Hahdough

A case of German cakes and filled donuts

The glass pastry case is the whole argument at Hahdough, which works as a German konditorei rather than a bread-led boulangerie. Chef-owner Ha Do, born in Vietnam and raised in Germany, opened the NoPa storefront on 1 March 2020 after building a following through farmers' markets and a temporary bakery window. The shop grew out of her craving for the cakes she knew at home, which explains the tight focus on German cakes, filled donuts, pretzels and pastries. The case can hold Black Forest cake with chocolate and cherries, Bienenstich gilded with honey and toasted almonds, and Herrentorte layered with marzipan, apricot and dark chocolate ganache. The opening line-up ran to eight cakes with room to grow toward a dozen, split between traditional tortes and Do's own creations.

The small-table version of cake and coffee

The room works like a compact bakery stop rather than a full café dining room. It is small but sweet, with a minty fresh coat of paint, the glass case doing the talking and a couple of small tables at the back. That layout makes the counter the natural first stop: look through the cakes, donuts and pastries, choose a slice or something handheld, then sit down if a table is free. Coffee is part of the rhythm, supplied by Linea, the local roasting company. Do has described wanting a place where you meet a friend in the afternoon over a slice of cake and a cup of coffee, the German café habit she wanted to bring to San Francisco. The result is a short, social pause built around a pastry case, not a restaurant-style stay.

Start with Bienenstich, then the Berliner

Bienenstich is the strong first order if the visit is about the German cake identity, finished with honey and toasted almonds over a soft, filled crumb. Black Forest cake is the other obvious opening, especially for anyone after the chocolate-and-cherry classic that helped define the shop. From there the Berliner anchors the filled-donut side, the German ancestor of the jelly donut, with rotating seasonal fillings such as vanilla crème, Nutella, apple preserves and jams made in house; a mini Berliner covers a smaller appetite. For pastry rather than cake, look for names like kirschtasche, apfelstreuselkuchen and butterzopf. Pretzels keep the order inside the same German range while steering away from a second sweet.