Fern & Aurora Dessert Shop — Restaurant in New York

This is a small batch pastry shop right at the corner of the Manhattan bound side of the Little Neck LIRR stop. The pastries in the left case rotate all day and the right case has cakes (whole and sliced) and hand painted bon bons. We tried the brown butter chocolate chip cookie, cheese cake, strawberry creme cruffin, cardamom bicho bicho, cinnamon knot, dried cherry and chocolate scone, hot chocolate, and a box of six bon bons (jasmine blossom, milo, early grey, leche flan, Thai ice tea, and kalamansi). If you’re a fan of sweet and salty, get the brown butter cookie. The sea salt adds a subtle salty kick that paired really well with the hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was thick and tasted like dark chocolate, not too sweet at all! The cardamom had a nice crisp outside and fluffy inside (and once again not too sweet even with the light sugar dusting on top). The strawberry creme cruffin was flakey and had a very flavorful strawberry pure inside. The scone was packed with dried cherries and chocolate chips! Each bite had a little something and it was not hard like a rock like how some scones can be. The cinnamon knot had a tame cinnamon taste, not overwhelming and also good with the hot chocolate. The cheesecake was very smooth and rich-creamy with a subtle hint of lemon. It is a subtly sweet cake. We got the small size and it was good for two people with an appetite. We have not tried all of the bon bons yet but we did try the Thai ice tea and it was a very smooth mix of chocolate and tea. There is limited seating and a little counter space. There’s art from small artists on the walls and you can see the open kitchen behind the counter display. The fact that the owner is the only baker in this shop is incredibly impressive! It’s a two person operation and you can tell they’re working hard. Overall comfortable vibe and good treats. Since they are small batches if something runs out that’s it for the day but something new will be made in it’s place so there seems to always be something new to look forward...

Located across the street of the Little Neck stop of the LIRR, is Fern and Aurora, a Filipino inspired bakery which just opened this past Wednesday. I’m hardly ever in this part of Queens but made a point of trying them out after I read about this bakery in a local Queens newspaper.

The bakery offers some familiar items but with Filipino flavors (ube, kalamansi, and macapuno, just to name a few). Clearly baked in small batches, these artisanal desserts are priced slightly high but so worth it in my opinion. Everything we ordered today was quite good.

I got some hand painted Bonbons (Kalamansi, Ube, Buko Pandan and Jasmine Blossom), a small Basque Cheesecake, Macapuno and Ube Brioche Donut, Strawberry and Macapuno Cream Croffle, and a Banana Bread.

The Donut was not overly sweet, had a slightly crunchy exterior from the sugar coating and fluffy texture inside. It was crammed with whipped ube cream. Really delicious. The Cheesecake had the perfect creamy silky texture. The Croffle was flaky and not overly sweet. The Banana Bread was wonderful with their cold brew. And my favorite dessert (from what we ordered) was the “Forrest” which consisted of chocolate cake base, hazelnut cream, pistachio garnish and a “mushroom” make out of hazelnut cream dipped in white chocolate. This dessert was outstanding and very creative; the mushroom looks very real! It’s presented in a small pot and you eat it with a small shovel (so cute).

We visited the café on Friday and then actually came back the next day to get more of the “Forrest” dessert. I’m sort of glad I don’t live nearby, otherwise I’d be here every day just for...

Such a cute bakery cafe located steps away from the little neck LIRR station! All of the pastries look freshly made and some items are definitely unique to this cafe. It seems they have a rotating menu so I will have to pop in again to try other goodies.

This cafe has a small seating area but no restroom I believe. It’s a good place to get a coffee while waiting for your train. Also there only seems to be one salty sandwich item out of all the food options they offer but it looked very good.

As for the desserts, they have an assortment of bon bons, croissants, cookies, cakes, tarts, and cheesecakes. I personally tried the ube donut, brown butter chocolate chip cookie, and the basque cheesecake. The ube donut was surprisingly not overly sweet. Even though it was coated in sugar, the donut itself was just sweet enough. The ube cream was not very sweet (which I love) and retained the fresh ube flavor. The cookie was perfect in sweetness, texture, and size. I like a slightly chewy, slightly crispy cookie and this cookie gave me all that with added browned butter goodness (you can taste it!). My least favorite thing of the 3 was the cheesecake. I think maybe because I’ve had amazing basque cheesecakes elsewhere, this place can’t really compare. However, it still was very good and if the cravings hit and I’m in the area, I would not hesitate to buy one.

All in all, I hope this small locally owned business is successful and I will definitely be...