From the beach to the centre of Porto
Casa Berlim began with a friendship and something we missed: a warm bola de Berlim, eaten on the beach.
Two friends
Casa Berlim belongs to two friends, Greg Donnelly and Pedro da Silva. They met through football, playing centre-back on the same team. Pedro is an architect, and he designed the building the shop is in today.
A beach bola
The idea began on the beaches around Viana do Castelo, with bolas de Berlim that arrive still warm, rolled in sugar and cinnamon. We wanted to bring them to the centre of Porto, and to show that the bola de Berlim doesn't have to be just for summer. The recipe is our own.
More than 20 versions
Before opening, Greg spent months turning his home kitchen into a test kitchen: he studied techniques and flours and made more than 20 versions of the recipe before arriving at this one.
The bola we wanted
Compact and light, fried fresh, with a moist dough, sugar and cinnamon outside and the cream piped in through a small opening. No preservatives.
As told in the press
This story was first told in these articles: