Elephantine Bakery

I cannot say enough about how happy I was that Popovers was closed on Tuesday. My wife and I were originally intending on going there, and needed to find an alternative. We stumbled upon Elephantine. Wow! We walked into this charming little cafe and were transported to Paris. The products looked delicious, and we soon found out that they didn’t only look delicious. The young lady, who was serving us, was exceptionally friendly and added to our pleasure. We ordered a yogurt, with, as I can recall, a pistachio, brittle granola, sliced fruit, honey and so on. We also wanted to just try some of their bread in toast form so I asked if we could order something that wasn’t on the menu. We just ordered some sourdough bread and wanted to have it with butter and jelly. The server promptly made it happen. The food was delivered and all of it was prepared at a very high level. Everything was not only prepared well in terms of ingredients and quality of the food, but it was also cooked/displayed nicely. The medley of food, atmosphere, and music made for the nicest breakfast I have had in a long time. We would recommend this shining star to anyone! The Elephantine is top notch!

This is one of the best bakery-cafés I have ever been to! The coffee was one of the best I had in the US and the food was incredible. Everything we ordered was delicious and fresh, but the honey ricotta toast was out of this world. Fresh homemade ricotta that tastes like a cloud with high quality honey and fresh sourdough bread. The pastry also looked amazing. What a great spot!

Excellent atmosphere, and great pastries/coffee. My husband and I went here for breakfast and, while we missed their full food menu, we enjoyed the pastries we got. Delicious, reasonably priced, friendly atmosphere, and a perfect cozy spot for a little coffee refresh.

Elephantine Bakery is a treasure trove for coffee enthusiasts, pastry aficionados, and dreamers. The outdoor seating, tucked away like a secret passage, invites you to pause, reflect, and perhaps pen your own literary masterpiece. I can’t help but draw parallels to the iconic literary cafes that have graced Europe’s cobblestone streets. Just as Hemingway and Sartre exchanged ideas over coffee at Café de Flore, Elephantine Bakery invites you to linger, converse, and create your own stories. Keep an eye out for this unassuming gem—it’s Portsmouth’s ode to European elegance.

Great little bakery! I would recommend ordering the day before for pickup so you can get exactly what you want without fear of anything selling out. You can order your breakfast items for a specific time to coincide with your arrival which is great! The morning of our pickup we enjoyed an egg simit which was fantastic, if not a little difficult to eat due to the eggs trying to escape on every bite. I would definitely get the simit again. We also had a cinnamon roll. The roll was soft with plenty of filling and a nice vanilla cream cheese frosting. The roll was delicious and we will get another. The rosemary focaccia is well worth the $8. It's got a great chew and the rosemary accents the loaf beautifully with nice chunky salt across the top. If we are here again and are in the mood for a loaf we would certainly revisit the focaccia. The chocolate chip cookies were good, not great. For us they were slightly overbaked and in need of salt. They tasted delicious though. We wouldn't come back for the cookies. Our Kat's brown butter brownies were a hit and a miss. Unfortunately we got one center piece and one edge piece. My wife and I are both gooie brownie people so we both prefer fudgie center pieces. She ate the center piece and it was delicious and fudgie. The edge piece was dry and cake like so it was a little disappointing. I had a croissant and enjoyed it. It is a very standard very good croissant with flakey buttery layers and the crust was too crisp, very soft edges, would get again. My wife got the chocolate almond croissant and said it was very good but that the almond filling wasn't distributed evenly so it wasn't until her last few bites that she had any. She would get it again though upon returning. Altogether a very delicious trip and plenty of enjoyable goodies!

Went on our last day of our trip to grab a bite and wow!! I'd go back just to go here again. I got the honey and feta pasty and we both got the yogurt bowls. I probably could have saved the pasty for later as the yogurt was jam packed full of fruit and amazing granola. Wish I bought a bag of the granola it to take home!! Coffee was also delicious, I got an iced oat milk latte.

Lots of people rave about the baked goods here which I do not doubt are excellent, but I go for the eggs cilbir (chil-bir) once a month or so. It is such a rich, delicious treat and the bread to dip is crisp and fresh. Their coffees are always excellent, the staff is busy but helpful and warm, the cafe is small and can be packed on peak but a really lovely place to sit and people watch in the alley indoors or out.

