Doughnuts are like a comfort food for me: chewy fried dough covered in either sweet glaze, powdered sugar, or some colored concoction with sprinkles. Personally, I have a fondness for chocolate doughnuts with chocolate frosting on top and sprinkles...reminds me of when my father used to take me to the local mom and pop doughnut shop when I was a child. Anyway, whether you love doughnuts for its filling sweetness or hate it as a nutrition-less fried piece of flour, doughnuts are a well-known global treat.

Around the Tokyo area, doughnuts can be found at either certain coffee shops or specialty stores. Starbucks has a few in its bakery line (I recently had the "peanut butter donut"- all I can say it that I love peanut butter) and some other coffee shops have them as well. Certain specialty stores make "steamed" or "baked" doughnuts for health-conscious people while chain stores such as Krispy Kreme and Mister Donut sell the usual fried kind (well, Mister Donut sells fried and baked, though I usually can`t tell the difference when I look at their doughnuts).

Between Krispy Kreme and Mister Donut, Krispy Kreme is pretty much the same in Japan as it is in the U.S. and Mister Donut is lighter in taste. I have never tried Mister Donut in the U.S., which means I cannot really say if the Japanese counterpart is reflective of the original. When I first came to Japan, I did not notice any other chain stores besides these, so I assumed that was it. However, as I was going through Shinjuku station to chain train lines, I passed by a stand labeled "Doughnut Planet." The whiff of air I smelled coming from the stand told my brain to stop by one day when I had the chance; a few days later, I had the opportunity to try their seemingly regular doughnuts.

Apparently, Doughnut Planet is a chain store that hails from New York City. The lady behind the counter told me that all their doughnuts are baked with only the freshest ingredients and that they use organic ingredients when possible. There are also no eggs in their doughnuts, with some even made with soy. After checking out the choices, I settled on one tiramisu cake doughnut and one cranberry frosted yeast doughnut. The cake doughnut was soft and crumbly in comparison to the dry and chewy yeast doughnut.

Doughnut Planet`s product flavors are split into two, with half on the regular lineup and the other half changing seasonally. A year after my first experience with them, I decided to try their doughnuts again since they had new flavors I was interested in. This time, I got two cake doughnuts: an apple milk tea cream and a chocolate "blackout". The apple milk tea cream had a nice balance, with a faint milk tea taste on the inside and apple infused glazed covering the outside. Blackout was my favorite however, consisting of a fudgy texture that was moist and reminiscent of a devil`s food cake.

Would I come back again? Yes, but I would probably just focus on their cake doughnuts. The regular yeast ones are too chewy and dry for my taste, sometimes feeling even a bit stale. The filled doughnuts are simply the yeast doughnuts with filling, so I have not had an inkling to try those yet.

More information on the Doughnut Planet website: http://www.doughnutplant.jp/

More information on the Devil Craft website: http://www.devilcraft.jp/

Eat Well,
T.W.