One could spend a decade doing a bakery crawl around New York City and it probably wouldn’t be enough time to hit them all—but the journey sure would be sweet. This city is so crammed with amazing bakers, pâtisseries, boulangeries, and pasticcerias that it’s easy to forget about restaurants for a minute and just enjoy a pastry or specialty dessert.
From longtime incredible mainstays like Amy’s Bread and Sullivan Street Bakery to (relative) newcomers with global appeal, like Breads Bakery and Fabrique, there are shops peppered throughout this city brimming with drool-worthy, gram-worthy sweet and savory items. Here are 15 of our favorite and sometimes overlooked bakeries.
Lady Wong Patisserie
The brainchild of Michelin-starred chefs Seleste Tan and Mogan Anthony, a husband-and-wife duo, Lady Wong is a kuih (or kueh) shop, selling Southeast Asian-influenced cakes and patisseries and sweet snacks. Using ingredients like ube, matcha, and pandan (among other flavors) in desserts like mango sticky rice tart bites, black sesame passionfruit entremet, and matcha pandan mille crepes, the pairing of French style patisseries with Asian flavors is exciting and unforgettable. 332 East 9th St., East Village, ladywong.com
Lee Lee’s Baked Goods
There are plenty of delights to be found at this longtime Harlem cafe, but what it’s really known for is having an extraordinary rugelach thanks to chef Alvin Lee Smalls. Now a local legend, Smalls has been selling the Jewish pastry among treats like red velvet cake and Hamantaschen at the cheery red shop for over 60 years.
Everything gets made by hand with quality ingredients, and Smalls takes no shortcuts. It’s no wonder why visitors and New Yorkers travel to Harlem just for a bite. 283 W 118th St., Harlem, leeleesbakedgoods.com
Elbow Bread
Still a newbie on the block, Elbow Bread is a quaint neighborhood bakery that looks like it’s been on the Lower East Side for ages, not less than two years. Its name is a reference to the bakery’s physical location, at the intersection Ludlow and Division Streets.
Helmed by pastry chef Zoë Kanan and the guys behind S&P Lunch and Court Street Grocers, Elbow specializes in pretzels (custom available), bialyes, breads, pastries, and not-to-be-missed sandwiches like the EB BB made with walnut butter, Medjool dates, and cream cheese served on black sourdough bread. 1 Ludlow St., Lower East Side, elbowbread.shop
Lysée
To call Lysée simply a pastry shop would be wrong. The Flatiron District cafe is in fact a dessert restaurant, one where pastry chef and sweets wizard Eunji Lee pushes creative boundaries through her Korean- and French-inspired edible luxuries.
For example, the now-famous corn on the cob features a realistic corn mousse cake made with grilled corn cream ($18) is limited to two per person because it’s that coveted (and melt-in-your-mouth satisfying). The V.I.C.( very important chocolate cake) and teddy bear Madeleines are equally delightful and complex and the shop itself, a bi-level boutique and restaurant, lends itself to the beauty and fantasy that is Lysée. 44 East 21st St., Flatiron, lyseenyc.com
Librae
When owners Dona Murad-Gerschel and her husband Andre Gerschel opened in 2022, Librae became the first Bahraini-inspired bakery in New York. Today, come to Librae for the signature rose pistachio croissant, Za’atar labneh morning bun, Jerusalem bagel, and the Friday-only Challah bread, and stay for the incredible bread, sandwiches, and other pastries. Truly, there are no misses on the menu at this Middle Eastern-Danish bakery. 35 Cooper Sq., East Village, libraebakery.com
Ceremonia Bakeshop
This small, family-run Williamsburg bake shop survived the pandemic and a recent move to a bigger space, lucky for us, it continues strong as a neighborhood favorite. Ceremonia offers some of the best breakfast burritos in the city (which also happen to be a viral hit) along with Vietnamese and Dominican-inflected pastries, cakes, and cookies.
The couple behind Ceremonia, Amy and Martty Batista, honor their Vietnamese and Dominican heritage through bestselling pastries like sea salt chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, and churro butter mochi. 743 Driggs Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn, ceremoniabakeshop.com
Hani’s
Not yet two-years-old, Hani’s (pronounced honey’s) has already found footing in the East Village—and not just through viral desserts (though the Maple Sea Salt Latte did have a moment and drew long lines). In fact, Hani’s is a tribute to the late mother of pastry chef Miro Uskokovic (formerly of Gramercy Tavern), who runs the shop with his wife, Shilpa.
