From the grand patisseries and Konditoreien of Paris and Vienna, graced with gilded ceilings and velvet chairs, to corner boutiques tucked away in quiet neighborhoods, pastry shops are places of pilgrimage and ritual. Wide-eyed children beg parents for treats, friends gather to chat over sweet delicacies, and solitary shoppers buy goods to cart home. Buttery aromas waft from the ovens, blending with those of melted chocolate and caramelized fruits, and glass cases hold heaping trays of cookies and elaborate displays of macarons, meringues, and marzipan. Pastry shops sell specialties for holiday celebrations and special occasions, but mostly they cater to the indulgences of the quotidian—the croissants and fruit tarts that mark the break of day, the elegant petits fours and spiced cakes that accompany afternoon tea, and the decadent chocolate tortes that close an evening meal.
Loyal customers proclaim the unrivaled talent of their favorite pastry chefs and bakers, making it impossible to compile an exhaustive list of the world’s greatest pastry shops. Moreover, in many countries the best sweets are found outside dedicated stores. In Korea, for instance, prized confection sets are sold in high-end department stores; Argentina’s best alfajores (dulce de leche sandwich cookies) are easily bought from supermarkets; Mexican markets offer some of the country’s most authentic and delicious baked goods; and in much of Africa, sweet snacks are made exclusively for domestic consumption, traded informally or sold from impermanent roadside stalls. Thus, the list that follows is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to highlight a few dozen of the most notable and beloved independent pastry shops, Konditoreien, and patisseries around the world. While delightful in their own right, candy stores, chocolatiers, fudge makers, gelaterias, and ice cream parlors are not included here. Attention is paid instead to the shops that offer varieties of sweet baked goods, most with traditional European roots, but many bearing signs of local adaptation and creative interpretation.
The shops on this list range in scale and style from companies with multiple outlets, some spanning continents, to small, single stores hidden in hard-to-find corners of a city. Some offer table service in extravagant spaces, where patrons may sip coffees or cordials while delighting in signature sweets, while others sell goods exclusively for takeout. Many are well over a century old, steeped in history and known for their famous clientele, while others are more recent ventures, labors of love built by entrepreneurial bakers. A few offer online ordering and international delivery, but all deserve a visit. Only in person can one fully appreciate the ingenuity of the chefs, the elegant displays, and the pleasure of biting into a freshly baked pastry.
Rua de Belém no. 84 a 92, Lisbon, Portugal
Tel.: +351 21 3637423
Legend has it that the small egg tarts known as “Pastéis de Belém” were invented in the early 1800s in the parish of Belém, now part of Lisbon. Following the closing of a monastery in the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, a former monk began selling little tarts in a nearby shop for survival. Today, these tarts are made in the eponymous factory and sold to hordes of visitors for takeout or delivered to customers seated in the simple blue-and-white tiled café. Cookies, cakes made with nuts and candied fruits, marmalades, and jellies are also available.
Six locations in Harrogate, York, Ilkley, and Northallerton, England
Tel.: +44 1423 814008
Frederick Belmont, a Swiss patissier, first opened a Bettys café in 1919. Today, the family-run business consists of six cafés across Yorkshire, offering a winning combination of Swiss confectionery, cakes, and pastries along with irresistible local specialties such as Yorkshire curd tart, tea loaf, and Fat Rascals (cookies packed with dried fruit and almonds and topped with glacé cherries), plus coffees and teas sourced by the sister company Taylors of Harrogate. Online shopping is available.
Carrer de la Palla 8, Barcelona, Spain
Tel.: +34 93 302 69 93
Spain’s convents have a long history of producing excellent cakes and confections, which they sell to the public to help support their institutions. Caelum, an elegant café and shop in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, offers local specialties from more than a dozen convents all over Spain, including a Santiago’s tart from Galicia and a cider cake from Seville. The boutique sits on street level, but it is in the rooms below, framed by hauntingly beautiful stone arches said to have once been home to medieval Jewish baths, that customers linger over pastries while sipping coffee and wine.
