PHLGuide
The Best Bakeries In Philadelphia
photo credit: GAB BONGHI
For a lot of Philadelphians, walking into a sweet-smelling bakery isn’t just a once-in-a-while experience—it’s routine. Where else would we all grab tomato pie for a snack, sourdough loaves for sandwiches, rainbow cookies to bring to the office, or a cake shaped like the Eagles logo for a birthday? While this city is overflowing with bakeries, these are the 19 best.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: NEAL SANTOS
We compare all other bread in Philly to Mighty Bread's hearty sourdough loaves. This East Passyunk bakery started as a wholesale business before expanding with a dining area and a menu of sandwiches, quiche, good soups, and more. The tables get snatched up on weekends with people eating egg and cheeses with spicy conserva, or not-too-sweet pastries like caramel apple pie or orange ricotta tea cakes. If you want a seat, get there close-ish to 9am or at a weird time in the late afternoon.
photo credit: GAB BONGHI
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South Philly’s Machine Shop Boulangerie is easy to find—just peep the line forming on the first floor of the Bok Building. This French-leaning bakery is only open Thursday through Sunday, but the apple and oat danishes, crispy-edged lemon tarts, and everything croissants stuffed with pistachio cream cheese are worth crossing the city on a weekend morning. Their strong suit is laminated dough, so follow the flakes when you order.
photo credit: KERRY MCINTYRE
Termini Brothers is arguably the most famous bakery in Philly, and it has every right to be. They’ve been making crispy cannoli shells since Louis Armstrong had hit songs. There are two locations in South Philly, one in Reading Terminal Market, and another in the Comcast Center. No matter where you go, you’ll see a hub of indecisive people trying to choose between Italian sweets like almond horns or biscotti. (Order online if you know what you want.)
photo credit: Second Daughter Baking Co.
If you’ve been a victim of hard, dry brownies at an office potluck, any batch from this Black-owned bakery in the Bok Building will lead to brownie redemption. You can order these gooey squares, plus babka slices and brown butter chocolate chip cookies for same-day pickup or delivery. Or head into their shop and walk out with eggy red pepper quiche and sweets that you'll want to share with everyone and keep to yourself at the same time.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
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About 80% of the counter at Kensington’s Fiore is covered in Italian sweets like pistachio cornetti and torta della nonna that tastes more cookie-like than cake-esque. So you’ll have to fight the urge to keep adding things while you’re paying. Or don’t fight it. The baked goods here are better than anything else on the menu—though their sandwiches are fantastic, too.
photo credit: Essen Bakery
We go to this Jewish bakery in East Passyunk to inhale chocolate rugelach, zaatar croissant sandwiches, and dark-blonde bagels covered in mini bubbles from a speedy boil at high heat. Both the salty and sweet options are reliable. So order a sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese, or fill a box with seasonal donuts, salted chocolate chip cookies, and a slice of slightly toasty basque cheesecake.
Sure, you can have a cocktail and eat airy margherita pizza at High Street now that they’ve expanded their cafe operation to a full restaurant. But the Center City spot is still baking sourdough bread and sweets that are good enough to bring to someone's house for the holidays. In the mornings, expect a daily changing assortment of croissants or maybe cardamon dirt bombs with orange blossom butter. Then, during lunch, they use their rye and seeded multigrain as doughy beds for things like reubens and curried chickpea toast.
When we get the urge to eat Chinese buns and mooncakes, this bakery in South Philly pops into our heads. No matter what situation we're in, we always walk in here, stare ferociously at the red bean buns, lotus moon cakes with salted egg yolks, and golden egg tarts behind the counter, and leave with five things we didn’t plan on ordering. Dodo Bakery closes at 6pm, so this is also a useful option if you want to pick up something later in the day.
photo credit: Dom Episcopo
Bella Vista’s Isgro Pastries has been open since 1904, and the years of experience have made them extremely efficient. Even if there's a line, you’ll be in and out with your cannolis and chewy chocolate ricotta cookies within 10 minutes. The selection is massive. People come here for everything from Christmas cookies to birthday cakes or maybe just to soak up the almond scent on the sidewalk (also known as South Philly pheromones).
