"This Swedish candy store, with locations on the LES, Williamsburg, Red Hook and the Upper East Side, has a cult following, and it’s easy to understand why. Apart from the fact that they sell adorable, hard-to-source treats with unique textures and vibrant flavors, everything about BonBon is aesthetically pleasing, down to the pale pink paper bags and gold scoops—like the handiwork of a girly-pop Willy Wonka. The candy here—marshmallows, licorice, nougat, chocolate, and more—costs $4.50 per quarter pound. Expect to quickly lose your grasp on any concept of money, or what constitutes a reasonable quantity of sweets for one human being to consume. We haven’t tried anything at BonBon that we wouldn’t gladly shove fistfuls of into our mouths, bags, pockets, and other conceivable candy-transporting vessels. But highlights include the butterbeer-adjacent caramel twists, cloud-soft marshmallow mushrooms, brain-zappingly sour raspberry pucker bottles, green-apple fizzy frogs, and—our favorite— sour Rambo strawberry licorice tubes, filled with vanilla cream. photo credit: Alex Staniloff photo credit: Alex Staniloff photo credit: Alex Staniloff BonBon is open until midnight—a good potential epilogue to a drinks or dinner date. You may find them sold out of particularly internet-famous treats, like foamy Bubs ovals and sour cola skulls, but the friendly staff are quick to offer suggestions and free samples. Keep in mind that cute as it is, this small storefront can sometimes feel claustrophobic, especially when customers dissociate into a candy reverie, standing in place, transfixed by a tub of cat-shaped gummies." - Molly Fitzpatrick