Bartningallee 29, Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 30 3915931
Maker of excellent Baumkuchen (round layered cakes made on a rotating spit) since 1852 and former purveyor to the royal court, Café-Konditorei Buchwald remains wonderfully old-fashioned. The menu is refreshingly limited, offering a selection of coffee, cakes, and tortes. During warmer months, outdoor seating is available overlooking the banks of the Spree.
Kohlmarkt 14, Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 535 17170
A second branch is in New York City
A refined café-pastry shop with roots dating back to 1786, Demel has been supplying fancy pastries and confections to the Austrian court and nobility for two centuries. Today, it is widely considered Vienna’s premier Konditorei. Elaborate displays of cakes and other Austrian desserts complement the Old World décor and rich wood paneling, making dining there feel like a glimpse into Vienna’s majestic history. Seating spills onto the sidewalk with a view of the Hofburg Palace. Online shopping is available.
10, Rue du College, Villeneuve-Sur-Yonne, Burgundy, France
Tel.: +33 3 86 871764
Founded in 1920, this artisan baker makes some of the best spice bread in northern Burgundy, a region justly famous for these dark, aromatic loaves. Dosnon Doumiel also sells honey products, meringues, and confectionery from its charming storefront located in the center of the riverside town of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne.
Via del Portico D’Ottavia 1, Rome, Italy
Tel.: +39 06 687 8637
Also known as Il Forno del Ghetto, this corner Jewish bakery offers only takeout, but the quality of the baked goods fully justifies the lines of eager customers. Not to be missed are the crostata di ricotta e viscole, a ricotta cherry pie baked until blackened on top, and the pizza ebraica, a sweet bread made with almonds, pine nuts, raisins, and candied fruit. Hours are limited, so call ahead.
1051 Vörösmarty tér 7-8, Budapest, Hungary
Tel.: +36 1 429 9000
Established in 1858, Budapest’s grandest patisserie once counted many members of the Habsburg family as regulars. Located on the most central square in Budapest, Gerbeaud played an important role in the development of baking and desserts in Budapest and Hungary. Today the café offers savory plates along with a wide range of pastries, candies, and other sweets. The extravagant décor from eras past has been subdued, and today the ambience is one of utter refinement.
Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 19, Naples, Italy
Tel.: +39 081 551 7031
This café is a wonderful respite from the bustle of central Naples, where patrons sip coffee over masterfully crafted sfogliatella—flaky pastries filled with soft ricotta and candied fruit and lightly dusted with sugar—or drink aperitifs accompanied by exquisite babà, small yeast cakes soaked in rum that are a specialty of Naples. In addition to a range of sweet pastries, the café serves savory bites, and the boutique offers packaged pantone, torrone, chocolates, and cookies for those unable to eat there.
Skoubogade 3, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel.: +45 33 144646
Established in 1870, this is the oldest Konditori in Copenhagen, and its longevity is well deserved. Cakes by the slice and traditional Danish butter cookies along with hot chocolate or the house fruit tea are served indoors and, during fine weather, on café tables that line the street. Little details, like the addition of a tiny macaron to a slice of cake, vault the pastries to a level above most. The setting is polished and inviting, and every morsel tastes like Old World luxury.
Provinciestraat 206, Antwerp, Belgium
Tel.: +32 3 233 75 13
While offering decorative cakes, Kleinblatt is celebrated for its exceptional kosher baked goods, including Eastern European specialty breads, Viennese Sachertorte, butter cakes, and other masterful pastries. It also sells ice cream and fresh pasta. The bakery’s current managers include the great-grandchildren of a baker who opened a shop in Poland in 1903, and the goods produced at Kleinblatt reflect the family’s adoption of both Eastern and Western European baking traditions.
Kungsgatan 55, Stockholm, Sweden
Tel.: +46 8 20 84 05
A beloved Konditori since 1928, Vete-Katten is a warren of small rooms where the pastries were once served on Royal Copenhagen china. Although the plates are now more pedestrian, the baked goods remain spectacular. This is the place to go for a classic Swedish fika, or coffee break. Don’t miss the kanelbullar (soft cinnamon buns), semlor (tender cardamom-flavored yeast buns filled with marzipan and whipped cream for Fat Tuesday), or the lavish prinsesstårta (a sponge cake layered with pastry cream, raspberry jam, and whipped cream mounded into a dome and draped with a sheet of pale green marzipan).
