cooking Lisbon’ was one of the best. We decided to book the morning ‘Pastry & Baking Class’. There was a group of 8 of us, which was perfect for giving everyone the chance to practice making all of the dishes. All of our group were English speaking and the chefs spoke perfect English and couldn’t have made us feel more welcome.

We were instructed by Chef Ana and she was absolutely amazing! She was so supportive and explained all of the processes so well and helped if anyone was struggling. However, she did put you through paces, especially with getting the pastry ready to the Portuguese standard. There is a certain amount of pressure to get the perfect laminations in your pastry for the world renowned Pastéis de Nata. It was basically a free arm workout!

We made a selection of traditional Portuguese sweet pastries, the perfect nutritious breakfast…

Pastéis de Feijão – A sweet tart filled with almond and white bean custard. I know, it seems unnatural to have a bean tart, but I promise you it works…

Pastéis de Nata – The famous egg custard tart in flaky pastry, dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. Wow.

After the morning’s hard work, it was time to sit down together to drink, chat and EAT. I swear nothing tastes better than the satisfaction of knowing you made the food yourself, especially when it tastes that good! Safe to say, I overindulged and we even had leftovers to take away.

I honestly cannot recommend this class enough. They even send you all of the recipes via email if you’re brave enough to attempt them at home. I only wish we’d stayed in Lisbon longer to try some of their other classes.

“People will travel anywhere for good food – it’s crazy!” – Rene Redzepi

Thank you for reading this post – I hope you enjoyed it!

Clo
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