Bun Appetit Donuts
| Cuisine | Dessert, Café / Bakery |
|---|---|
| Price | $ (under 15) |
| Rating | 7/10 |
| Last Visit | June 17, 2021 |
| Location | SFBA: East Bay (Other) |
General Notes
The best way I can describe Bun Appetit is "Instagram friendly". The donuts are beautiful and the interior decor is modern and sleek. The donuts are certainly on the pricier side, but they're well worth it. You can taste how fresh the donuts are and you'll experience some truly unique flavors. The donuts are chewier and not as tender compared to a Krispy Kreme donut, which is ideal for filled donuts (giving it a bit more of a textural contrast to the filling) but not as great for other donuts (a bit dry if the donut is relatively thick). The flavors are inventive and well-balanced -- my favorites have been the ube cream, tiramisu, lemon elderflower meringue, and irish cream.
Positives
> I love that many of their ring donuts also have filling. It helps evenly distribute the filling over the donut (I find that there's too much filling in the center of filled donuts) and provides a great textural contrast between the donut, filling, and toppings.
Negatives
> Note that they're only open Thursdays through Sundays!
Dishes Tasted
- ★★★☆ Cookies and Cream -- 24 hour raised brioche, sugar coated and filled with OREO cookies & cream. Great flavor, well-balanced.
- ★★★★ Ube Cream -- 24 hr raised brioche, sugar coated and filled with ube cream. Ube has quickly become one of my favorite flavors (especially in conjunction with creamy things like cheesecake), and this donut was simply delightful.
- ★★★★ Irish Cream -- 24 hour raised brioche, sugar coated and filled with mascarpone anglaise infused with Irish cream liqueur. Delicious. Well-balanced, just the right amount of sweetness, and the liqueuer is strong but not overpowering.
- ★★★☆ Black Sesame -- 24 hour raised brioche, black sesame glazed and topped with black sesame sprinkles. Great flavor, just would like a bit of counterbalance to the dryness of the donut.
- ★★★☆ Passion Fruit -- 24 hour raised brioche, passion fruit glaze made with Les vergers Boiron puree, topped with Valrhona cocoa nibs. Great flavor combination. The cacao nibs are subtle but add a nice balance to the donut.
- ★★☆☆ Churro Dulce de Leche -- 24 hour raised brioche, cinnamon and sugar coated with dulce de leche drizzle. The dulce de leche is way too thick. Without a creamy counterpart (e.g. topping, filling) the donut feels a bit dry.
- ★★★★ Tiramisu -- 24 hr raised brioche, filled with mascarpone cream, vanilla bean glazed, dusted with Verve espresso powder and Valrhona cocoa powder. Simple, well-balanced, and delicious.
- ★☆☆☆ Graham S'mores -- 24 hour raised brioche, filled with graham cracker cream, Guittard chocolate glazed, topped with torched marshmallow and graham cracker streusel. Good idea in theory but doesn't work that great in practice. The flavors are a bit unbalanced and the donut is dry. I'd be interested in seeing this filled with marshmallow cream instead of having the marshmallow on top.
- ★★★☆ Lemon Elderflower Meringue -- 24 hr raised brioche, filled with tangy sweet lemon curd, dipped in elderflower glaze, topped with torched honey meringue and lemon zest. Simple and delicious. I would have liked the floral notes to be a bit less subtle.
- ★★☆☆ Injeolmi -- Inspired by Korean sweet rice cake. 24 hour raised brioche, filled with roasted soy bean cream and mochi pieces, vanilla bean glazed, coated with soy bean powder and topped with candied almonds. Subtle, toasty and nutty. A really interesting flavor and prepared with precision, but the flavor combination is not my favorite.