Café Maldaner GmbH, Marktstraße 34, Wiesbaden, Germany
Tel.: +49 611 305214
Claiming to be the “Original Wiener Kaffeehaus Deutschlands,” this elegant Old World café has been a Wiesbaden institution since 1859. It is well known for its handmade chocolates and creamy-rich cakes and tortes, which are available for takeout and also can be savored over coffee or tea in the elegant wood-paneled dining room. Café Maldaner is considered the finest Konditorei in Wiesbaden.
Breite Straße 89, Lübeck, Germany
Tel.: +49 451 5301126
The confectionery and pastry shop of the Niederegger Company has been one of Germany’s most famous producers of marzipan confections since the nineteenth century. It offers 300 kinds of marzipan confections for sale, as well as more than two dozen cakes and tortes, including their specialty, Niederegger Nusstorte, a rich hazelnut cake covered with a layer of marzipan, and served with a little glass of Cuandolé marzipan liqueur. The four-story café also features two plush salons and a small marzipan museum.
www.theoriginalmaidsofhonour.co.uk
288 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 20 8940 2752
This lovely pastry shop-cum-restaurant, in business since 1887, is located just a few steps from the main entrance to Kew Gardens. The star product is “maids of honour,” luscious tarts made from puff pastry and cheese curds according to a secret family recipe that is believed to hail back to Tudor times and King Henry VIII’s unfortunate infatuation with Anne Boleyn. Other English cakes and pastries, both savory and sweet, are equally delicious. The restaurant serves lovely spreads for breakfasts, traditional luncheons, and cream teas in the quaint, pink dining room.
72 Rue de Bonaparte, Paris, France
Tel.: +33 1 43 544777
Multiple locations in France, England, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Qatar
High among France’s best patissiers, Pierre Hermé makes sweets that are inventive, cleverly flavored, and glorious to behold, including impeccable macarons and a croissant that tastes of roses. Shops vary in scale and décor, but the central boutique in Paris’s Sixth Arrondissement is not to be missed. It is a most exquisite shop dominated by a long, minimalist display case, reminiscent of a jeweler’s, in which each item is celebrated as a visual and gustatory gem. There are no tables for eating on premises. Online shopping is available.
Piazza della Signoria Angolo Via Vacchereccia 4R, Florence, Italy
Tel.: +39 055 214412
Established in 1872 on the historic Piazza del Signoria, Rivoire is the classic European sweet shop, with beautiful signature pastries, digestifs, and rich hot chocolate. The decor is dripping with Beaux-Arts detailing that mirrors the jewel-like qualities of the chocolate bonbons on display, for which Rivoire is famous. Table service is available, and outdoor seating offers an extraordinary view of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio.
Philharmonikerstraße 4, Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 514 560
Additional locations in Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Graz
This elegant Café-Konditorei is said to be the original home of the famous Sachertorte, but it also offers a variety of spiced and layered cakes. A favorite destination for an evening stroll, Café Sacher’s ornate red and ivory rooms swell with patrons who descend on the space after a concert at the nearby Mozarteum. As an accompaniment to the sweets, try an Einspänner (espresso topped with whipped cream) or one of thirty specialty coffees available.
Boutique Vaugirard, 35 Rue de Vaugirard, Paris, France
Tel.: +33 1 45 444890
Multiple locations in Paris, Tokyo, and Taipei, and one in Nagoya, Japan
The brilliant colors and minimalist beauty of Japanese-born patissier Sadaharu Aoki’s creations, arranged neatly in stark white cases like precious gems, will take your breath away. Petite cakes reveal layers of contrasting flavors and textures—pastry creams infused with green tea, chocolate ganache, mousse and buttercream, bean paste, and dustings of cocoa or matcha (powdered green tea). The unexpected flavorings—wasabi, red bean, matcha, and black sesame—of the macarons, mille-feuilles, and the perfectly plump bonbons are subtle and compelling. The creative, cool aesthetic culminates in the signature “bonbon maquillage,” rows of intensely colored chocolates resembling pots of eye shadow.
