About Us

Originally opened in 1961 by Hungarian immigrants, The Hungarian Pastry Shop has been a bedrock of the Morningside Heights community for 60 years. The cafe was purchased by a trio of Greeks in 1976 and is now in its third generation of ownership: operated by the son of one of those Greeks and a Jewish mother whose four brothers and sister used to camp out in the back on weekends and read every page of the Sunday New York Times while drinking bottomless cups of coffee. And not much has changed. 
We are still committed to serving great pastry and great coffee. We still have no wifi. We still serve bottomless cups of coffee. And we still encourage patrons to sit as long as they like. 
The Hungarian Pastry Shop takes advantage of being situated across the street from the close of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. You can sit outside and enjoy your coffee with a view of the impressive Cathedral and will likely experience a peacock’s serenade in addition to the normal cacophony of the city’s streets. And you can write to your hearts content. The Hungarian Pastry Shop is proud to have been a haven for authors of over 50 books, and you can come see the glory of their work displayed on our author’s wall. Unfortunately, that wall cannot contain the countless dissertations and papers written by graduate and undergraduate students from nearby Columbia University. 
Come visit and sample the pastry, sit to talk or work, and come again tomorrow. Chances are we will remember your name, and chances are even better we will remember how you take your coffee.