We Tried 18 Most Hyped Donuts in Tokyo 🍩 | Which One is Best?!

We Tried 18 Most Hyped Donuts in Tokyo 🍩 | Which One is Best?!

Tokyo has some of the most incredible donuts. And today, I’m on a mission to find the best of the best. Today, I’m going to be hitting up four must visit doughnut shops all across the city. There are so many donuts here that are serving up the softest, fluffiest, creamiest, flavorfilled donuts in town. I always feel bad when there’s a face on the donut. I’m sorry. Smile. So, I just want to shout out to some donuts we’ve featured before. Parkside Donuts from our viral foods video. And Parkside Donuts is still probably one of my favorites so far. So, we’ll see if we can find a donut that will top that today. And make sure to stay tuned till the end to see a donut that has really been breaking the internet in Tokyo for a really long time. What? It really kind of confuses your brain. Before we go, don’t forget to subscribe for more Japan adventures like this one. And don’t forget to check out byfood.com to book a restaurant or a tour next time you’re in Tokyo. All right, let’s go eat a lot of donuts today. Come on. My first stop of the day is right here. This is Abe Bakery, a sweet spot located in Shiubo, which is also known as Tokyo’s Korean Town. This area is jam-packed with delicious Korean restaurants. So, it’s very fitting that this is actually a Korean doughnut shop. And it’s located about a 9-minute walk from Shinokubo station or about a 12 to 15 minute walk from Shinjjuku station. But basically this place opened up in May of 2024 and it originated in Jedju Island in Korea. And ever since it came to Tokyo, this being its very first location, it has been a huge hit. Lots of people come here to check out their really wide selection of donuts which are over-the-top filled and they have a lot of really creative flavors apparently. So, I cannot wait to see what they have and give some a try. Let’s go inside. Look at this selection. There are so many donuts here. I don’t know if I can decide. There’s one with churros and kalúa cream. There’s Earl Gray. And look at this beautiful orange one. It’s called halabong. And then look, we have savory doughut. There’s one that’s basil onion cheese. Ooh. and then a cream cheese garlic. What am I going to do? Okay, I think I’m going to have to get a few of these. So, wait and see what my selection is in just a second. All right, so it’s now time to try some donuts. But I should note that this is actually a takeout only store. So, normally you cannot eat inside the store, but we have special filming permission here today. So, we’re very lucky to have a chance to eat them inside. So, the one that kind of stood out to me today was actually the Chedju peanut red bean mochi because it seems like a very interesting combo of flavors and it’s also one that’s actually very popular in Chedju. So, let’s give this a try. M. It’s mochi. M. What’s interesting is the peanut is not the first flavor to stand out to me. It really tastes like a traditional Japanese mochi dauku. The doughnut itself is a blend between a chewy mochi bun and then a Japanese traditional dessert. And the chocolate is like almost like a muffin. It’s worth a try. Okay, the next one I want to try is a cookie crunch. I’m going to eat it over the box because I’ve already spilled a bunch of cookie crumbs into the box. So, let’s give it a try. Oh, this Oh, this is a messy one. [Music] M. That’s delicious. M. The filling is strawberry jelly. It’s almost like a custard and strawberry filling. Really fluffy doughnut. And what’s great about the exterior of the cookie crumbs, they use a wonderful dark chocolate cookie that tastes almost like a really dark Oreo. So, you get a a nice contrast between the sweetness on the filling and then a little bit of bitterness of the cookie on the outside. It’s a really good doughnut. I can see why it’s a staff favorite. So, I don’t have time to try all of them today. And I don’t know if I have the stomach space to be honest cuz we’re going to hit up four doughnut chops. So I’m going to try one last one for you guys on camera and that’s going to be the savory sweet one. It’s the onion garlic cheese. I’m very curious about this. [Music] That is so new. What’s really surprising about this is it’s actually quite sweet. The first hit you get is a garlic butter. Like you’re eating garlic bread. It’s really tasty. And then it’s like sweet cream cheese. It’s really bizarre, but it weirdly kind of works. I don’t mind it. I think you have to be a little bit open-minded to the savory and sweet combo, but I think it’s quite nice. It’s very creative. If