www.brownsugarbakerychicago.com
328 East 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Tel.: +1 773 224 6262
Brown Sugar Bakery promises to make cakes that are “dangerously delicious,” and it lives up to its word. Owner and baker Stephanie Hart specializes in decadent cakes, drawing customers from near and far, but also offers a range of pies—including sweet potato pie—bread pudding, banana pudding, cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. The Brown Sugar Bakery was a best-kept secret within Chicago for nearly a decade, until media coverage and awards launched it to fame.
www.tomdouglas.com/restaurants/dahlia-bakery
2001 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, United States
Tel.: +1 206 441 4540
Dahlia Bakery is renowned for its triple coconut cream pie, an ethereal concoction of flaky crust made with shredded coconut, filled with a creamy coconut pastry cream, and topped with whipped cream, toasted coconut, and white chocolate curls. Fans also return for the peanut-butter sandwich cookies with their creamy peanut center, and for the caramel apple brioche. Lunch patrons rave about the artisanal sandwiches, soups, and salads.
189 Spring Street, New York, New York, United States
Tel.: +1 212 219 2773
Opened by the former executive pastry chef of Daniel, this new bakery stole the city’s spotlight with the introduction of the Cronut, a pastry made of croissant-like dough that is shaped and fried like a doughnut. Lines for this treat, which every month bears a different flavor, begin long before the store opens and last for hours. Separate registers are available for purchasing rich cannelés of Bordeaux, mini apple tarte tatin, berry pavlova, ethereal gâteau battu, a variety of miniature cakes and tarts, and a range of savory sandwiches.
322 Avenue du Mont-Royal Est, Montreal, Canada
Tel.: +1 514 845 8813
This patisserie is widely praised for its croissants, but do not miss the exquisite kouign-amann, a layered pastry with Breton roots. This sticky golden treat tastes of butter and caramelized sugar—pure contentment. With the shop’s limited seating, most patrons opt for takeout.
3515 North Hullen Street, Metairie, Louisiana, United States
Tel.: +1 504 456 1476
Since it opened in 1965, fans have flocked to Manny Randazzo for what is arguably the region’s best traditional-style King Cakes. Ever popular, especially around Mardi Gras, these cakes are made with a Danish-style dough, braided and twisted into a ring, baked, and topped with icing and bright sprinkles. It is considered auspicious to be the one to find the small plastic baby buried inside the cake.
http://pastelerialagranvia.com
Matriz Amsterdam 288-A, Colonia Hipódromo Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico
Tel.: +52 5574 4008
This small bakery offers a variety of sweets, from layer cakes to doughnuts and snow-white meringues. But it is best known for its sweet breads, which include conchas, or seashells, made from an egg-based dough and plenty of butter and topped with a crusty, sugary topping in a shell-like pattern (also available in chocolate); and cuernitos, made with a similar base but shaped into a crescent. Fresh out of the oven midmorning, both go wonderfully with a cup of coffee.
Avenida 16 de Septiembre 18, Colonia Centro, Mexico City, Mexico
Tel.: +52 5130 2970
Two other locations in Mexico City
One of Mexico City’s biggest and best bakeries, Pastelería Ideal first opened its doors in 1927. Tables piled with bolillos (French rolls with pointed ends), dozens of varieties of pan dulce (sweet breads and rolls), cookies and biscuits extend across the ground floor. Upstairs, the mammoth bakery is packed with towering cakes offered on special order for weddings, quinceañero parties, anniversaries, and birthdays.
600 Guerrero Street San Francisco, California, United States
Tel.: +1 415 487 2600
The baking at Tartine Bakery & Café is impeccable, from perfectly crusty breads to delicious croissants, scones, tarts, and cakes. The pastry is French in orientation, with richer caramelization and darker flavors than are found at most American bakeries, but the ambience is strikingly casual and strictly Californian. Customers order at the counter but can use window counters and tables for eating on site.
