Best Dessert Spots for a Date in the East Village in New York

Browse the glass cases at Lady Wong, a bakery built around Southeast Asian flavors, and pick out a few cakes and pastries to share. We'd start with the taro ube tart, which has a silky center and a candy-coated top, then add the pandan mille crepe cake, which has 21 paper-thin layers. For eclairs, pick from ube, taro, lychee or Vietnamese coffee.

On a rainy afternoon, Duo Cafe is a Chinese teahouse with desserts and a booze-free option for a first date. Artwork and low, warm lighting soften a room that stays clean and minimalist.

Tea arrives already brewing in a Ru Yao teapot, with a small cup and a pitcher for sharing. We'd sip a milky oolong alongside the black tea basque cheesecake. Add the ice-cream-topped caramelized sweet potato as well. It's a surprising match that works.

Antonio Veniero opened this cafe in 1894, and it is still a dessert stop. Look up in the Venetian room, where a painted sky spreads overhead and Italian Renaissance art lines the space. Terrazzo floors, wood display cases and hand-stamped metal ceilings remain from the original interior.

The Veniero's case runs past 150 desserts, from Italian butter cookies to red velvet cake. Cannoli and cheesecake are the best sellers, so we'd split a cannoli, which comes in classic or chocolate-dipped shells with vanilla or chocolate filling.

Hani's is a playful bakery, and its name is pronounced like "honey's." Grab a tray and load it with several items rather than picking just one, which gives the two of you a few things to try together.

The baked potato bun is the must-have item, and the chocolate chunk cookie is a classic done well.

Salt bread is a Japanese baked good, and Justin's Salt Bread, from the team behind Okiboru, is billed as the first place in NYC to specialize in it. Add a side of sweet cream to your salt bread and it moves closer to dessert, with dips in plain, matcha and chocolate.

The bakery is roomy and also serves coffee and matcha.

Danish roots run through La Cabra, whose first New York home combines coffee and baking in one shop. That pairing makes it a place to have coffee and a pastry together, and the shop stays busy with locals and tourists all week.

Middle Eastern flavors meet modern technique in the inventive pastries at Librae Bakery, which gives the two of you something new to taste together. It calls itself a Third Culture Bakery, pairing those flavors with Copenhagen fermentation methods, and says it is the first Bahraini-inspired bakery.

The pistachio rose croissant is the signature, and the baked goods rotate with the seasons. For something savory, there is the Marmite cheddar morning bun or the Jerusalem bagel.

Red Gate Bakery began as a wholesale business run from founder Greg Rales's home and built a cult following before the shop ever opened. Brown-butter chocolate chip cookies are the standout, and the cinnamon buns have soft, loose layers full of cinnamon sugar. Its baking stands among the city's best, and the unfussy approach keeps a stop here simple for two.

The shop is open Tuesday through Friday from 11am to 6pm and Saturday from 11am to 4pm.

Natural light fills Smør Bakery, a small Scandinavian bakery with a minimalist concrete design and a full lunch menu. We'd start with the glazed cardamom buns, scented lightly with Earl Grey, or the dark Danish rye.

Beyond the pastries, you can grab avocado toast or a breakfast burrito, plus croissants, cookies, donuts, focaccia and baguettes. Weekend lines move quickly.

Take a seat among wooden tables, tatami seating and paper lanterns at Cha-An Teahouse, a second-floor room for tea and dessert. The tea list includes Japanese matcha and sencha as well as teas from other parts of the world.

Desserts mix traditional Japanese sweets with Western-style ones. The teahouse also serves kakigori (Japanese shave ice), and its mochi desserts earn praise. Afternoon tea is served in a separate third-floor room, with two pots of tea, three savories and ten sweets.