While we were in Japan this past winter, we heard buzz around this donut place with a funny name, “I’m donut ?” yes, I am curious too. They have several locations, and seems like all of those locations get a long line of eager customers. And, they do sell out if you go too late. We got to go to one of their locations in Shibuya, a peculiar looking storefront with just a tiny name on the side. I almost missed it if it wasn’t for the long line queued up on the other side, so not to be in a way of other pedestrians.

The inside is not so big, so only a handful of people plus their staff can be inside comfortably. There was no one really directing the flow of the customers, but hey, this is the politest country in the world. They were super civil about it, and very orderly.

Their donuts looked sooooo good, all different kinds and flavors. I wanted to get them all if I could… But alas, there were only two of us, so we had to scale it down from a couple dozens to a handful…

At the end, we got six different donuts, a bit more than a handful. The staff placed four in a box, and two in a bag. Look at the box and the bag, how funny is that? We couldn’t wait to dig in, but there is not seating at I’m donut ?, so we had to go find a place to sit down and eat them.

I am a big fan of Japanese donut chain shop called Mr. Donuts, so I was curious to see how this fancy donuts are like from I’m donut ?

Here we go! This one is Pistachio Cream (ピスタチオクリーム) (497 yen / ~$3.48 January 2024). It was filled nicely with pistachio cream! I liked how it was topped with more cream and some real pistachio. It was really good, fluffy and airy, sweet without being too sweet, and velvety cream with great pistachio flavor. I don’t know how this delicate fluffy cloud of a donut could hold so much cream… I loved every bite, it was so tasty!

We also got something that is less donut-like, but more like a bread with filling in the middle. They have a version called Anko Condensed Milk, but we went with Anko Pistachio (あんこピスタチオ) (356 yen / $2.50 January 2024) since my husband loves pistachio. It does look like bread, but it is actually their donut, cut sideway. Anko Pistachio is made with sesame in the dough, and it was tougher than donuts, more like bread. It has sweet bean, Anko, with Pistachio and condensed milk butter. The condensed milk butter was not as sweet, and the flavor of pistachio was not so strong. It was a-ok in my book.

Next was Torched Vanilla Choco (焼きバニラチョコ) (378 yen / $2.65 January 2024). This is a white chocolate covered donut, with vanilla bean in the chocolate. The chocolate is torched just enough for extra flavor. It was nice and chocolate-y, I could taste the vanilla bean too which was nice.

Then, another white chocolate covered one, but Matcha, and not torched. Matcha White Choco (抹茶ホワイトチョコ) (324 yen / $2.27 January 2024). It had beautiful green color in the inside, a nice surprise when I cut it in half. The combination of matcha and white chocolate is one of my favorite flavors. Fluffy and plump, doughy and mochi-y. It was soooo good!

Then, one with nuts. Zaku Zaku Nuts (ザクザクナッツ) (410 yen / ~$2.87 January 2024). It is coated with caramel chocolate and caramelized almond. The Japanese word “zaku zaku” comes from the sounds it makes when you bite into something very crunchy. And the almond sure was crunchy, but I didn’t really get caramel from the chocolate. The flavor of white chocolate was too dominant, I think. I still enjoyed it though, a lot.

Last but not least, their original donut, I’m donut ? ((238 yen / ~$1.67 January 2024). From what I read, this donut is so good and melt in your mouth, that it is questioning itself, if it is really a donut. Kind of funny backstory. I’m donut ? gained popularity with their fluffy and moist donuts, that contains Japanese Kabocha pumpkin in a dough. What! With that special ingredient, it make the dough nice and plump, and mochi-y texture. This one does not have any filling, just a good old donut covered in powdered sugar. It sure was a good donut, but not melt-in-your-mouth in my opinion. I heard most of the donuts are baked in the morning, so the earlier you get, the fresher and better it is. Since it was in the afternoon, I assume some of the magic has disappeared with time. I would like to try this again in the morning time, freshly made. It was a good donut, but I bet it would be amazing when fresh.

So, after tasting handful of the donuts, I can see why people line up to get these donuts. They are soft, fluffy, plump, and oh-so-good! Again, I think they would be better fresh, as most any food and desserts. They have so many flavors, and at some locations, they even have savory items.

If you are so eager to try these donuts, but can’t fly to Japan that easily, then I have a good news for you (if you are in the USA). They are going to open I’, donut ? in NYC very soon! Yay! I can’t wait! I will definitely report back once it is opened, and I get a chance to visit it.

I’m donut ? SHIBUYA – 2 Chome-9-1 Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

I’m donut ? 渋谷店 – 東京都渋谷区渋谷2-9-1