A new sweet shop is putting a unique spin on classic bake shop offerings.
Located at 51 W 32nd St., Sweet Graffiti is “where street meets sweet,” bringing bold flavors to classic treats. The kitchen is led by Chef Romina Peixoto, who is helping redefine what a dessert could be.
“Sweet Graffiti was a concept that was created before I joined the company, but it had a different concept. It was going to be all about donuts,” Peixoto told amNewYork. “When that project was passed to me, I was like, ‘I can do so much more than donuts.’ There’s so many places [that are] already doing that, I would like to put my knowledge up front to everyone since I’m not only a pastry chef, but I’m also a chocolatier. I would like to showcase everything that I know.”
On Sweet Graffiti’s menu, you’ll find more than your standard cookies and pastries. Peixoto and the Sweet Graffiti team pride themselves on serving a lineup of chocolates, bonbons, donuts, cookies, ice cream, croissant crisps, and other confections.
“It’s not just like when you go to a bakery, it’s just baked goods and that’s that. It’s just a combination of little things that make the place fun and different from the other places,” said Peixoto. “I wouldn’t just call it a bakery, it’s really a sweet shop more than just a bakery.”
However, what truly sets the sweet shop apart is their unique flavors. For example, the store’s cookies come in flavors like Pad Thai (one of the more popular flavors) and Mocha Madness, bonbons in flavors like Lemon Yuzu, Guava & Cheesecake, Strawberry-Lychee Prosecco and Matcha Passionfruit, and Macaron flavors such as Raspberry Hibiscus, Lychee Pandan, Sesame, Cacao Nibs and Pistachio.
At Peixoto’s children’s insistence, the store fully jumped onto the Dubai chocolate trend, with menu items such as the Dubai Sundae (house-made vanilla soft serve ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, homemade pistachio cream, toasted kataifi and chopped pistachios), the Dubai Donut, and their own twist on a Dubai chocolate bar.
Because the store is located in Koreatown, Peixoto felt it was necessary to lean into Asian flavors for the desserts.
“We have Asian flavors to target a little bit of the crowd that is around here, but not at the full capacity because I’m not Asian, so I don’t want to recreate something that I’m not,” said Peixoto. “For a bit of my background, we have Alfajores from Argentina. It was important to have at least one item that reflects where I come from. The donuts are very American, so that pleases the crowd and we try to do different flavors just to satisfy pretty much everybody who comes in.”
For Peixoto, in a city where food items go viral online regularly, going viral isn’t necessarily the goal because you never know what will get popular, but she’s always going to explore fun and interesting flavors regardless.
“I think that all of us are always trying to look for something that it becomes viral at one point, which, what that is, I don’t know. I’m trying to explore it,” said Peixoto. “Parisian flan is one of the things that was kind of trendy for a while and I have it on the menu right now and that’s one of the things that I change on a weekly basis. I try to come up with crazy flavors all the time. I have safe flavors in other areas, but I’m just gonna go crazy with that and see if people like it.”
For more information, visit sweetgraffitisweets.com. You can follow Sweet Graffiti on Instagram at @sweetgraffitisweets.
