The Hungarian Pastry Shop

"Filled with lots of Europeans and students who prefer to work in a cramped cafe with no wifi, Hungarian will make you want to smoke a cigarette while you eat your cherry danish or apricot hamentash, and sip on some hot apple cider or your seventh black coffee refill. If anyone asks, tell them you're working on a novel." - willa moore, sonal shah, neha talreja, will hartman

"The hot chocolate at The Hungarian Pastry Shop isn't showy, but that doesn't mean it's not great. We can't say exactly how they make this drink taste so good. It could be an extremely jazzed-up mix sprinkled with love, magic, and a dollop of whipped cream, or it could be a secret recipe passed down for generations. We'd believe either story. Get it with a linzer tart, break out your notebook, and write the next Great American Novel. " - will hartman, carina finn koeppicus, nikko duren

"This insanely busy bakery is located right across the street from St.John the Divine, which also means that it's really close to Columbia. As a result, it's almost always packed to the gills with students camped out with textbooks and their laptops. The vibe is definitely very college coffee house. The pastries are excellent, not the typical fare you get at Starbucks or any other chains. These are authentic Hungarian Pastries someone's Grandma would make!" - Ken Pao

"Students, artists, and writers have been flocking to The Hungarian Pastry Shop for decades, and there's a reason it's still popular. Stepping across the threshold feels like going back to the pre-wifi era, when people scribbled their novels in a notebook. Come here for classic Eastern European pastries like linzer tarts and almond horns. The coffee options are decidedly first-wave, but still great. photo credit: Noah Devereaux" - Carina Finn

"The Hungarian Pastry Shop, Upper West Side by Ken Pao. This insanely busy bakery is located right across the street from St.John the Divine, which also means that it's really close to Columbia. As a result, it's almost always packed to the gills with students camped out with textbooks and their laptops. The vibe is definitely very college coffee house. The pastries are excellent, not the typical fare you get at Starbucks or any other chains. These are authentic Hungarian Pastries someone's Grandma would make!"