Bánh by Lauren
Bánh bò nướng, the bright green pandan honeycomb cake, out of a Market Street counter that started as an Instagram pop-up in the pandemic.
Why go
The Infatuation gets the whole shop into six words: Bánh By Lauren is the house that pandan built.
The honeycomb cake is the item people queue for, and the coffee is not an afterthought behind it. Molly Fitzpatrick is blunt about the difference: Some bakeries are happy to phone in their beverages, but not Bánh By Lauren,
pointing at a pandan latte and a cà phê trứng with sweet egg custard. The New York Times has been twice, for its December 2024 list of the 22 best bakeries in the country and again in October 2025 for its 25 essential New York pastries.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the bánh bò nướng, then the Lime Drip, an iced coffee sweetened with lime that Fitzpatrick calls "like nothing we've ever had before." Split a slice of cà phê chiffon cake, and take home the Chinese sausage scones and a chocolate chip cookie.
- Avoid: a late-morning arrival with plans to sit. The line "snakes around the corner" and the room is a few stools and two small tables.
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation (17 June 2024): on the signature,
a bright green pandan honeycomb cake that remains as delicious, and as photogenic, as ever.
1 - The New York Times, twice:
22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now
in December 2024, andThe 25 Essential Pastries to Eat in New York City
in October 2025. The bakery lists both placings on its own press page.2
Good to know
- Timing: morning and early afternoon, and the queue forms.
- Booking: walk in, or order ahead for a box to carry away.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: NY times best bakery 2025
Verdict
should-visit — One ingredient built this bakery and the pastry it built is worth the queue: banh bo nuong, the pandan honeycomb cake, which came off an Instagram pop-up during the pandemic and now has a counter on Market Street. Molly Fitzpatrick's summary is exact, 'the house that pandan built', and she rates the coffee program as seriously as the pastry, which is rare in a bakery. The Lime Drip is an iced coffee sweetened with lime that she compares to walking through a citrus orchard. The New York Times put it on its December 2024 list of 22 best bakeries in the country and returned in October 2025 for its 25 essential New York pastries. What holds it at should-visit rather than higher is that both of those placings were read off the bakery's own press index, and the line around the corner is real.