you’re an adventurous eater, definitely give this a try. All right. Well, that’s all I’m going to try here for today. But as you can see, there are a ton of delicious flavors you can get here. And I couldn’t even decide. There were more that I wanted to try, but this is all I’m going home with today. So, it’s time for us to go check out our next doughnut shop. Feed even more donuts today. We still got more to come. See you guys over there. [Music] All right, my next stop is right here inside the Little Bakery Tokyo. There are some donuts called the Goodtown Donuts. And this shop is located in the back streets of Harajuku, kind of on the Omoteando side. This shop first opened in 2021 and it’s quite famous for the fact that Justin Bieber actually visited this little bakery. Fun fact is that they actually started out as two separate shops. There used to be a Goodtown Donuts cafe located beside the little bakery Tokyo and they both used to be in a slightly different corner of the back streets of Harajuku. And I think during the pandemic I recall that um they sort of merged together. There was a lot that happened during the pandemic, but I’m glad that Goodtown Donuts is still going strong inside of the bakery. And you can see the little sign in the back there. So, let’s go inside and give it a try. They have really fluffy, bouncy donuts, and they also have really tasty coffee. So, let’s go get a coffee and a donut. Come on. I have my donuts. Little bakery. Tokyo donuts. As you can see inside, it really is basically a bakery. And you can also sit down indoors, but they have a little corner for the Goodtown donuts. So, I picked out three that I thought would be really tasty to try on camera and an iced latte. I’m It’s very hot and I’m very thirsty. So, let’s start by taking a sip of this one. Oh, that’s so that’s so cold and refreshing. Also very good. It’s a latte where you can really properly taste the coffee and the beans. Lovely. All right, let’s start with the first one. Goodtown Donuts. It says on the box that it says it was established in 2015. So that was a solid 10 years ago. But that means that Goodtown Donuts when they had their own cafe, they might be kind of the OG doughnut shop in Tokyo before the doughnut trend hit Tokyo. So let’s taste and see if the OG flavor is as good as I remember it to be. Oh, it’s it’s very melty. I don’t know. I’m going to take this out of the container. M m. This is very sweet and tangy and refreshing. Very strong like sour raspberry flavor. It’s almost like a pink lemonade or something. But what really stands out to me is the quality of the doughnut. It’s got the bouncy doughnut texture that you want. It’s got integrity to the dough. I hope that makes sense. I love the dough. This is so good. And but I will say that the glaze on top, I think it’s still a tad sweet for the Japanese palette. So yeah, this is maybe a little bit of an American level of sweetness. Slightly less than American level, more than Japanese. That’s where we’re sitting. The next one we’re going to try is this one. It’s the maple bacon glazed doughnut. I think this is a very American Canadian flavor. And they’ve had this flavor here for a long time. Oh, that’s pretty good. That does work. The saltiness and crispiness of the bacon is a really nice contrast to the fluffy sweetness of the donut. I don’t know if maple bacon is the flavor that I would normally go for, but it does work. If you imagine it as sort of like a salted caramel with like a sweet donut, it’s pretty good. I don’t know if this is my favorite flavor, but it does work as a combo. All right, it’s time to try the third selection. The third and last selection for today, it is the smile mango doughnut. This is also kind of a classic Goodtown donut. I always feel bad when there’s a face on the donut. I’m sorry. Smile. Here we go. Oh, that is really good. That is very mangoey. M. I actually mistakenly thought this might be a filled doughnut. It’s not filled. It’s just mango glazed. Doesn’t feel overly sweet either, actually. It’s very sour, tangy, but still has that wonderful mango flavor. And you get that bounce of the dough that’s kind of like a tempropedic mattress. That’s what you want in a good donut. Actually, this might be my favorite doughnut that we tried here. This is good. Oh, this is melting on me. Okay, Nami and D got to go. I have more donuts to eat today and this is melting. So, I’ll see you guys in the next spot. All right, my second last doughnut shop of the day is right here. It’s called Poti Bakery Tokyo. It’s located in San Jaya, just a 2-minute walk from the station. So, it’s very conveniently