Doughnut Plant has been a fixture in New York City and Tokyo.
With four shops in New York and three in Tokyo, Doughnut Plant is one of the more notable American-based doughnut shops that have thrived in Tokyo and has gained a wonderful reputation thanks to their seasonal offerings but also providing doughnuts for different clientele including donuts for vegans.
The company never uses eggs, preservatives or anything artificial and no trans fat.
The company’s origins all start with Herman Israel, who learned how to make pastries while working at a St. Paul, Minnesota bakery. During World War I, Herman was station in Paris, France and worked at the Army’s bakery and after establishing a family in the early ’30s, Herman would operate his first bakery in Burlington, North Carolina along with his wife Lea.
The family would move to Greensboro, North Carolina and opened The College Pastry Shop and created his own doughnuts with his own original recipe and would run the bakery until 1965. Herman passed away the following year.
The family recipe would live on through Herman’s grandson, Mark who would move to New York City and start the Doughnut Plant in 1994.
It was all hardwork as Mark would make doughnuts all night, deliver them in the morning and clients included Dean & Deluca, Balducci’s and numerous coffee shops.
The experience would lead to Mark developing his own techniques not just with doughnuts but also fresh seasonal fruit and fresh nuts.
And with the help of his father and brother, Mark would open the Doughnut Plant New York City in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 2000.
Source: doughnutplant.com
In 2004, Mark would invent the jelly-filled square doughnut and would open his first bakery in Tokyo, Japan with his Japanese partner, Jun Goto and would lead to nine locations in Japan.
And one of his popular creations would be his cake doughnuts which Mark developed for five years and then introducing him to the bakery in 2005. Also, introducing bagels using the recipe created by his grandmother, Lea.
The bakery would eventually create popular dishes such as the Tres Leches (three milks cake doughnut), carrot cake (traditional carrote cake with real carrots, raisins, walnuts and spices), doughseeds (mini-round filled doughnuts) and Blackout (chocolate cake doughnut) filled cake donuts, the bakery would then create their own jelly-filled doughnuts (including their own organic jelly) and the popular creme brulee doughnut.
And since then, Doughnut Plant has created many awesome doughnut creations and bringing any new customers thanks to their seasonal recipes.
But the staple is their yeast dounuts, cake donuts and their filled donuts.
I was recently in Shirogane, Minato and had to visit the Doughnut Plant New York City Shirokanedai store. This is the first store that was opened back in 2004.
The other two Doughnut Plant New York City bakeries are located in Yurakucho and Kichijoji.
Offerings included limited donuts such as the Caramel Almond, Vanilla & Apricot Jam, soymilk vegan doughnut and popular valona chocolate and vanilla beans doughnuts.
As for cake donuts, there were limited filled doughnuts such as soy milk, Sachertorte, blackout, triple verona chocolate and vanilla beans.
What is very interesting is that the Kichijoji location has limited items such as the sugar donut and the everything donut (which has fried garlic and fried onion).
The shop offers ice organic coffee, ice natural Earl Gray and hot versions of those same drinks.
And they also offer delivery services which is a plus!
I just purchased a blackout donut and I was quite hungry and devoured it before I realized, I forgot to take a photo of it. But the blackout was delicious. It’s literally a chocolate gateau cake donut utilizing Valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder.
But if you are in New York or Tokyo and can partake in delicious donuts, definitely give Doughnut Plant a try!