The cutest bakery located in Commercial Alley in Portsmouth, NH!🥐🍞☕

While I was visiting the New England area, Elephantine Bakery was a spot a was really looking forward to visiting:)

Atmosphere: The bakery is located in Commercial Alley between two buildings, and the little pathway is made up of cobblestones. The space in itself was small but cozy and had so many people there (on a Sunday) with indoor and outdoor seating almost completely full.
Service: Despite the busyness, the ladies there had a great attitude and were working efficiently to make sure that everyone got the orders.
Menu items: I got an iced latte with their Ricotta & Honey Toast (sourdough)—the toast was amazing!

Aside from their daily menu items, they also had pastries out on display and ready to be served as well as cute merchandise to rep the brand!🐘

I ordered the spectacular cardamum and rose cake to be delivered for a birthday from out of state and wasn’t sure how that would go. From the onset of the conversation with Shai to the delivery itself, everything was flawless! Really just perfect! Thank you for that!

Best b'fast food, baked goods and coffee in Portsmouth. Middle eastern goodness. The space (not their fault) is too small to support the demand of their amazingly good food. 5 stars b/c food is that good

New favorite place in Portsmouth! Delicious brunch dishes, inspired menu, and amazing baked goods (get a chocolate chip cookie).

I have visited Portsmouth a couple of times, over the past 2 years. This time, I was able to go with my hubby and am a little disappointed that I had never come across this gem, until now!!

We came on a Sunday morning and it was busy! Many individuals were seated inside and outside, both of which were feasible on a beautiful Fall morning. We were greeted by friendly, warm and welcoming staff, who made our visit that much more enjoyable 😊.

Once we we found our seating, our beverages and food were brought to us within a reasonable time. The food.. was INCREDIBLE! Each of the dishes we enjoyed, you could tell how much time, thought and energy were put into each, with the quality and freshness of the ingredients. It was hard to walk away from this place and head back home, out of state 🥲.

If you are looking for a place that has a sweet atmosphere with quality food, this is it! The only slight to mention is that the seating is very limited, but doesn’t seem too long of a wait for seating. If you have to get it to go, it is worth it 😁.

I am already looking forward to when I can come back!!

Thank you to the incredible staff, at the Elephantine Bakery, for all that you do!

Popped in on a sunny Saturday. This place is tiny and straight out of Paris. Had a wonderful latte and delicious, crisp chocolate croissant. Limited seating but worth the wait. Highly recommended!

I've visited many bakeries, but I can confidently say that this bakery ranks among the top three I've ever been to. The atmosphere, quality and service are truly exceptional. I'd also like to personally thank Ceci for her outstanding service; she was incredibly welcoming and made our experience unforgettable!

Such delicious pastries and food, and so unique! I absolutely love the Egyptian bread pudding, which is made out of croissants and pistachios, served warm and just wow, I would come back solely for that. The simit sandwiches are also amazing, almost like bagels but better. The inside is super cozy and the service was faster than I expected!

Lovely! My bread and pastries I ordered online on a Sunday morning were ready within 20 minutes, and they email you once it’s ready. I ordered an iced mocha latte when I picked my order up and it is the best one I’ve had in my life- I’m still thinking about it. Highly recommend!

Elephantine is an outstanding bakery with some really unique menu options. I tried the egg simit and a chai latte. The egg simit was extremely filling, satisfying, and flavorful. The chai latte was not too sweet and didn’t taste like it came from a carton - two things I love in a chai latte! I took a brownie to go and it too is a delight. The other members of our party tried the poached eggs cilbir and could not stop singing it’s praises. The cinnamon roll is also nice and moist with a delicious cream cheese frosting. There were no dry, crusty edges like you might get on mediocre cinnamon rolls. You can wait in line or order ahead online for pickup as far out as the afternoon before. Coffee/drinks must be ordered in person.

What a nice Egyptian (but feels French because of the French baked goods!) cafe/coffee shop. Cappuccino was fabulous. Baguette was delicious with perfect texture. Service was fantastic. Really great experience!

Fabulous! They have some of the best viennoiserie I’ve tasted in the US, and the marriage between French and Egyptian kitchen is a good one. The staff is friendly and they have a lovely outdoor seating area where dogs are welcome.

Great little cafe in Portsmouth, NH. Coffee is very good. We had both the drip coffee and cappuccino. Food options are very good with a Turkish twist. We had the poached eggs clibir and the egg simit (similar to bagel sandwich). We came here two days.