Together, they serve Uskokovic’s sweet and savory pastries, an incredible lineup of sandwiches, and possibly the best Rice Krispie treat in the city, made with halvah and pistachio. Don’t skip the loaded carrot cake or the signature chocolate chunk cookie either. 67 Cooper Sq., East Village, hanisnyc.com
L’Appartement 4F
If L’Appartement 4F sounds like a cozy French pied-à-terre, and it kind of is if you swap Brooklyn for Paris. The bakery began in the founders Ashley and Gautier Coiffard’s Brooklyn kitchen, where the couple made handcrafted small batches of slowly-fermented sourdough bread, offering a taste of France to New Yorkers.
In 2022, the pair opened a shop in Brooklyn Heights, and last year launched another in the West Village. Regularly lines form for the almond croissants with Nutella, pistachio rose croissants, and the signature tahini chocolate chip cookie with sel de mer. 115 Montague St., Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn; and 119 W. 10th St., West Village, lappartement4f.com
Papa d’Amour
Cronut king chef Dominique Ansel’s newest bakery is a nod to his children’s French and Asian heritage. The Greenwich Village shop, which opened last spring, serves playful takes on sweet and savory bites. Look for kurobuto hot dog spirals, pretzel salt egg tarts, Shokupan loaves, and strawberry daifuku.
But that’s not all. Papa d’Amour also serves sandos, cakes, souflees, and seasonal drinks, like the viral hit Yakimochi hot chocolate, made with grilled mochi brushed with a honey butter soy sauce caramel. 64 University Pl., Greenwich Village, papadamourny.com
Balthazar Bakery
With a matching red awning as the iconic restaurant next door, Balthazar Bakery is so tiny, it’s almost easy to overlook—not that you should. The namesake bakery offers the same incredible pastries, bread, and French onion soup served at Balthazar, along with an array of sandwiches, coffee drinks, tarts, galettes, Madeleines and other French-inspired cookies and cakes. Since 1997, both the restaurant and the bakery have been the go-to place in Soho for sticky buns, croissants, and canelé. 80 Spring St., SoHo, balthazarny.com
Chim Chim
Still new to the Gramercy/East Village-adjacent area near StuyTown, Chim Chin (which means to taste or sample in Thai) has already attracted a small legion of devotees. These fans pop by the small, friendly shop for blondies, cookies, and cake slices, which all constantly rotate.
Headed up by baker Natthaya “Aing” Wongsamphan, Chim Chim utilizes often unsung Asian flavors like pandan and Thai tea, and uses the blue coloring from pea flower to accentuate Aing’s incredible creations which include taro salted egg yolk cheesecake with pork floss, matcha biscoff blondies, and coconut butterfly pea jelly pie. 352 E. 20th St., Gramercy Park, chimchimnyc.com
Bread Story
Though it’s been around for just five years, Bread Story feels like a longtime fixture at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village. Headed up by French baker Yann Ledoux (formerly of Maison Kayser), the bakery/coffee shop serves some of the best croissants on the east side.
But that’s not all, also go for the breads of all sizes and varieties (the baguettes often sell out), cookies (don’t miss the white chocolate pistachio or the array of macarons), along with muffins, brownies, plus savory options like sandwiches and quiches. 264 1st Ave., Stuyvesant Town, bread-story.com
La Cabra
La Cabra made its way to New York City’s East Village a few years ago by way of Denmark, where it achieved status as a coffee roaster known for pour-over brews. Along with coffee drinks, cardamom buns, and pops of Danish design that punctuate the space, La Cabra Bakery also pumps out sourdough loaves made with Nordic heirloom wheat and hand-laminated croissants, which are shiny, flaky, and perfectly buttery. 152 Second Ave., East Village, us.lacabra.com
Orwasher’s Bakery
Founded in 1916 by a Hungarian immigrant family, and one of the Upper East Side’s longest continually running businesses,Orwashers later expanded across town and into Long Island. Long known for excellent artisanal breads, hand-crafted matzo, sandwiches, and bagels they also make rugelach, black and white cookies, and babkas. If you’re looking for a classic New York-style bakery experience, this is it. Multiple locations, orwashers.com
Kora
Kora is one of those NYC success stories everyone loves to hear. This tale involves Kimberly Camara and Kevin Borja, two laid-off hospitality workers who started a Filipino doughnut pop-up during COVID. After word spread and the waitlist for ube doughnuts grew to the thousands, the pair knew they had a hit.
This March, they opened a permanent bakery in Queens, with a seasonal menu that has included a caramelized white chocolate and banana cookie, a calamansi basil fried brioche, and yes, the signature purple doughnut. 45-12 Greenpoint Ave., Sunnyside, Queens, fromkora.com
