When I heard about an old fashion bakery with 100 years of history, I had to many my trip up to Upper East Side. It is called the Orwasher’s, and was founded in 1916! A Hungarian immigrant family started the bakery for the immigrant community, and has been passed on from generation to generation of the Orwasher family. Sad to say, it is no longer in the hands of Orwasher family, but the new owner seem to love and respect its history as much as everyone else around there, he is keeping the tradition alive. Therefore, it still has its loyal customers from decades ago, and still being named one of the best bakeries in the city. We went when it was already dark out, sorry for the not-so-clear exterior shot.
The inside was not set up as an eat-in place, but we were not planning to eat there anyways, so its ok. The inside was well lit with warm yellow tone on the walls. As soon as I walked in, I was hugged by the cozy aroma of bread. They had all sorts of amazing looking baked goods, baguettes, and everything else you could think of at an amazing bakery. They offer fresh baked bread that are baked daily, as well as cookies, donuts, strudels, and more!
On top of all the baked goods and bread, they also have cheeses, antipasti, peanut butter, jams and other items to enjoy with their fresh breads.
The cookies and other sweet goodies looked really great, and I quickly spotted their Black & White cookies. They were really huge, and I didn’t want to commit to a huge cookie. But then, I found that they also have smaller sized cookies! Yes! I asked the male stuff if they are any good (I’ve had some bad experience when it comes to B&W cookies). He said “here, try one” and handed me one of the small cookie. Only someone who is confident about their products can do that. And it really was a good cookie! So I bought three to take home with. They do the price by the weight, and Small Black & White Cookies came out to be $4.40 total.
But, my main reason for visiting this establishment was their hand filled jelly doughnuts. They have several kinds of doughnuts, but I wanted the kind with fillings. Why? Because they fill it right there when you order it! Super fresh way to get jam filled doughnuts! The piping instrument were all lined up by the wall, and you pick which kind of doughnut – chocolate glazed or sugar doughnut – and filling type. They do have other doughnuts without fillings, but that would not be as fun as watching them get filled with sweet goodness.
I decided on four flavors of the fillings into two chocolate and two sugar doughnuts. I could not wait to see my husband’s face when he opens up the box full of goodies… And yes, he was super happy! Here, the first kind was Chocolate Glazed Doughnut with Black Raspberry Filling ($4.25). It was really soft, fluffy, and the filling was really fresh and tasty. I was happy to see it had good amount of filling.
We also got Chocolate Glazed Doughnut with Apple Filling ($4.25). This one had a little less filling in it, but great apple flavor. The filling tasted like homemade apple jam with nice chunks of apples in it. I really liked that one. It was one of the seasonal filling flavors that they had, so they don’t have it year-around.
Then the sugar doughnuts. Here you can see the size compared to my good and patient assistant. This one is a Sugar Doughnut with Pumpkin Filling ($4.25). Another seasonal filling flavor. It seems like this one didn’t get as much filling… but it was good though, nice pumpkin jam flavor, good quality. And the doughnut was fluffy and tasty.
The last one we got was a Sugar Doughnut with Strawberry Filling ($4.25). A classic, right? And this one had lots of filling, maybe it is easier to pipe out the regular fruit jam??? Who knows. Anyways, the strawberry was great, sweet and delicious. You can’t go wrong with the classic.
And we did enjoy the Black and White Cookies. It was one of the best I’ve had. Soft, moist, sweet, just delicious! The next time I visit, I might get their huge cookie…
There is a new location they opened up on UWS, which is set up to be more of a café. I might visit that location next, as it is easier to get to than their original location in UES. But, I am glad I got to see the bakery with 100 years of history, and I know they will continue to make history while serving their loyal customers, old and new.
Orwasher’s Bakery – 308 E 78th Street, New York, NY 10075