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Pastel de Belem was announced one of Portugal’s Seven Wonders of Gastronomy. In 2011, following the result of a public vote. In 2009 The Guardian listed pastéis de Belém as one of the 50 "best things to eat" in the world and has over 50,000 reviews and ratings on Tripadvisor for its iconic pastéis de nata.
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Usually the tart is sprinkled with canela ( cinnamon), and often accompanied with a bica, (a strong espresso coffee). The shop offers both take out and sit in services and sells over 20,000 pastéis de nata a day. The shop is located just a short three-minute walk from the Jerónimos Monastery. The Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, remains the most popular place to buy pastéis de nata around Lisbon. The recipe remains unchanged to this day and is known by only a few.
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Since the opening of Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, the original recipe of the pastel de nata is kept in a secret room. The descendants own the business to this day. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe sold to the sugar refinery, whose owners in 1837 opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém. In the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, following the dissolution of religious orders and in the face of the impending closure of many convents and monasteries, the monks started selling pastéis de nata at a nearby sugar refinery to bring in revenue. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes, such as friars and nuns' religious habits. Pastéis de nata were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Hieronymites Monastery ( Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) in the civil parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, in Lisbon.