London, England, United Kingdom
A quick visit to Lisboa
Compared with so many other places that I have been visiting and shared with you, straight away from the outside you can see that something is different. Even from the far I looked at this and knew already that I was arriving to a Portuguese place.
So while I was walking around Portobello Road I remembered that there are a couple of different Portuguese coffee shops and small Portuguese grocery shops.
If there is something that I miss about Portugal are the espressos, you know that already. So straight away when I remembered that I was not too far I decided I had to go and have a quick stop in Lisboa.
The other coffee shop in the same street, Porto, was already closed. Otherwise I would probably have stopped in both just to have 2 expressos. Next time I will go earlier and visit Porto.
Coffee and Pastries
The majority of the times when emigrants visit shops like this are to be surrounded by the same atmosphere from places when they lived in the countries where they were born and lived, also to have some products that you can't get everywhere around.
When it comes to Portuguese coffee shops we all know that we go there for the nice single espressos and the huge variety of pastries.
Being one of the most famous, "pasteis de nata". You might have seen or even tried the famous "Pastel de nata" but there are way more that you can try and probably love.
It's been a while since my last visit to this place and I was afraid that I was going to order the coffee and be disappointed. On the other had, this espresso was simply heavenly. It was so tasty.
The Place itself. Well I am not going to comment about it. In case you have visited Portugal you probably have noticed that we have a coffee shop, every second door, so a lot of times (or at least back in the day), decoration was not the main concern.
The most important part of coffee shops in Portugal is just that are some tables and chairs where People can stay for hours chatting and doing nothing productive.
I know it sounds weird but that's what really happen.
I want to know if there are any other emigrants out here that frequently visit any "national" shops in the new countries they are living in?
Here it is a fun story. Here I am sitting in my table by myself when some random man comes to me and just ask to sit there. That is a totally common and usual thing to do in Portugal. Many times, people really just want to stop for a quick coffee and sit for a couple of minutes.
I was not even surprised, it was something that haven't happen to me in many years in the UK so it was a quick fun episode.
I would say that maybe if this place or any other Portuguese coffee shop was closer to my place, I would visit more frequently for my espresso fix of the day. But since I would have to commute to go to any of the Portuguese coffee shops that I know I only visit when it happens that I am in the specific area.
Even this visit was not planned until later and I remembered I was in the area already.
But the coffee was worth it.
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