I love sweets and I do have a weakness for doughnut, as most of people I know. I hate it when people post a beautiful photos of super yummy looking doughnuts, and then I see that the store is somewhere really far away… When I first heard about Doughnut Plant few years ago, I was so happy to find out that they are in NYC! But then again, since it was a place where I could easily get to, I didn’t really make the effort to visit them…until now.

After waiting for so long, it was simply time. The inside was as joyful as my heart and my tummy, expecting some sweet goodness. The great thing about this place, more so than their doughnuts, is the history behind the making of Doughnut Plant. It all started with the owner/proprietor’s grandfather, who worked at a bakery, then invented many recipes throughout his life after opening his own bakery shop. Doughnut Plant continue to carry out those dreams and recipes, when the grandson opened the first Doughnut Plant in NYC.  Of course, many of the doughnuts have evolved with many more inventions and ideas, but where it all began – but I still love the humble, loving, and creative family beginnings.

At this location, they have the ordering counter to the right, and seating area to the left. The right side was more industrial look, tough and hard, with metals and monochromatic scheme. The seating area was a complete opposite, with lots of colors, textures, and soft edges.

 

The wall above the seats were covered with fluffy and colorful doughnut pillows, and yes, I so wanted to take one (or two or three) home with me if I could! They are all very cute! The bench beneath the wall of pillow is also decorated with colorful doughnuts. They made me happy and smile just by looking at them!

Since it was my first time at the Doughnut Plant, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to order. Thankfully, they had all the doughnut they were offering right at the ordering counter on a display! I really appreciate any place who do this, it makes it so much easier to order, when you know what they are and what they look like. And I didn’t have to worry about any of them running out, as I glanced at the crazy amount of doughnuts waiting to be chosen.

They all looked so great, I wanted to try them all! But I don’t want to buy a whole new sets of clothing in bigger size… So, we settled for five. Wait, make that six. Yes I know it is a lot… but when you are sharing with someone else, it is really three, and if you don’t eat them all on a same day, it is not that bad…right? We bought Crème Brûlée doughnut ($3.80) to eat at the shop, since it the kind that’s best when eaten fresh. I also heard that it is their most popular doughnut, and guess what else? The world’s first Crème Brûlée doughnut was invented by Doughnut Plant!!!

We got this beautifully glazed, shiny, round, cream filled jewel in our hand. It had some weight to it, which was a positive sign for a good amount of cream in the inside. As I bit into it, the sugar coating cracked ever-so-lightly, and the sweet, velvety, creamy filling seeped out. It started Crème Brûlée doughnut party in my mouth. I could see vanilla beans in the filling, and it had very rich, elegant flavor. $3.80 might be a steep price for the size, but I say with the high quality, it was worth every penny.

We also bought one of their special drink of the day, Blackberry Lemonade ($4.00). It was a hot, humid day, and this really helped quench our thirst! Very good blackberry flavor, sweet but yet refreshing.

For the rest of doughnuts to take home with, we chose Wild Blueberry Cake ($3.65), Peanut Butter & Blackberry Jam ($4.00), Peanut Butter & Banana Cream ($4.00), White Out Cake ($3.85), and Pokéseed Doughseed ($2.95). So, if you are not familiar with their doughnuts, they have four kinds of doughnuts: Yeast (regular doughnuts), Filled Square (jelly filled, square-shaped doughnuts), Doughseed (jelly or cream filled mini doughnuts), and Cake (cake doughnuts). Doughseed and Cake doughnuts are smaller, while Square and Yeast doughnuts are much bigger. You can see the size comparison in this photo, my precious babies nested carefully in a box.

I do not play Pokémon Go, but I figured, why not get something fun looking, and limited time edition. It is a “Pecha Berry” flavor, which is a fruit that exist only in the game… But, with their creativity, they came up with the flavor! It has mix of strawberry and peach cream in the inside, with chocolate icing and raspberry glaze. Doesn’t that sound just wonderful? And it tasted as delightful as it sounds, maybe better. It had good amount of fruity cream, and was really tasty! I loved this one from the first bite to the last.

Wild Blueberry Cake was also really nice, it was soft, airy, moist, and flavorful. The glaze was packed with blueberry taste, coating a buttery cake dough. Great texture and very satisfying!

Peanut Butter & Blackberry Jam was large, and I really loved how it had chunks of nuts mixed in with the glaze. The jam was very good also, since they make the jams in-house as well. They had the filling all the way around, and the flavor of the peanut butter and blackberry jam went perfectly together. A fun way to have a PB & J!

White Out is a cake doughnut coated with white chocolate glaze, and white chocolate shavings. I LOVE white chocolate. I know some people say white chocolate really is not chocolate, but I don’t care… They just taste so great. And this one, a fluffy cake doughnut covered with white chocolate, it can’t be any better than that! It was delicious! I wish if they were 10 times larger…

The last but not least, Peanut Butter & Banana Cream. It had a little white icing on the corner to distinguish it from the PB & J doughnut, which was helpful. The filling was about the same color as the dough, so you can’t really see it, but it was very much present! It was really tasty, bursting with banana cream flavor, which of course went great with peanut butter flavor. I loved them all, but I think this was one of my favorite of the favorites.

The staffs there at the Doughnut Plants were all friendly and efficient. They helped out when we were trying to decide which ones to order, and processed our order quickly, with a smile. So, where does the “plant” in the Doughnut Plant comes from? It is named in the memory of the owner’s mother. “Every day when she would see my father off to work, she would say ‘Have a good day at the Plant’ ”… how sweet is this? I am sure she is more than proud of the success Doughnut Plant has become! I can’t wait to go back for more doughnuts!!!

Doughnut Plant – 220 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011