
Glenn CGoogle review • 5 months ago
Google
I had heard about this Japanese donut brand a while ago when they first opened, and remembered they had giant lines. Based on this and their great for business but horrible for me (and most New Yorkers) location in Times Square, I planned on waiting a while to go here until the Instagram and TikTok hype died down. This worked out perfectly recently as I was walking home from a dinner at Ci Siamo, and as it was pretty late, there was a handful of people there but no line. The staff, when I walked inside, were friendly, and noted that a few things were sold out. They showed me the menu, and I got out of there quickly after ordering, as it only took a couple of minutes more.
After looking through the board menu, I went with one of their signature donuts, an "I'm donut? matcha." The signature donuts range from $3.95 to $5.95 + tax, with mine being the latter price. The donuts are listed as nama/生, a Japanese term meaning raw or fresh, which you can also find with the excellent 'Royce brand of nama truffles. As with said truffles, it really means that they are soft enough that they melt in your mouth. The donut was pretty similar in texture to a powdered donut, though even softer. Outside of this, and not surprisingly for an Asian dessert, it was very lightly sweet, so if you're used to Krispy Kreme or similar, you might not like how subtle the sweetness is here. The matcha flavor was present with a mild bitterness, though I'm not sure if it was worth it for the extra $2 compared to the plain nama donut.
If I were to go back here, I would potentially splurge on the sake cream or stick with their original. The latter feels more worth it as I definitely prefer the texture here over a standard donut, regardless of it being pretty small and pricey. Good for a one-and-done, otherwise.