Best Pandan Desserts and Drinks in Houston

Houston's pandan dessert scene is concentrated along Bellaire Boulevard in Asiatown — Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Filipino cafes and bakeries use pandan in everything from fresh-made jelly drinks to French-style choux pastry, and a single afternoon on Bellaire lets you hit six of the nine spots on this list. Every place below was verified via its official website or official social media page as of October 2026.

What is pandan?

Pandan comes from the pressed leaves of the Pandanus amaryllifolius plant, which grows across Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and much of Southeast Asia. The leaves are turned into a juice or paste that gives food a vivid green color and a flavor often described as grassy, faintly coconutty, and a little floral — somewhere between vanilla and fresh grass. It is used across Southeast Asia the way vanilla is used in Western baking: it is the default base note you reach for first, the flavor that makes a Southeast Asian cake, sticky rice, or waffle taste unmistakably homemade.

Houston's large Vietnamese, Filipino, and Malaysian communities have made pandan a fixture in Asiatown along Bellaire Boulevard. The concentration of pandan-specific items there is unusual even for a major American city.

In Asiatown on Bellaire Boulevard

Six of the nine spots on this list are on or within a block of Bellaire Boulevard between roughly 9800 and 12000.

BAMBU Desserts and Drinks

Asiatown, 10613 Bellaire Blvd, Suite 150 · Vietnamese-style dessert drinks · typically open daily

BAMBU makes its pandan jelly fresh every day, and the jelly is a core ingredient in four of the menu's signature drinks. The Bambu Favorite layers pandan jelly with red tapioca, grass jelly, and coconut milk; the Bambu Special combines it with fresh coconut meat, longans, and basil seed in coconut water; the Summer Delight stacks it with mung beans and agar agar. If you have never tasted pandan jelly in a Vietnamese che-style drink, BAMBU in Asiatown is the best first stop on a Bellaire crawl. The Bellaire location typically opens at 9 AM. Check drinkbambu.com for current hours.

What to order: Bambu Favorite or Bambu Special.

Kamalan Bakery

Asiatown, 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Suite E219 · Malaysian-Southeast Asian bakery · typically open daily

Kamalan is the stop for a pandan cake you can take home. The bakery sells pandan chiffon cupcakes and whole pandan cakes in 6-inch and 8-inch rounds, plus a pandan-coconut-pineapple cake. The flavor is properly Southeast Asian: pale green, light, and fragrant rather than artificially sweet. Cakes are made in limited quantities and can sell out on weekends, so go in the morning or call ahead. Check kamalanbakerytx.com for hours and ordering details.

What to order: Pandan chiffon cupcake to taste it; whole pandan cake to take home.

Le'Drip Coffee and Tea

Asiatown, 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Suite E-205 · Vietnamese coffee shop · typically open daily

Le'Drip is in the same plaza as Kamalan, making both easy to do in one stop. The signature item is the pandan bac siu — Vietnamese phin-dripped coffee with condensed milk, topped with a vivid green pandan foam made from whipping cream, whole milk, and pandan extract. The result looks as good as it sounds: espresso-dark on the bottom, cloud-green on top. Pandan foam is also available as an add-on for other drinks. Le'Drip typically opens at 7 AM on weekdays. Check ledripus.com for current hours.

What to order: Pandan bac siu.

Desseire

Asiatown, 10600 Bellaire Blvd, Suite B · French-Vietnamese bakery

Desseire brings French pastry technique to Vietnamese flavors. Pandan appears here in two forms: pandan choux (a cream puff with pandan filling) and pandan cake. The choux are made fresh and sell out quickly on weekend afternoons, so go before noon. Desseire does not have a standalone website; follow @desseire on Instagram for the current menu and hours.

What to order: Pandan choux.

Sweet Memes Dessert and Tea

Asiatown, 9630 Clarewood Dr, Suite A-8 · dessert cafe · typically closed Mondays

Sweet Memes specifically names pandan throughout its menu. The Pandan Leaf Tea is brewed from fresh pandan leaf; the Pandan Leaf Waffle is a mochi waffle with fresh fruit, ice cream, and pandan syrup. The mango sticky rice and durian sticky rice both use pandan sticky rice as the base. The Clarewood Drive address is one block south of Bellaire Boulevard, easy to combine with a Bellaire crawl. Check sweetmemes.co for current hours.

What to order: Pandan Leaf Tea and Pandan Leaf Waffle.

Duc Phuong Thach Che

Asiatown, 11360 Bellaire Blvd, Suite 980 · Vietnamese che shop · typically open early morning, closed Wednesdays

This is the traditional Vietnamese end of the pandan spectrum. Duc Phuong specializes in che — the Vietnamese category of sweet soups, dessert drinks, and sticky rice — and pandan appears here as xoi la dua (pandan coconut sticky rice) and in pandan jelly layered into che drinks. The shop typically opens around 7:30 AM and closes in the afternoon, so plan a morning visit. No standalone website; check Google Maps for current hours before going.

What to order: Xoi la dua (pandan coconut sticky rice).

