Bakery:
Mister Donut
Address:
河原町通今出川下る梶井町447−14 Kajiichō, Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto
Website:
http://www.misterdonut.jp/
Style:
Doughnuts
Price:
$
After having accidentally stumbled upon Mister Donut commercials online many, many months ago, Mister Donut became my most hotly anticipated Cake Tour in Japan. I couldn't help but love their mascot, Pon de Lion with his doughnut ring mane. The Mister Donut song is my ringtone, literally!! And taking a look at the pictures, the doughnuts looked so good: the fresh glaze on the Pon de Ringu, the strawberry doughnuts, the green tea ones, the cruellers... With so much excitement and self-made hype, in some ways I was gearing up for disappointment and disappointed I indeed was.
Stepping into Mister Donut, I found it terribly un-cute with dated orange and brown decor that transported me back to Country Style locations over here in Canada. They could have at least stuck a giant Pon de Lion somewhere! :( The selection was pretty good, with a nice variety of doughnuts ranging in style, glaze and price, with old-fashioned being the cheapest and fancier versions of their signature doughnut being around 150 yen.
The best way to judge a doughnut shop is by trying a classic glazed one -- and how could I not the famed Pon de Ringu (108 yen)? Composed of little doughnut balls that are just waiting to be broken apart, I was greeted with a harder outside and a soft inside resembling cotton candy. The taste was off, as was the fluffy texture. My guess is that they mixed flours to create a more chewy doughnut similar to that of a sweet rice flour doughnut; suffice to say, I was not a fan. Actually... I didn't like it. The smell was unappealing -- was it the dough or the glaze? -- and I couldn't get past that very chewy cottony dough with its funny taste. Pon de Ringu was the worst treat I had in Japan!!!! ;__;
To give Mister Donut another chance, I decided to give the French crueller and a classic honey dip a try (both 108 yen each). Of the three, the honey dip (purchased at the Mister Donut in Kobe station) was the best, but like the Pon de Ringu, there was that distinct taste and slight chewiness (less pronounced in the honey dip) I didn't like. The crueller was different, but it was so generic and tasted so commercially mass-produced.
Well, I suppose it's my fault for expecting more from a large nationwide coffee and doughnut chain; I was heartbroken. They're never any good and in some ways it's
almost a disgrace for Mimi's Cake Tour to be covering it, but... I still do like Pon de Lion. :#]
Rating: **
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