photo credit: Kerry McIntyre
The baklava and buttery pistachio maamoul at this Lebanese daytime spot make us produce noises no one should hear. (A hybrid of "yoooooooo" and a cat purr.) The West Philly cafe is just as much a lunch destination as it is a bakery, so you can hang out with a friend or your laptop, drink coffee, and eat lahm bajeen with spicy lamb. Just prepare to leave with bags of baked goods: scanning the cases always results in syrupy knafeh and some coconut cake.
photo credit: Metropolitan Bakery
This Rittenhouse icon started the city’s French bakery trend way back in ‘93. But it gets bragging rights for more than just its age—Metropolitan makes the city’s best canelé. Even if you’re just popping in for a baguette, get one of these caramelized little guys with a custardy center, and grab an airy almond croissant, too. The 19th Street location has an adjacent cafe that sells blistered thin-crust pizzas and sandwiches made with their incredible bread. There's also a stand at Reading Terminal Market where you can grab a sour cherry chocolate chip cookie after a roast pork sandwich.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Crust's vegan pastries, some of which are gluten-free, taste like they never needed butter and dairy. The Manayunk spot has classics like apple cider donuts, peanut butter cookies, and cinnamon rolls. But you’ll also find creative stuff like funfetti cheesecakes, sweet potato pop tarts with toasted marshmallows on top, and slices of fluffy vanilla lavender cake. The options are a little expensive—desserts here average around $8-$10 and bread is around $20. But if you need good vegan sweets in this city, the prices feel warranted.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Kouklet Bakehouse has a wide variety of Brazilian bolo de rolo, including a Philadelphia pretzel cake with salted caramel milk that nails the balance of salty and sweet. But it’s the plump, airy sonhos at this East Passyunk bakery that make us feel like we’re biting into a sugary pillow. The flavors rotate. So you might find peach, cherry and chocolate custard, or strawberry.
photo credit: KERRY MCINTYRE
This Isreali bakery in Rittenhouse lives up to its hype as a member of the Zahav family. Get at least one pastry—we're into the lemon cheesecake babka and marzipan challah danishes—and something bready like a Jerusalem bagel or thick kubaneh toast topped with whipped ricotta and brown sugar. The place gets busy on weekends. Come on a weekday if you want to avoid the lines and eat a $5-and-under treat that you’ll swaddle like a newborn.
photo credit: Cake & Joe
If you’re looking for some great pastries in a room where you can sit down with a few people, put Cake and Joe on your list. The sweets look like art—especially the swirly matcha cheesecake and a Càphê Roasters mousse cake shaped like a wedge of swiss cheese. But they taste just as good as they look. Stop by the Pennsport bakery to eat dessert for breakfast with a cup of coffee.
photo credit: Small Oven Pastry Shop
Small Oven Pastry Shop on Washington Avenue sells both savory and sweet menus, and we like to order things from both worlds. With so many options, it's the kind of place where a quick tart can turn into a banquet of snickerdoodles, leek and feta croissants, and thick slices of mocha loaf. But you've got room on your kitchen counter for all of that, right? (There are no seats here, so you'll have to take everything to go.)
This Black-owned bakery in the Northeast bakes more cupcakes than there are speed cameras on the Boulevard. They're soft, moist, and large enough that just one will have you headed for a blanket. We usually go for the carrot cake version with nuts or the banana cupcake with generous banana pudding filling. In addition to the cupcakes, the bakery also sells some good slices of cheesecake, too. Get the sweet potato.
If you normally wake up in West Philly, start your day with a cheese-and-ham-filled mafalda, buttery medialunas, or a creamy ricotta torta at this Argentinian shop. But any trip to Jezabel's also requires a baked empanada—these are the true headliners. You can get them stuffed with cuts of beef, juicy chicken, tangy root vegetables, spicy lentils, and more. And there are a few tables in the cafe, so you don't have to eat it on the 42 or a park bench.
photo credit: A La Mousse
Chinatown’s A La Mousse specializes in cakes that look like they're ready for prom photos. We usually order the triple chocolate mousse and the Hokkaido cheesecake, but pretty much any mousse- or custard-filled dessert you get here will be excellent. Remember this place the next time you want to outdo everyone at a potluck, or when you’re looking for something other than Federal Donuts to bring to a party.
