CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> Lisboa
Last week I learned of a new intriguing coffee shop that has opened in Sheffield city centre. When I found out that it's been open for over three months I was surprised I hadn't noticed it, as it's very close to where I eat my lunch before work. I suppose with the windy and wet weather I hadn't spent much time in the Peace Gardens recently, as it's difficult to miss the intensely bright yellow frontage of Lisboa Patisserie, even from a distance.
Located just a couple of doors from Costa Coffee on one side and Browns on the other in a space that formerly housed a recruitment agency, Lisboa is small and narrow, with a long counter on one side and three tables on the other. The front part of the counter is glassed off as a preparation and baking area for the pastries, most notably the Pastéis de Nata for which Lisboa has become famous.
I ordered a double macchiato and sat in a luxuriously plush chair at the single table near the front door and the pastry making area. My macchiato was served in an attractively cut glass, suggestive of the espresso cortado's essential shot glass. (Researching Portuguese coffee later I learned that it probably was a cortado I had, called a cafe pingado or pingo in Portugal. I'll remember that for next time.) It was pleasant enough, with just the right amount of milk foam.
As I sat enjoying my coffee there was a constant stream of customers coming and going, mostly purchasing pastéis de nata to take away. These Portuguese custard tarts are reportedly addictive, so I decided to buy a couple to take away so that I could try one later, along with dessert-and-custard-loving Andrew. I was pleased to see that they were packaged up in a bright yellow recyclable cardboard container. On sampling mine later I have to admit they're pretty amazing, and Andrew and I both agreed it's the texture that's so special: an almost spongelike pleasantly chewy pastry around the smooth luscious creamy filling topped with a small flat dome of gooey caramelisation. I'm afraid I'll have to buy some more, at the very least to give away as presents to appreciative friends and colleagues. Hopefully I won't have to investigate the local chapter of PNA (Pastéis de Nata Anonymous).
I was intensely intrigued by the two huge Felino pastry-making machines in the pastry prep area, both of which were somehow suggestive of torture devices. I still can't imagine how they actually function, so hopefully I'll one day spot one of the chefs using one of them -- in a humane fashion, presumably.
Speaking of addictive substances brings to mind a recent Facebook discussion about suspicious fruit and professions:
Today at the Providence Amtrak Station on my commute to work, I was pulled over by the police who were doing random searches at the entrance to the train platform. The cop searched my knapsack which contained my iPad, a banana, headphones and a bottle of CVS generic Tylenol. I thought that would be it, but then he scanned the bag with some sort of device. The cop then told me the device detected some sort of explosive in my bag. And he searched it one more time and asked me where I was going and what I did for work and a few other personal questions. And the one thing I learned was to never ever tell the police or TSA that you are a librarian because somehow that arouses even more suspicion when you are pulled over for random searches. I guess I would not trust a librarian either. He finally let me go, but I still do not know what triggered his alarm. There must have been something about that banana, right? They usually are just looking for someone whose clothes were described to them by someone or maybe a backpack like yours was described to them. Such as the Unabanana. Bananas explode sometimes. Something about librarians... Been gardening? Nitrates, fertilizers will do it, a farmer friend gets a lot of hits, and yeah, librarians are notorious rogues. I feel somehow concerned about how the banana held up through all that searching. Such a sensitive fruit. You've got me nervous now. I figured I'd be a suspicious sort when visiting Trumpland because I've lived out of the country for so many years. And now, working in a library will make me even more suspicious, especially because I eat bananas on my breaks. There is radiation coming from the banana, actually. I'm surprised the cop didn't know that. I think if my bag was carrying name brand Tylenol instead of generic, this whole situation could have been avoided. So it was the Brand Police? Private law enforcement on the payroll of corporations? Oh! Snow crash!Related Links