When it comes to bakeries, Mexicans believe that bigger is better, and no space too large for a Mexican baker to fill with a seemingly endless variety of cookies, breads, and cakes. While it may not be as large as some of the giants in Mexico City, this bakery offers an entire wall of baked goods from which customers are encouraged to serve themselves. There is ample seating to enjoy the selection of concha buns, Technicolor cookies, and sweet empanadas. La Union also offers traditional breads with which to make favorite Mexican sandwiches like tortas and cemitas.

This pristine, modern bakery is located in what many consider to be South Florida’s Little Brazil, which means that it has a customer base that knows what to expect from good Brazilian baked goods. A selection of traditional breads and rolls offers authentic accompaniments to typical Brazilian meals and vehicles for traditional sandwiches, which the bakery also offers. The list of snacks, however, is what makes it a destination. From the coxinha fritters stuffed with shredded chicken and creamy catupiry cheese to the addictively cheesy (and gluten free) pão de queijo, there is enough variety of savory nibbles to never get bored here.

Many of the world’s favorite pastries, like the croissant, actually originated in Austria, and this bakery near Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is one of the best locations to sample the Austrian mastery of patisserie in South Florida. There are homemade croissants here, as well as traditional brown breads and pretzels. The bakery also features a long list of pastries and cakes, but perhaps none are more decadent or iconic than the sachertorte. This dense chocolate cake is layered with apricot jam, covered in chocolate ganache, and is so intense that it is traditionally served with whipped cream to cut the richness. Edelweiss offers several sizes of this chocolate lover’s fantasy.

Although it is not quite a bakery, the main attraction at this small South African outpost in Fort Lauderdale is the assortment of buttery puff pastry pies enclosing a variety of assertively spiced fillings. The signature pie is the sweet and spicy bobotie filled with curried ground meat. Other offerings include a fiery lamb curry pie and a milder sausage roll. And yes, the pies are large enough to constitute a meal. The owners of also deal in their own homemade biltong, South Africa’s arguably superior version of beef jerky, as well as South African pantry staples.

While the uninitiated may react bewilderedly to the mention of a Chinese bakery, China actually has a very long history of pastry and bread making. Tucked into a strip mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Maxim Oriental Bakery offers a glimpse of the vast roster of Chinese baked goods. Vitrines display a selection of yeast buns with savory fillings like roast pork and curried ground beef, as well as sweet Taiwanese pineapple buns and Portuguese-inspired egg tarts. The bakery also offers traditional Chinese cookies and more western cupcakes and tarts.

While aficionados rave about this bakery’s pies, what they are talking about is not anything one would eat with a scoop of ice cream. Instead, this Lebanese bakery specializes in manakeesh - thin flat breads baked with herbaceous za’atar, Mediterranean cheeses, meats, and other toppings. Considered the Levantine relative of the pizza, each manakeesh at Noor is baked to order in a conveyor belt oven. At only a few dollars each, Noor Bakery also makes it affordable to sample the numerous varieties of this savory “pie.”

Fanatics of chains like Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours can rejoice in knowing that South Florida has its own homegrown purveyor of Korean baked goods. Locations in Davie and Lauderhill provide locals with many of the cakes, breads, and pastries that have made Korean bakeries mainstays in cities like Los Angeles and New York. Most of the bakery is self-service, and it is hard to not get carried away overloading a tray with cream filled rolls, kimchi croquettes, and the perennially favorite hotdog and pizza buns. The spacious Davie location features comfortable easy chairs in which to enjoy a selection of coffees and traditional Korean beverages with the addictive baked goods.

While Peruvian restaurants seem to be almost everywhere in South Florida these days, Peruvian bakeries are few and far between. Miski Bakery in Davie is the only place in Broward County where expats can gather to enjoy short crust empanadas, pan francés rolls, and a variety of cakes and pastries filled with manjar blanco, Peru’s answer to dulce de leche. The empanadas filled with ají de gallina, a creamy chicken stew, are rarely seen outside the South American country. This bakery also serves exemplary renditions of classic Peruvian sandwiches like the butifarra filled with homemade country ham.

Hollywood can be seen as a little slice of Romania in South Florida, and there is no better place to taste that slice than at Chocolada Bakery. Located in Hollywood’s quaint downtown, this bakery draws in the city’s Romanian community, as well as other sweet-toothed locals, to enjoy its ornately decorated, cream-filled cakes and pastries. Chocolatey Jofra cake, caramel-laced Amandina cake, and Hungarian-inspired Dobosh cake are just a few of the bakery’s many sweet offerings. A café menu also offers savory Romanian specialties.

This French bakery in downtown Hollywood offers an assortment of expected patisserie, but its specialty is choux pastry used to make cream puffs and éclairs. While the sweet pastries are expertly made and resemble miniature works of puffy art, it is the bakery’s selection of savory éclairs that truly sets it apart. Fillings may vary from day to day but can include smoked salmon and green apple or a vegetable medley. In addition to pastries and cakes, the chef here also creates homemade bonbons, chocolates, and fruit pastes.

It is easy to miss this diminutive Haitian bakery in Miramar, but it is worth it to make a U-turn to sample the perfectly made patties here. Not to be confused with the Jamaican variety, these consist of puff pastry enclosing a spicy meat or fish filling. La Bakerie also offers a vegetarian variety, a rarity among Haitian bakeries. Apart from its patties, the bakery also has a selection of breads, homemade crackers, and ginger-spiked peanut brittle.