342 East 11th Street, New York, New York, United States
Tel.: +1 212 674 7070
Founded in 1894, this pasticceria sells cakes, cannoli, biscotti, cookies, and pastries, mostly by the pound. The café offers a marvelous atmosphere of stained glass, stamped copper ceilings, and Italian marble floors. While located in a different neighborhood from New York’s famous Little Italy, Veniero, in both its products and ambience, beautifully preserves the Italian spirit of old New York. Online shopping is available for delivery within the United States.
Avenida Francisco Bilbao 2526, Providencia, Santiago, Chile
Tel.: +56 2 2225 3628
Fanciful and refined, strikingly colored or subdued, the wedding cakes for which Candella is renowned—such as the signature “Torta Candella” made of rum, raspberries, and nuts—are all meticulously executed, with superb flavors worthy of Santiago’s elite clientele. While custom orders are the norm, the charming shop, located in an upscale corner of the city, offers smaller, individual cakes to walk-in customers. In addition to the ever-popular layer cakes in flavors ranging from tres leches to strawberry yogurt, customers can find torta cuchufli (a cake made of rolled wafer cookies filled with dulce de leche) and torta saint honores (a cake of French origin made from cream puffs).
Saint Gonçalves Dias 32, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tel.: +55 21 2505 1500
This mesmerizing combination café, bar, and restaurant occupies a grand hall with soaring ceilings, walls bedecked with mirrors, a breathtaking stained-glass skylight, and ornate tiled floors. The pastries rival the magnificent space. Specialties include casdinhos (cookies filled with caramel and fruit), rivadávia (sponge cake with dulce de leche), petits fours made with cashew nuts instead of flour, custard tarts, and other traditional Brazilian and Portuguese delicacies. A sister café at the Copacabana Fort offers al fresco dining.
Juncal 905, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel.: +54 43270135
Second location in Montevideo 1690, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Located in a charming historical corner of Buenos Aires, this bakery offers a lovely array of pastries, including Berlinesas (hole-less doughnuts) filled with dulce de leche and cream; churros and palmeras; cakes and traditional sweet breads. Fresh croissants and sandwiches make the adjacent café a popular stop for breakfast and lunch.
www.mila.com.co/mila-pasteleria
Calle de la Iglesia, No. 35-76, Cartagena, Colombia
Tel.: +57 5 6644607
In seaside Cartegena, visitors and locals alike descend upon this cheery café in the city center to relax over coffee and sweets. Specialties include dense brownies covered in dulce de leche, crisp churros, cupcakes, and homemade alfajores. Scrambled eggs and pancakes topped with bacon make breakfasts here wildly popular.
De La Roca De Vergallo 201, Lima, Peru
Tel.: +51 1 7058885
Four additional locations across the city
Since it opened in 1959, Pastelería San Antonio has risen to become one of the city’s most bustling places to meet, where couples and chatty groups linger throughout the morning and afternoon, sampling various sweet and savory offerings and sipping coffee in the glassed interior or under umbrellas on the patio. Additional branches have opened across the city, offering the same bright interiors, refined décor and service, and sumptuous arrays of éclairs, tarts, and other pastries crowned with whipped cream, chocolate, and glistening fruits.
Uruguay 1308, Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel.: + 54 11 5294 6070
Tucked away in an elegant neighborhood, this refined boutique has an open kitchen where customers can watch the pastry chefs at work mixing dough, baking, and decorating their beautiful cakes. Argentina’s favorite dessert ingredient—dulce de leche—is incorporated into many of the sweets. Refreshingly simple cupcakes and rich cheesecakes topped with fresh berries are favorites, but the “smeterling,” a chocolate cookie covered in mousse with a white chocolate center, steals the show. Very limited seating is available.
Paulos 6 Street, Nazareth, Israel
Tel.: +972 4 6554470
The Arab town of Nazareth is famous for its sweet shops, of which there are many, specializing particularly in knafeh, made with shredded filo pastry and sweet goat’s cheese. Locals choose their preferred sweet shop on the basis of the kind of samneh (clarified butter) used to make the goods. One of the most popular shops is Ahmad Makhrum, on the main square. This Arab bakery is kosher, and also has branches in Jerusalem, and in Hebron and Ramallah in the West Bank.