located. And it’s a cute little boutique doughnut shop that actually opened very recently in October of 2024. And what’s special about it is that all of the doughnuts are crafted by a pastry chef. And apparently, the textures and flavors are so refined that it’s a little bit more like eating a cake than your typical sweet treat or donut. And fun fact, the name Poteri comes from the Japanese word potteri, which actually means plump or chubby or round in reference to their adorably round little donuts. So, let’s go eat some plump cute little donuts. Let’s go. Oh, cute. It looks like a stylish little bakery in here. So, these are our donuts for the day. This one looks like a sandwich. It’s a pushuto donut sandwich. Oh, and I might need to try this one, too. This is also apparently one of the most famous ones, the Poti, named after the doughnut shop. So, I think we’re going to have to try that one. All right, so we have our little tiny plump donuts. I have a little black iced tea on the side. And what’s really interesting is they actually give you gloves. They give you gloves to eat your donuts. This is smart. I don’t know about you guys, but I normally go from like savory to sweet. Just seems natural. Let’s start with the prochto donut. See how it tastes. M. Oh, that’s really good. That’s a sandwich. It’s got lovely crisp lettuce. It’s got really wonderful salty procido inside which tastes salty even a little bit cheesy. The doughut dough is kind of like a fluffy bio. A little bit crispy on the outsides because it’s been lightly fried. It’s very slightly sweet within the dough but no glaze which I’m happy about. All right, let’s try the Poteri doughut named after the shop itself. It is basically a creme bruleeesque doughut. And the custard filling uses milk from Hokkaido. So yeah, apparently this is a good one. Let’s see how it tastes. Oh, that’s really nice. The custard cream filling. It’s light, fluffy, aromatic from the vanilla beans. You can even see the little dots of vanilla bean inside. The filling is kind of like eating a cream puff. The top is nice and crisp like a creme brulee. I feel like should be a little bit caramelized. And the dough is just fluffy and bouncy. Wonderful texture. This is a very nice doughut. All right, time to try the last doughnut. It’s the matcha donut. So far, I’m very impressed with the quality of donuts here. So, let’s see how this one tastes. Here you go. Oh my gosh. Wow. The quality just tastes so high. The texture is like firm but has a bit of bounce and fluffiness to it, but it’s not overly soft. And the filling as well as the glaze. It’s not very sweet at all. It’s you still get that real matcha flavor, a little bit of that subtle bitterness, but the balance is just perfect. It’s wonderful. You can really taste that a skilled paticier designed these donuts. That’s the impression that I get for this. Very high quality. Yeah, I think these are really worth a try. Come visit Sanenjay and try these donuts. These are good. Anyway, we have one last doughnut shop to check out today, which are the most viral donuts in Tokyo, in Japan, maybe even the world. I don’t know. Let’s go check it out afterwards. [Music] All right, I’ve saved the most viral for last today. This is I’m Donut, and it’s a doughnut shop that has taken the internet by storm for many years since it first opened in 2022. And people would line up for hours just to have a bite of these viral donuts. They have a wide range of doughnuts from savory to sweet. And the most famous ones by far are called the Nama Donut, which are really fluffy donuts filled with cream. They even have a location in New York now, so it’s that big a buzz. Let’s go inside and give it a try. All right, I have my donuts. I should mention that the Shibuya I’m donut shop is probably the only location where you can actually go inside and pick out the donuts yourself, which is a really fun experience. Kind of like a bakery in Japan. The other I’m Donut locations, you just select them off a menu and then they hand you your donuts. So, it’s a little bit more of a personal experience of this one. Ooh, they look really pretty all lined up in the box. So, let’s start with this one. It looks like a glazed French crawler donut. Looks good. [Music] M. That is fluffy. Oh, you can really see that it’s uses an egg based brios. You can kind of get a little bit of that sweet custardy egg flavor. The brios, honestly, I love any doughnut that is made with the brios. That fluffy bounciness is out of this world. I love the glaze. It’s chewy. It’s bouncy. It’s really good. It’s simple but delicious. Yeah, this is a good choice. All right, time