A growing list of Tokyo donut shops,
from neighborhood finds to design-driven cafés
Where are the best donuts in Tokyo?
How are they the same or different from donut shops back home?
When I lived in Canada, my choices were Robin’s Donuts and Tim Horton’s. There weren’t a lot of other options but there was a Timmy’s almost everywhere. Occasionally, I’d run into a specialty shop in a city or, even better, a small town. The small town shops were my favourites. Somehow, they had more cachet than something in a city.
Cleo Croft’s Tokyo Donut files is a growing list of donut shops, from neighborhood finds to design-driven cafés.
Tokyo is an interesting blend where big corporate food companies compete with niche places full of atmosphere. You get anything from a mall feel to a curated experience.
The food scene in Tokyo is always changing. Trends wax and wane. Shops come and go. From traditional flavors to local influences, Tokyo’s donut scene offers a range of options. When I first thought of this series a few years ago, donut shops meant Mister Donut but mostly donuts were an extra in the baked goods section. In the last couple of years, there has been a donut boom. My own neighborhood, Jiyugaoka, went from having one donut shop to having five in the last two years.
In this blog post series, I cover a variety of donut shops (and possibly other baked treats) on my quest to find the best donuts in Tokyo. Occasionally, I write about donut shops that aren’t around anymore if I think there was something interesting about them.
My donut shop research also inspires my fictional town of Unity Falls, Alberta where the local donut shop is not only the best treat in town, but the unofficial community centre.
Below you’ll find a list of Tokyo donut shop articles as I publish them. Read in order or pick and choose by location.
If you travel to any of these locations, please tag me or shoot me an email to let me know what you thought. Know a place you want me to check out and write about? Drop me a line.
I write sweet small-town contemporary romance and explore Tokyo (with a side of stationery and green tea). Interested? You can sign up for my newsletter.
Cleo, with donuts and sparkles