36 Matalon Street, Levinsky Market, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel.: +972 3 6823863
This family-owned shop first opened in the 1930s and moved to its present site in the Levinsky market in southern Tel Aviv in the 1960s. It has scarcely changed since, and it is now one of the last survivors of the Sephardic baking traditions of the Jews of Salonica. It specializes in marzipan, maronchinos (almond biscuits), and bezeh (filled meringues), which are available for takeout only.
İstiklal Caddesi No. 83A, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
Tel.: +90 212 244 2804
Three additional locations in Istanbul
Founded in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and still operating on the same premises, the shop is run by descendants of the founder, Hacı Bekir, thought to be the first person to export Turkish delight to Europe. It sells Turkish delight, halvah, and other traditional sweets, including mastic çevirme, the origin of fondant.
Alfred Nobel Street, Hamra, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel.: +961 1 354400
Two other locations in Beirut and one in Montreal, Canada (www.amalbohsali.ca)
The origins of Amal Bohsali date to 1878, when the ancestors of the current owners opened a small shop on the bustling Union Square, now known as Martyrs’ Square. Today the shop sells beautiful Arab pastries, including varieties of flaky and delicious baklava and ma’amoul (shortbread cookies filled with dates, pistachio, or walnuts and covered with powdered sugar). Worldwide delivery is available, but the Beirut shops are well worth a visit in person for their tempting displays of sweets.
Habous Palais Royal, 2 Rue Fkih El Gabbas, Casablanca, Morocco
Tel.: +212 5223 03025
No visit to Casablanca is complete without a stop at Pâtisserie Bennis, in the Habous district, the area that encompasses the royal palace. Founded in 1930 and still family-run, Pâtisserie Bennis is the place to pick up a kilo or two of traditional Moroccan pastries, such as honey-coated briouats (filo triangles filled with almond paste), gazelle horns coated with powdered sugar, miniature glistening shbakiya sprinkled with sesame seeds, m’hencha (“the snake”—a baked coil of almond paste), or even bestila, Morocco’s culinary gem of sweet shredded chicken and fresh herbs.
Rıhtım Cad. No. 3-4, Karaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Tel.: +90 212 2930910
Founded in 1820, this company makes some of the best baklava and other filo-based, syrup-sweetened treats in Turkey. They come in various sizes and shapes with different nut fillings, but all are flaky, sweet, and delicious. Although the products are made in centralized facilities, Karakoy Güllüoglu’s commercial success and fame have not caused its quality to deteriorate. Locals sing its praises and continue to frequent its many shops across Istanbul. The products are also available in specialty stores within Turkey and internationally.
Nejatollahi Street, Tehran, Iran
Tel.: +98 21 8890 0833
Lord Café specializes in Armenian pastries but also offers a range of Iranian sweets. The elegant cakes, made with a Russian-Armenian influence, are exquisite, as are the fruit tarts. Customers can savor these delicacies over sips of rich Turkish coffee in the bright store or have them neatly packed for takeout.
Outlets in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar
One of the best Middle Eastern sweets-makers anywhere, Semiramis produces exquisite baklava, ma’amoul, ballorieh (sweetened pistachios surrounded by fine threads of baked knafeh), pine nut assabe (filo rolls filled with nuts), and a variety of rose- and citrus-flavored cookies. The original shop was located in Damascus, Syria. While production recently moved to Egypt, ownership and oversight remain under the founding family’s control. A series of high-end outlets have opened in Doha, Qatar, and in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, but the bustling original shop remains sorely missed.
296 Darling Street, Balmain, Sydney, Australia
Tel.: +61 2 9810 7318
Three other locations in Australia
Locals and tourists alike line up outside this sliver of a Sydney bakery, where celebrity patissier Adriano Zumbo sells macarons in imaginative Aussie-fusion flavors: Vegemite, musk, pandan sticky rice, and Milo. While the flavors may sound strange, the execution is superb, and the deliciousness of the results confirms that the shop deserves its fame. In addition to macarons, Zumbo sells stunning cakes in fanciful colors and shapes. The displays alone make visiting the shops a must.
