Lisbon. Pastelaria Versailles turns 100 full of ‘glamor’ and stories
Pastelaria Versailles, one of the most iconic in Lisbon and named after a French palace, completes 100 years keeping the ‘glamor’ of the 1920s in its ‘Art Nouveau’ design and adds stories, many of them, kept between walls. Founded on November 25, 1922 by Salvador José Antunes, a Portuguese “who loved French pastry and art (…), the new house in the style of Louis XIV had a very select environment, decorated with paintings by Benvindo Ceia, depicting the lakes of Versailles and the carving work by Fausto Fernandes”.
“Followed by several Lisbon personalities, Versailles had a distinct service provided by employees in ‘satisfied uniforms'”, can be read on the pastry shop’s website.
The uniforms still remained: white shirt, burgundy pullover and a ‘papillon’, making a ‘pandant’ with the impeccably stretched double tablecloths and half a dozen employees behind the counter who, in a kind of dance, serve the orders with mastery, without ever getting in trouble, made by those who, outside, serve the tables.
To the Lusa agency, Paulo Gonçalves, one of the space’s current nine partners, spoke of the pride it is to work in a house with the “history that pastry has” and, if the pandemic brought some wishes, such as the current payment of loans taken out so that activity could continue without redundancies, given the need to adapt to new times and also to the new clientele that is starting to arrive.
During a week they are “basically a service clientele” since the pastry shop, on Avenida da República, is located in an area with several ministries and company headquarters, but, at the weekend, families come “grandfather, father, grandchildren”, many of whom have been doing it for several years.
Paulo Gonçalves tells that there are many stories received at Versailles, but, “out of respect for the clients”, they remain in the memory of those who lived through these events, refusing to share them, despite acknowledging that “there were and still are different clients”. “I’m not telling [quais], I will not mention names. But since the Prime Ministers, Presidents of the Republic and of the Chamber. All, all were our customers, not only current ones, but also past ones”, he declared.
Political and Sports Encounters
One of those regulars with moments spent in Versailles that went down in history is the former Minister of Finance António Bagão Félix, who reported to Lusa a meeting held at the pastry shop that resulted in the Manifesto of the 74, signed mostly by economists, which defended the need to restructuring the Portuguese public debt. “I had several political meetings here. In fact, I remember one that was relatively famous, not the meeting, but the document [que resultou] which was the Manifesto of the 70 and I don’t know how many, of the public debt situation in 2013 if my memory serves me right, it’s been nine years. We gathered some here, at the bottom, and then the document followed its course”, outline.
Bagão Félix understood the different treatment with which customers are treated, identifying that “there is a personalization between the employee who is serving and the customer”. “So there’s that connection. It is a bond built over time and trust. On the other hand, it is a very central space, obviously, if we retreat to Baixa. It is not the only one, but it is one of the iconic cafes that has history, tradition, experiences, testimonies🇧🇷 It is a pastry shop that talks a lot, if it could talk itself”, he said.
A customer for 67 years, Virgílio Marques goes to Versailles “not sporadically, but daily”, as he stressed to Lusa, and recalled the gatherings of various Sporting elements, including former president João Rocha, who “came in the middle of the afternoon, then they would go to dinner and come back again at the end of the night to drink coffee and continue the conversation”. “Many people said that it was the sportsmen’s nest, they all came here. I heard the stories and then passed them on to my father”, he said, recalling that it was through his late father’s hand that he discovered the pastry shop, where he already took his 11-year-old grandson. years, who “was delighted”.
“This pastry shop is special, the confection is great and everyone knows it”, he said, recalling that it was frequented by the “fine flower of Lisbon” such as presidents Mário Soares and the General Ramalho Eanes family”, which today “no longer happens a lot” because people are also very different.”I’m still from the time when there was a right of admission at the gates. Today is not the same, people come here anyway”, he said.
Despite not having the same number of years at home as a client, Joaquim Monteiro, who has known the space “for 15, 20 years”, agreed, together with his wife, that Versailles “is a very pleasant space, with decoration as a pleasure and a service I was born”.
“The quality of the products is also good and this set makes us feel attracted and we come here quite often for a light lunch or a snack”, he explained.
“Second family”
Employed at Versailles “for almost 30 years”, José Batista said he felt that this was his “second family” and defended that there were differences between working at Versailles and in other pastry shops, namely in Switzerland, another historic house that had already closed, where he passed , particularly in the treatment of employees.
“It was a house that I really liked, but the experience for me is very good after almost 30 years here”, he says, also acknowledging that clients are different: “here I managed that clients no longer consider me an employee, but a friend them, it practically feels like a family”, I say with pride.
Croquettes, croissants, duchesse, custard tarts, among so many delicacies, especially French pastry, and the traditional king cake, sought after by many, stand out in the display cases on the counter.
It is currently closed two days a year, on Christmas Day and January 1st at the option of employees, after many years, in an agreement between employees and bosses, closing only on May 1st, Labor Day, when everyone got together for lunch.
“The 24th of December here is very hard, it’s the real madness. And what happened many times was that, on the 25th, the employees themselves, so tired they were, couldn’t come to work”, explained Paulo Gonçalves .
Now, by the way, the oldest customers have already come back to drink tea and exchange Christmas presents with their friends, many of whom bring their granddaughters for a kind of testimonial passage.