Church of Sweden
Church · Midtown East ·
Swedish church cafe with fresh cinnamon buns & coffee
Swedish church cafe with fresh cinnamon buns & coffee
"Planted just off Fifth Avenue at 48th Street in Midtown, the Church of Sweden has a humble attached Swedish cafe tucked in a windowless basement that I almost missed—there’s sparse signage and no front desk, though the all-consuming smell of cardamom and cinnamon leads you downstairs. I’d heard about it on TikTok, and pushing through a dim, narrow hallway lined with Swedish books and down shallow steps, I found a charming fika with a little over 20 seats at communal tables dressed in red gingham and Christmas lights, plus shelves of hard-to-find Swedish gummies (cassis and licorice), coffee beans, Marimekko-esque aprons, ornaments, figurines and basket-weaving sculptures for sale. Elderly workers in mod floral aprons pull warm pastries from the oven to display at a walk-up counter run by someone who said they’re a church musician; pastries are $4 and made fresh daily, including a saffron bun with a snail-like twist, mellow spice, not-too-sweet coating and golden, pull-apart innards that reminded me of egg challah. There are simple open-faced sandwiches—shrimp-and-egg salad, warm meatballs with beet salad, and smoked salmon—priced at $10 but notably very wet from liberal mayo, so I’d skip them; the cafe also serves strong Swedish-branded coffee, lingonberry juice, hot cocoa, teas, and bottled Swedish beers and sodas. It’s not the best Swedish food in New York (the pastries aren’t as remarkable as at La Cabra), but it’s a line-free, quiet, work-friendly respite with free WiFi when Midtown is overcrowded; the basement setup is temporary and will return upstairs this spring after renovations. The cafe is order-at-the-counter and accepts credit cards, cash, and Apple Pay; it’s open Wednesday through Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m." - Emma Orlow
"New York City can feel like a godless place, one certainly antithetical to most people’s idea of comfort. That’s because most people don’t know about the library cafe within the Swedish Church of New York, which offers enough god, comfort, and fresh-baked Swedish pastries for all of Midtown East to get their fika on. Formerly known as the Swedish Seamen’s Church, the house of worship hearkens back to a time when similar seamen’s churches dotted the globe to greet Scandinavian seafarers with a slice of home wherever they dropped anchor. Manhattan’s in particular greeted the million-and-a-half Swedes who landed in the Big Apple between 1820 and 1900. With changes in the shipping industry, the still-functioning Lutheran church serves fewer god-fearing seamen than it once did. The hidden cafe’s modest offering of simple Swedish comfort foods, however, makes steady churchgoers out of the city’s Swedish expats, tourists, and eaters in-the-know. The establishment largely caters to a Swedish clientele—call them on the phone, and they’ll answer in Swedish. Thus, instead of sandwiches, you can order open-faced smörgåsar, topped with your choice of liverwurst, cheese, salami, or anchovies and eggs. Instead of O.J., sip on a lingonberry juice. Coffee, tea, and bottled beer is served as well, but the pastries are the real show-stoppers. Gingerbread, assorted cookies, and of course, cinnamon buns are made fresh daily. The church’s library offers cozy seating, tables, and wi-fi for those looking to get some work done in Midtown without competing for outlets in the neighborhood’s dispiriting tangle of chain coffee shops. Or grab a book from off the beautifully patterned wooden shelves and try to teach yourself Swedish. For a city that makes it so hard to relax, the Swedish Church makes it hard not to. None" - giadavis11, Jayhook, lukefater, peterahman
"A midtown café and reading room that serves strong coffee alongside Swedish baked goods—puffy cinnamon and moist cardamom buns, coconut-crusted chocolate balls, marzipan candies—and makes a family-oriented, library-like space for transplanted Swedes to gather, schedule rites of passage, and enjoy traditional monthly specials like split-pea soup and pancakes." - Natan Dvir
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