Twenty-five outlets across Singapore
Tel.: +65 6756 9088
This small chain of shops specializes in traditional Indonesian cakes and confections and nonya kueh, the delicacies produced by the Peranakan communities of Malacca and Penang. The kueh and lapis, or layered cakes, come in a stunning array of flavors, colors, and shapes. Although it is a commercial operation with several storefronts, many items are still made by hand, using traditional ingredients. Orders must be placed in advance for certain specialty items. No seating is available.
2-1-14 Todoroki, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Tel.: +81 3 3703 8428
Located in the residential district of Oyamadai, Au Bon Vieux Temps is among the most famous cake shops in Tokyo, and customers flock from across the city to buy the exquisite traditional French confections. Parisian-trained patisserier Kawada turns out delicious cakes and tarts, mille-feuille, and a variety of other classic pastries, along with chocolates, fruit gelées, and caramels. Limited seating is available.
56 Ramdulal Sarkar Street, Kolkata, India
Tel.: +91 94 3249 4423
This shop is one of the best for traditional Bengali milk-based sweets delicately topped with ground nuts and flower petals. Varieties include kancha golla, sweetened balls made with fresh cheese; sarpuriya, square treats cut from a mass of condensed malai (the creamy layer that forms at the top of boiled milk) and dusted with ground pistachios; and gurer monohora, soft creamy balls covered in a thick, golden syrup. Locals typically buy various items from the small shop to take home.
11A & B Esplanade East, Kolkata, India
Tel.: +91 33 2248 5920
Multiple outlets in Kolkata and Bangalore
A beloved chain of shops in northern India, K.C. Das is famous for its rossogolla, balls of fresh milk curd soaked in sugar syrup. According to company lore, they were invented by the founder, Nobin Chandra, in his small shop in Bagbazar in northern Kolkata in 1868. The company bears the initials of Chandra’s son, Krishna Chandra Das, who carried on the tradition of making these sweets and is himself credited with inventing the popular rossomalai (cheese balls soaked in cardamom-scented malai, or clotted cream). Today, the company feeds a global market with traditional Indian sweets, including canned rossogolla. Many agree that despite its success, the shop has retained its excellent quality.
8-C People’s Court, Campbell Street, Penang, Malaysia
Tel.: +60 4 263 9487
Leong How Keng learned to bake under the tutelage of his Cantonese immigrant father and now makes some of the best coconut tarts in all of Asia. They are made with a layered, flaky pastry and a not-too-sweet filling packed with coconut shreds. The 30-year-old bakery is also famous for its hor chio pia, thin rectangular biscuits with a delicious swirl of spices, heavy with black pepper. The shop is little more than a shed in one corner of a parking lot, but its delicacies are worth the effort it takes to find it.
No. 1, Alley 4, Lane 36, Section 5, Minsheng East Road, Taipei, Taiwan
Tel.: + 886 2 2760 0508
Additional outlets in Singapore, Shanghai, and Tokyo
Many agree that SunnyHills makes Taiwan’s best pineapple cakes, which are the country’s defining dessert. This bakery uses only pure pineapple for the fillings, refusing to substitute cheap winter melon, as many other bakeries do. The result is a rich, buttery crust encircling a soft, chewy center with layers of flavor, including the dark tang and floral notes of pineapple—a perfect accompaniment for tea when dining in the gorgeous, minimalist space of the original Taipei branch. Online ordering is available.
35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong, China
Tel.: +852 2544 3475
Multiple locations throughout Hong Kong
Among the dozens of shops offering egg tarts across Hong Kong, Tai Cheong Bakery is widely considered to offer the best of these sunflower-yellow pastries. Tai Cheong’s tarts are perfectly balanced between a tender, lard-based shortcrust and a yolky, custardy filling. The shop also sells dense, creamy doughnuts that should not be overlooked. Sales are for takeout only, with no seating available.
Sierra B. Clark