Hungarian Pastry Shop, a place that feels like home

Hungarian Pastry Shop, the tradition and the nice familiar service are sweet

Get the telephone and the address of Hungarian Pastry Shop

I first stumbled upon the Hungarian Pastry Shop in Morningside Heights (Manhattan) when I was in grad school at Columbia. My paternal grandmother was Hungarian, and I noticed some cookies just like the ones she used to bake in the window. These particular cookies didn’t have a name in my house, but they were basically sugar cookies filled with fruit flavored jam and lots of love. I take after my Grandma Roule in that I have a sweet tooth, just like her. I can’t pass up a deliciously home made treat to go with my coffee!

When you first come across this pastry and coffee shop it might seem quaint with its red awning and glass case of sweet treats. The coffee drinks are listed on a pillar in chalk and the baristas behind the counter are more than happy to help you choose a yummy dessert, which will then be brought to your table with your coffee. The tables are small and you can’t help but feel utterly like a New Yorker as you sit and sip your cup of coffee. Hungarian Pastry Shop is the sort of place that invites you to bring a book, ponder your future, or just enjoy the company.

We wandered in on a snowy Sunday morning in February and I was thrilled to find that after 5 years living in Spain, the little shop had barely changed. The Hungarian Pastry Shop has been a place to study and chat for Columbia students since the years of JFK, so this is a place with inherent history and lots of great energy.

Pedro and I found a small table sandwiched between a father and his young daughter having a special Sunday treat and a student reading a thick and impossible looking sort of textbook. Behind us was a man composing using a contraption that was halfway between a piano and a computer. This is the stuff of Woody Allen movies, New York dreams, and books with dog eared pages. This felt like home.

There were definitely times, when we first decided to move back to New York that I thought we’d never find places with quite as much charm as in Europe. Those little cafés, the quiet streets and the slower pace that invites you to slow down and take your time just don’t seem to fit into the crazy frenetic pace of New York City. Thank goodness for this outpost that reclaims the coffee shop. Well worth your walk uptown, we ruskommend the Hungarian Pastry Shop with 5 boquerones.