to try the egg donut. It’s round like an egg. At first glance, it looks like a regular custard donut. Like, it’s covered in powdered sugar. Looks like tasty custard, but when you look more closely, it definitely looks like egg. And I feel like I see little tiny mustard seeds. Okay, I’m kind of nervous for this one. Let’s see how it tastes. Here we go. [Music] What? It really kind of confuses your brain. The outside is very sugary and then when you bite into it, it tastes like an omelette, like a Japanese tamagoyaki sandwich. A little bit sweet, a little bit savory, but the sugar on the outside is really confusing. Now I understand what the question mark is all about. They just trying to confuse your brain. I would say all in all, a creative, adventurous take on a donut. You’d have to be a little bold to try it, but I like it. All right, let’s try this crumble. Look at that crunchy topping and then custard filling on the inside. Actually, I lied. It’s not crunchy on the top. It’s just crunchy on the edges. Okay. M. It really tastes like creme brulee. The first flavor you get is actually the bitterness of the burnt sugar on the top. A little bit caramelly almost and eggy and very very soft like a brios. Very fluffy but also a little bit on the heavier side too. It’s quite dense. Yeah, it’s nice. If you like creme brulee, that’s a pretty good doughnut. All right, let’s try the raspberry nama donut. Nama means raw. Um because it’s a fresh doughnut. They have like fresh cream filling inside. So, it’s normally kept refrigerated. And it’s got a nice raspberry on top. M. Okay. That is so good. What? That’s immediately the best doughnut actually in this box. This is so good. The filling is so good. It’s not overly sweet. It’s actually not that sweet at all. It’s a little bit more on the tangy, even cheesy side. And the dough is pillowy AF. That’s what I want to say. It’s like it’s like biting into a cloud. That’s how fluffy it is. And the dough is made with like a Japanese kabotaa and that’s what gives it this yellow color. My goodness, the powdery goodness, the creaminess. 10 out of 10. I think this is a really good doughnut. Well, that wraps up our mission of finding the best donuts in Tokyo today. I’ve eaten donuts all across the city and I think we’ve purchased 18 types of donuts in total. Luckily, we were able to split them amongst the three of us in the team today. But after trying a lot of these popular viral donuts, I think I found my favorite doughnut of the day. The winner of the day definitely is Poti Donuts. Yay. This was by far the highest quality doughnut that I’ve eaten today. The flavors were on point. The texture was incredible. Just everything was perfectly well balanced. But the question is, did Poti Donuts beat my current all-time favorite of Parkside donuts also in Sangaya? H, this is hard to answer because they were both really different. So, I would say they’re both kind of equally up there. So, I’m going to say those two are my faves and they’re both in Sanenjaya. So, moral of the story, if you want some good donuts, come to Sanenjaya Station and you will not be disappointed, I think. Let me know in the comments down below if you’ve tried any of these donuts that I’ve featured here today. Or if you have another favorite doughnut shop, please feel free to let me know. And if you like this video, please give us a thumbs up. And don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t yet. We’ll see you guys very soon in another video. Bye. If you enjoyed this video, click the photos on the left for more. And click the one on the right to learn more about buy food and book your own Japan adventures.

There is *always* room for dessert… Especially when it’s the most hyped donut in town! In this video, Shizuka is on the quest to try some of the hottest donuts in Tokyo – from fluffy and chewy creations, to picture-perfect sweets that are taking over social media. Find out which ones are worth the buzz to try on your next trip to Japan! 🍩

Curious about where else to find the best donuts in Tokyo? Check out this blog on byFood: http://bit.ly/46k4lVT

*Locations*
Abebe Bakery
〒169-0072 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Okubo, 1 Chome−17−7

The Little BAKERY Tokyo
〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, Jingumae, 6 Chome-13-6

POTERI BAKERY
〒154-0024 Tokyo, Setagaya City, Sangenjaya, 1 Chome−37−4

I’m donut ?
〒150-0002 Tokyo, Shibuya, 2 Chome-9-1

TIMELINE
00:00 – Intro
01:03 – Abebe Bakery
05:22 – The Little BAKERY Tokyo
09:41 – POTERI BAKERY
13:41 – I’m donut ?
17:58 – And the winner is…

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