The devil’s in the details.

I’ll admit it. I’ve been overly obsessed with doughnuts ever since I tried my first Lucky’s doughnut in Vancouver a couple of years ago. I’m going to chalk it up to their fillings. They go beyond the glaze and toppings. To me, those are the epitome of the sweet treat.

Within the past year, I’ve sought the dessert out across the globe – checking out the Donut Mill in Red Deer, PinkBox in Las Vegas, several independent shops in Chicago and, most recently, Good Town in Tokyo – yet none of them quite compare. Japan’s offering is the one that came closest to satisfying my cravings. Nonetheless, there wasn’t anywhere local to fill that void.

Fast forward a few months from my autumn trip to Asia and word started getting out that there was a new sheriff in town. Narcity published a quick article about a shop that was opening in Edmonton that was supposedly killing it on social media. Perfectly filtered picture posts had spread of these gorgeous, bright pink boxes filled with doughnuts along with the bakery’s adorable kawaii inspired logo depicting a welcoming doughnut shaped character.

The shop’s logo is kawaii (Japanese for “cute”) inspired.

The store’s name is Doughnut Party and it’s located at 109 Avenue and 119 Street in an up-and-coming refurbished building that houses new brunch time favourite Café Linnea. Their hours are not ideal for those who do not work or live nearby. Open five days during the week from Tuesday to Saturday, my only option was to visit on a Saturday morning.

It’s really important to go early to ensure they don’t run out of product before arrival. Despite listing their closing time as 1:30pm on weekdays and 2:00pm on Saturday, once they’re sold out for the day (at what point do they decide it’s best to shut it down and stop producing treats?), they will close without warning. I haven’t seen any notices (or many responses to questions for that matter) on their Instagram or Facebook pages to let customers know. In fact, yesterday was the business’s most recent public share on Facebook since February 25, which happens to be the day I went to get my batch. Both messages were simply to inform followers that they had opened.

Part of the line that snaked through the shop.

My boyfriend and I arrived to Doughnut Party just after ten o’clock on the morning we visited. To avoid the chilly weather, patrons had created a line that snaked all the way through the interior of the shop. Everyone was incredibly patient and happy to direct those who had just walked in towards the proper spot in the queue. As I waited, I snapped photos of the crowd and I watched as the doughnuts at the counter dwindled down and trays were removed and replaced. I noticed that the flavours seemed to rotate and ones that I hoped would be brought back out were, sadly, missing in action.

From my observations, on a busy day, the shop could do with an extra staff member or two to help box orders a little faster and to manage the payments. It may also be beneficial to add a second till at some point, and they should ensure that there’s sufficient small change available. Because they only take cash or debit, I paid for my order with a $20 bill. All they had was quarters for change. It’s not a huge deal, but for someone like me who prefers to keep my purse light, I wasn’t expecting that. Plus, it was still rather early in the day, meaning it’s likely a lot more people would be paying with cash later on.

Their menu is posted on the wall. Cash & debit only. Friendly staff!

Putting those minor issues aside, after approximately thirty minutes, I made it to the front of the line. Basically, it’s luck of the draw as to what will be available when it’s time to order. In my case, all of the s’more and banana bread doughnuts were gone when I finally had my chance to pick. On the plus side, there were six different choices, so I decided to try one of each. The half dozen cost me $16, working out to about $2.70 per serving. Single doughnuts are $3.

We took the box home and split them throughout the day. The base of the majority of their doughnuts is a yeast ring with the exception of the fritter, which I’m assuming is the same dough recipe, merely a different shape. Overall, the structure and feel of their dessert is fantastic. According to a note the owners left on Instagram, the master recipe is vegan (although, the toppings are not guaranteed to be free from animal products). Once fried, the dough puffs up to become light, fluffy, airy and not at all greasy. Each one was fresh and soft.

A half dozen of their doughnuts.

In terms of the flavours, I walked away with: matcha sugar, cherry almond, pineapple fritter, strawberry rose, birthday cake and fruit punch sugar.

Matcha is literally one of my favourite flavours. I love it in tea, latte, chocolate, cake, custard and ice cream format just to name a few ways in which it can be enjoyed. Anything matcha, I will eat it. The matcha sugar doughnut was my initial tasting and, I’m sorry to say, it’s definitely lacking. There’s none of that distinct vegetal taste from the matcha tea or that lingering natural sweetness. The texture of the granulated sugar is a nice addition to an otherwise plain, slightly green-coloured doughnut. I’d call this one a fail.

The cherry almond, on the other hand, packed quite a fruity punch with the almond slivers that topped the glaze remaining crunchy. The glaze was thick yet translucent and a beautiful pink. It was also smooth and melt-in-your-mouth good.

We tested the pineapple fritter later in the afternoon. The dough was a bit crispier, which gave it a nice texture. This one may have had a tad too much glaze for my liking though. I’ll also argue that pieces without any pineapple in it were slightly disappointing after having gotten pineapple in the earliest bite or two. The pineapple was somehow juicy without making the dough around it soggy, so more fruit please!

A tray of the strawberry rose doughnuts.

I’m on the fence about the strawberry rose. The floral taste was strong while the strawberry was quite subtle. The fruitiness needed to come through more in order to create a better balance. Granted, maybe those who prefer something less sugary sweet would go for this.

Before the evening was over, we polished off the remaining doughnuts. By the end of the night, the dough seemed to have absorbed the taste of the paper box, which is kind of disconcerting. Next time, I think I’ll transfer the doughnuts into a different container when I get home. The doughnuts themselves were holding up well; they continued to be nice and pillowy.

The texture of the birthday cake was great. The rainbow sprinkles kept firm and the crumbled pieces of sugar cookie on top of the glaze were delicious.

Surprisingly, my favourite out of the day’s selection turned out to be the fruit punch sugar doughnut. It was covered in granulated sugar, same as the matcha, but with a pink tinge to it. The flavour popped and had a tartness that reminded me of the best type of sour candy.

Let’s enjoy!

All-in-all, I’m not sure that Doughnut Party is entirely worth the hype, especially with the relatively long waits that I’ve both experienced and heard about. Maybe when things die down a bit, it’ll be easier to get in and out, and it’ll seem okay to drive out of the way to pick these pastries up.

I will give my kudos to the owners though. Running two businesses (Moonshine Doughnuts is their original baby; watch out for another review to come soon) is a lot of work and, to see such early success and so much community support from the beginning, is amazing. While these aren’t my Lucky’s Doughnuts, they are likely some of the best on offer in Edmonton right now and, for that reason, I’m recommending them.