Portuguese bakery Pastéis Lisboa to open on Glasgow's Byres Road selling 'amazing' Pastel de Nata

Scotland’s first ever specialist pastelaria, Pastéis Lisboa, will open on Byres Road on Thursday, selling "the most amazing Pastel de Nata you’ll ever taste".

Using an award-winning Portuguese recipe, owners Emma Airley and Sebastian Bacewicz will be baking up to 1200 fresh tarts from scratch a day, which they promise will be different from any that are currently available in the city.

Sebastian Bacewicz and Emma Airley

Emma, who has lived in the West End for around 30 years, said: "There’s nothing comparable.

"There is no one else doing it and we love them.

"It’s a known product, people know it because of holidays to Portugal and with it being in supermarkets.

"It’s their bestselling bakery item, it’s the thing that’s going first in the bakery section, and we thought if they’re selling that well at that standard then we could sell these."

She continued about the supermarket products: "They are mass-produced, full of chemicals, artificial ingredients, preservatives.

"They’re just not authentic, you don’t get really crisp, sharp pastry that you do when you’re making it from scratch.

"We only have four ingredients in our pastry - flour, water, salt and fat - that’s it and then the custard is milk, sugar, eggs and the seasoning is lemon and cinnamon, so it’s free of any rubbish basically."

The couple first came up with the idea five years ago but were further inspired after visiting Sebastian’s hometown of Krakow where a woman successfully opened a similar business, as well as seeing how well small bakeries that recently opened in Glasgow have done.

"We have a real passion for food, we wanted to go into the food business ourselves for a number of years," Emma says.

"We started investigating in Lisbon and we went over there a few times, went round everywhere that did the tarts to find the best ones that we could, and when we found them, we just started talking to the guy who made them in his bakery.

"We struck up a bit of a relationship with him and persuaded him to teach us. We explained what we wanted to do, and he was just on board from the start.

"He’s been our mentor and guide in developing the concept for here and working on the tarts, his recipe has won awards over there, and we’re using the exact same recipe.

"We’ve been back over there several times working with him. We’ve taken all of the ingredients from places like Shipton Mill who provide the flour, and the milk we’ll be using, we’ve taken all of that over to Portugal to his production kitchen and we’ve worked there just making sure that with the ingredients we can source here we can absolutely replicate exactly what he’s doing.

"His recipe was perfect, but for us, it’s been about the last 18 months we’ve been working and practising the recipe to make sure it’s absolutely as it should be and the way it is in Portugal."

As well as the traditional Pastel de Nata, there will also be a vegan version and seasonal variations throughout the year.

And while the shop hasn’t even opened yet, Emma and Sebastian, who also own business Ciora, say the support from the local community has been "huge", with people coming in to try free samples of the tarts which the couple will be giving away until opening day.

Emma said: "From the day we put posters up, people were taking photos, sticking their heads in the door.

"Everyone that we tell about it just seems really excited which has helped us because it’s been a stressful few weeks.

"I think because we’re so in it, it’s really hard to take a step back, so when we do actually see some people being excited it just makes us breathe a little bit easier and think ‘this is going to be alright’.

"We’re feeling excited now."

As well as serving their freshly made Pastel de Nata, the shop will also include an Iberian-themed deli which will sell a range of cured meats, cheeses and seafood and other delicacies from Portugal and Spain, as well as products from other local businesses.

Emma and Sebastian received a £40,000 loan from Transmit Start-Ups through the British Business Banks’ Start Up Loans programme for opening the business, which they say was crucial for them turning their idea into reality.

The business is one of more than 800 in Glasgow which has received more than £7m in funding from the programme since it launched in 2012.

Pastéis Lisboa will open on Thursday, August 11, at 280 Byres Road and will be open Monday to Sunday.