Anna Oh

Lovely light $1 sponge cake. Good value. Tried both the regular and black sesame and both were great.

Phung Tran

Very cool place to try the unique sponge cakes in Chinatown. Their triple chocolate was surprisingly better than the original flavor.

melissa Brito

So glad I learned about this special gem in the New York Times video on YouTube! It’s a beautiful story but more so when the product is perfect and not hyped. I tried them all! Delicious. Pandan is my favorite.

Leila Aprigliano

I really like the spongies. The texture is so light and fluffy. I also like how the original is $1.50. It is hard to find things besides fruit/vegetables under $2 in these times. I like that they have asian flavors as drinks and spongies(ex: purple yam, green tea, black sesame). I love Thai Iced Tea and theirs tastes authentic. In addition to the Thai Iced Tea, they also have other/a variety of drinks and teas that are good. I like the atmosphere as well.

John Gonsalves

Spongies Café on Baxter Street is a really fun and unique spot in Chinatown. What makes it stand out is the huge variety of sponge cake flavors way more than you’d find at most other Asian bakeries, which usually only offer one or two options. Each flavor is light, fluffy, and has its own distinct taste, making it worth coming back just to try something new every time. The decor inside is very nice clean, modern, and welcoming and even when there’s a line, it moves pretty quickly. The staff works efficiently, and everything feels well organized. Prices are very affordable, especially considering the quality and variety of what they offer. Overall, Spongy’s Café is a great stop for anyone with a sweet tooth or anyone who wants to experience something a little different in Chinatown.

+6

Travel With Chyna

I was craving something sweet and was recommended to try their sponge cake, which is only $1.50. I choose the red velvet sponge cake. It was soft, fluffy, and absolutely delicious. The shop itself is really charming with beautiful décor and cozy seating, it has a coffee shop vibe where you can sit back and enjoy desserts.

John Allie

Spongies Cafe is a local institution—quietly tucked away from the chaos of Canal Street and serving up Hong Kong–style sponge cakes that are downright addictive. These little pastries (think muffin shape, but way fluffier) are soft, warm, and perfectly spongy. I had the blueberry and it was top notch—light, flavorful, and just the right amount of sweet. Paired it with a refreshing Thai iced tea and couldn’t have been happier. Pro tip: Get there early. It’s a small spot and they tend to sell out by around 3pm. If you’re exploring the Lower East Side, skip the line at Katz and come here instead—you won’t regret

Juju C

Super cute spot! The sponge cakes were super fluffy and delicious! I got the pandan coconut, purple yam, black sesame, and original. They were all great but I think I liked the panned coconut the most. Insane value for just $1.5!!

Jeff T. Critic

Spongies Cafe Pandan Coconut Sponge Cake Sprinkles Sponge Cake To conclude my mission, I stopped at a local dessert place for sponge cakes. Once again, my prediction about this Chinese bakery was wrong! The light, airy cake had a puffy texture. It was not too sweet, but not too bland. The sponge cake tasted just right! The coconut flavored cake gave it a small, but effective flavor boost.

karina k

The sponge cakes are very good and fresh and very very reasonable. Thank you so much for making these fluffy cakes affordable bc after flying in and getting a rental car only to have no parking in nyc it’s nice that this place helps us feel we are getting something great for the money. The cakes range from $1 to $1.50 which beats any Chinatown bakery. So many flavors like holiday sprinkle, strawberry, banana h chocolate chip, Mexican jackfruit, purple yam, blueberry, triple chocolate.

+9

Hamza Elsayed

I LOVE THIS PLACE! We tried the green tea ($1.50) and the banana chocolate chip ($.150) spongies and they were AMAZING! Quality for price is so good. The spongies were so fluffy, airy and tasted a little bit like a muffin. I highly recommend this place if you want little snack or dessert without breaking the bank.

Leonardo Torres

This is certainly an interesting cafe. Tucked into Baxter Street near the corner of Canal Street it's easy to find this location. The prices of the sponge cake and other items are a great bargain. The original sponge cake wasn't too sweet and had a fluffy mouthfeel. I look forward to tasting the other flavors.

+3

Fresh Williams

I visited this cafe and tried their original spongie cake. It had a delightful flavor, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was biting into air every time I took a bite. Unfortunately, they were out of every other flavor I was interested in. Despite this, the cafe itself is a lovely place to sit down and enjoy a meal. The price for the sponge cake is quite reasonable, and I would definitely recommend this cafe to friends and family. Just remember to bring $10 with you. Come early.

+1

Wren Lee

I haven’t seen this many flavors of sponge cake! In this quaint cafe, you can try a variety of flavors such as pandan coconut and Thai tea. And super reasonably priced too! Basically all of the flavored ones are $1.50, and the original is $1. The pandan coconut tasted like the egg roll cookies, which I loved. The Thai tea had a light Thai tea fragrance and taste. It could have tasted more like Thai tea. Between the two, I preferred the pandan. I’d love to come back to try more flavors! Both were light as clouds. Absolutely delightful!

I came to Spongies Cafe after seeing it featured on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel and was excited to check it out. The owner has a fantastic story, and I was lucky enough to spot him working in the back of the kitchen, which made the visit feel even more special. The original Spongies pastry was exactly what I expected — light, fluffy, and not overly sweet. I paired it with a Vietnamese coffee and also grabbed pandan coconut, cappuccino, and holiday (rainbow sprinkle) spongies to-go. Truthfully, it wouldn’t be my personal go-to snack and I’m not sure I’d go out of my way for it again — but that’s just preference. I completely understand why it’s so popular, and I’d absolutely encourage anyone visiting Chinatown to stop in and try it for themselves.

Victor Chau

We ordered a few different flavors of cake and a large iced Vietnamese coffee. The sesame was my favorite and had good sesame flavor. The Pandan was also light in flavor. The mango had little bits of mango which kept the cake extra moist but very little mango flavor itself. All of the cakes were soft, fluffy, and moist. The coffee tasted a bit watered down but got the job done. Overall I’d come back any time I was craving a sponge cake.

Patrick Zajac

I LOVE a sponge cake like I used to get these all the time in Houston they’re so fun to eat. Originally we were gonna get one each but then we saw the extensive flavor list and went a bit crazy… I got THREE! First flavor: Red Velvet. This was really good. I wouldn’t really equate the flavor to be red velvet but whatever the flavor was I liked it! Second flavor: Thai Tea. A bit of a let down not gonna lie. I didn’t get any thai tea flavoring in this one and it was pretty dry. Sad because this was the one I was most excited about. Third flavor: Banana Chocolate Chip. EXCELLENT! This one was fire!!! Banana flavor was on point and the chocolate chips were super mini but at the right ratio. Sponge was moist!

Darlo

Came here for the spongies and they were decent. Soft, but not quite as airy and light as I had hoped. I appreciate the many flavor options; however, the flavors were rather subtle and despite getting 5 different flavors, I could only distinctly identify the black sesame and chocolate. The original, butterscotch, and yam all looked and tasted the same which made me question if the person helping me pulled all the flavors. Overall, decent and happy I tried it, but wouldn't make a special trip for it.