Pandan Leaf Malaysian Restaurant

Asiatown, 11754 Bellaire Blvd, Suite 130 · Malaysian restaurant · typically open daily from 10:30 AM

This is the only spot on this list where pandan is the business's name and shows up in savory dishes as well as desserts. Pandan Leaf serves Malaysian classics — nasi lemak, curry laksa, char kway teow — and uses pandan throughout, including chicken satay marinated and wrapped in pandan leaves. If you want to understand pandan as a savory flavoring before the dessert crawl, start here. Check the menu at pandanleaf.kwickmenu.com for current hours.

What to order: Pandan leaf satay chicken, then a pandan drink.

Beyond Asiatown

Pandan Leaf Fusion Tea Bar and Viet Cafe

Vintage Park, 126 Vintage Park Blvd, Suite F · Vietnamese-fusion cafe · typically closed Mondays · northwest Houston

The only pandan-specific cafe outside Asiatown is in Vintage Park in northwest Houston, about a 30-minute drive from Bellaire. Pandan waffles are the signature item, and the menu also includes pandan jelly desserts and a house pandan coconut drink. Worth the trip if you are already on the northwest side. Check Instagram @pandanleaftx for current hours and the daily menu.

What to order: Pandan waffle.

The Baker's Son by Valerio's

Medical Center, 8025 Main St, Suite A · Filipino bakery · typically open daily from 7 AM

The Baker's Son is a Filipino bakery near the Texas Medical Center with rotating pastry specials. Pandan shows up in tarts, in a pandan ube roll cake (pandan and purple yam layered together), and in seasonal buko pandan drinks. The pandan ube roll cake — vivid green pandan layered with purple ube — is the most visually striking item on this entire list. For more Filipino desserts in this area, see our best ube desserts in Houston guide. Check thebakersonusa.com for hours.

What to order: Pandan ube roll cake.

How we chose

We included spots that specifically name pandan on their menus or in their branding, and confirmed each was open via its official website or official social media page as of October 2026. We prioritized places where pandan is central to a signature item, not just a syrup available on request. Hours and menus change often at small bakeries and cafes; treat the times above as typical and check each spot's official page before you go.

Save this: the Bellaire Boulevard pandan crawl

Six spots within roughly two miles — bring a designated driver or use rideshare.

• Start at Duc Phuong Thach Che (11360 Bellaire) when it opens around 7:30 AM for pandan sticky rice.
• Head west to Pandan Leaf Malaysian Restaurant (11754 Bellaire) for lunch and pandan satay.
• Continue to BAMBU (10613 Bellaire) for a pandan jelly drink.
• Walk to Sweet Memes (9630 Clarewood, one block south of Bellaire) for the pandan waffle.
• End the crawl at Kamalan Bakery and Le'Drip (both at 9889 Bellaire, same plaza) — one pandan cake and one pandan bac siu coffee.

For the full Bellaire Boulevard and Asiatown dining scene, see our Bellaire and Asiatown restaurant guide and Houston Chinatown guide. Houston's broader international food map is in our food district crawl guide.

More Southeast Asian desserts in Houston

For boba and Asian-style drinks across Houston, the Bellaire corridor has more options than any other part of the city. For the full Vietnamese restaurant picture — pho, banh mi, bun bo Hue — see our best Vietnamese restaurants guide. For more dessert options across the city, see our best desserts in Houston guide.

Last verified: October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What does pandan taste like?

Pandan has a grassy, faintly coconutty sweetness — often described as a cross between vanilla and fresh grass. It is the base flavoring in Southeast Asian baking the way vanilla is in Western pastry, and it turns food a vivid green color.

Where can I find pandan waffles in Houston?

Sweet Memes Dessert and Tea on Clarewood Drive in Asiatown serves a Pandan Leaf Waffle (mochi waffle with fruit, ice cream, and pandan syrup). Pandan Leaf Fusion Tea Bar and Viet Cafe in Vintage Park (northwest Houston) is also known specifically for its pandan waffles.

Is there a pandan dessert spot in northwest Houston?

Yes. Pandan Leaf Fusion Tea Bar and Viet Cafe is at 126 Vintage Park Blvd, Suite F, in Vintage Park — northwest Houston, about 30 minutes from Asiatown. It specializes in pandan waffles, pandan jelly desserts, and pandan coconut drinks.

Where can I buy a whole pandan cake in Houston?

Kamalan Bakery at 9889 Bellaire Blvd in Asiatown sells 6-inch and 8-inch pandan cakes, as well as pandan chiffon cupcakes. Availability can be limited on weekends; check kamalanbakerytx.com or call ahead.

What is buko pandan?

Buko pandan is a Filipino dessert made with young coconut (buko), pandan-flavored jelly, cream, and sometimes sago or tapioca pearls. The Baker's Son by Valerio's near the Medical Center serves buko pandan as a seasonal menu item.

Is Houston's Asiatown good for pandan desserts?

Houston's Asiatown on Bellaire Boulevard has an unusually dense concentration of pandan dessert spots — six verified spots within about two miles of each other, including a Vietnamese che shop, a Malaysian bakery, a French-Vietnamese pastry shop, and a dessert cafe with a pandan-named waffle.