We❤️Donut × Takagi Coffee Umeda Station (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

We were circling around Umeda Station (梅田車站) pondering about our next move when I suddenly spotted We❤️Donut (WeLoveDonut) x Takagi Coffee. While I initially just wanted to take a few photos of their nama donut tower, a few of us decided to sit down to rest our feet.

Conveniently located underground just three minutes from the gate of Umeda station, WeLoveDonut is a nama donut specialty shop that doubles as a coffee shop, but make no mistake about it, their soft, airy nama donuts are the real star.

Little nugget wasted no time grabbing an Oreo chocolate donut.

They have all kinds of flavors here and they kept replenishing the trays. I wish they had a branch in Hong Kong. 

While most of the group went with a sweet donut as an afternoon tea snack, I decided to go a different route. In fact, they offer quite a few savory options including ham and potato salad, egg salad, salmon and broccoli, bacon and Camembert, and spicy curry.

Homemade egg salad donut (350 yen) — The dough was a little thicker than normal, presumably to help hold the egg salad together.

I have to admit, this tasted a little weird with the slightly sweet dough on the outside and savory egg salad inside. 

Salmon and broccoli (520 yen) — If I was not having the egg salad donut, this was the one that I would be getting.

Creme brulee (380 yen) — This was looking good too.

Maybe I’m just a guy with an old man’s palate, but to me, doughnuts are supposed to be sweet.

Food Rating: 6.2/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: Whity Umeda Underground Shopping Mall, 8-5-6 Kakudacho, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0017, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Umeda 

Tel: +81 (0)6 4792-7198

Website: https://welovedonut.com/

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 10:00pm daily

Krispy Kreme North Shinsaibashi (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

I’m pretty excited to finally stay at a different hotel than Hotel Leben in Osaka this time around. The Gate Hotel Osaka by Hulic has just recently opened in the heart of Shinsaibashi, and I’m curious what it has in store for us during our stay.

One thing I can say right off the bat is that the hotel is in a great location. It's just a short walk from Shinsaibashi’s shopping streets and our favorite Krispy Kreme location is probably less than a minute away.

While little nugget was off with his grandparents for his late lunch, I decided to check out the new creations Krispy Kreme has prepared for the summer, including this Penguin doughnut. 🐧🐧

I ended up getting one doughnut for each team members.

For myself, I got this melon-flavored doughnut. I don't think anyone would mistake it for anything other than a cantaloupe.

Inside, there was this fruity melon cream. It was front and center. So good!

Food Rating: 5.6/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 3-11-8 Minamisenba, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 542-0081 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shinsaibashi 

Tel: +81 (0)6 6484-6936

Website: www.krispykreme.jp

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 9:00pm daily

.donut Sannomiya Main Store (Kobe, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

It’s my third trip to Kobe (神戶), but only the first time staying near Sannomiya Station (三宮駅), so I was pretty hyped for it. In the end, this area turned out to be one of the buzziest neighborhoods in Kobe making our 16 hours in the city especially memorable.

I managed to sneak out for a short while while everyone was enjoying their delicious skewers. My destination? Another doughnut shop just outside Sannomiya Station.

.donut is an incredibly popular fresh nama doughnut specialty brand based in Kobe, Japan. They’re especially known for their signature “Kobe dot donut”, which features a fluffy, soft, and slightly chewy texture. The brand focuses heavily on local ingredients sourced from Hyogo Prefecture, and it often rolls out seasonal flavors made with fresh produce.

While the brand currently operates four outlets across Kobe, its main shop located right outside the west exit of Hankyu Kobe-Sannomiya Station (hidden inside Kobe New World) remains arguably the busiest. The best part? It’s just a stone’s throw from our dinner venue.

After forcing my way into the end of the lineup, I waited patiently to be served and it was finally my turn. As it turned out, it wasn’t going to be a tough decision. There were only two flavors left: chocolate and cherry 🍒.

Chocolate donut (390 yen) — The brioche-like dough was flavored with chocolate, which matched the chocolate custard filling perfectly.

Needless to say, chocolate flavors were front and center. Just look at the amount of rich chocolate custard in the filling!

While .donut prides itself on being a nama donut specialist, I thought the texture of its dot donut sits somewhere between a traditional yeast donut and a nama donut. It’s definitely bouncier, and the “structural airiness” feels a little different from that of I’m Donut?.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: Kobe New World (Outside West Exit of station), 1-1-1 Nagasadori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0012, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Sannomiya

Tel: +81 (0)78-325-5524

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm daily

Piece of Bake Mitsui Outlet Park Marine Pia (Kobe, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

The Shikoku part of our trip is officially over now that we’ve crossed the bridge into Kobe. Next up, we’ll spend some time at Mitsui Outlet Park Marine Pia before heading into the city for dinner later.

Mitsui Outlet Park Marine Pia reopened in November 2024 after a massive two-year reconstruction. It’s not the biggest outlet mall — about 150 shops — but there should be more than enough to keep casual shoppers like us happy.

I wasn’t planning on a full-blown lunch after sharing a burger with little nugget earlier in the morning. Maybe I’d just need a small snack. So when I spotted Piece of Bake on the ground level of the outlet, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Piece of Bake is a donut chain from Osaka that I’m familiar with from my frequent visits to the city.

They serve brioche-like, melt-in-the-mouth donuts filled with all kinds of cream custard, and they always prove to be pretty satisfying for those with a sweet tooth.

They were running a promotion featuring the in-season white peach at the time.

White peach donut (518 yen) — The brioche-like choux pastry wasn’t bad.

But I thought the tangy white peach custard 🍑 wasn’t quite the perfect match. Maybe they should tweak the custard to be sweeter, with more fruity notes.

I thought I was done... but little nugget had other ideas in mind, and he’s bringing me to Eggs 'n Things next door! Somehow we always end up at this Hawaiian-themed restaurant whenever we shop at a Japanese outlet (was it last year?).

Food Rating: 5.9/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: Shop 1331, 1/F Mitsui Outlet Park Marine Pia, 12-2 Kaigandori, Tarumi-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 655-0036, Japan

Tel: +81 (0)78-742-7768

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 9:00pm daily

Truffle Donut 香川高松店 (Takamatsu, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

I knew I had to act fast when I have two stops to make in half an hour ahead of dinner. After a quick stop at Grand Maison Lowe, I headed straight over to Truffle Donut, one of my favorite Japanese doughnut chain for my second sweet treat. Thankfully, they were only 180 metres apart.

Truffle Donut is best known for its “nama” style dough, which makes for an exceptionally light, fluffy texture that practically melts in your mouth. The dough is infused with premium, aromatic truffle oil and/or truffle salt, giving it a distinct depth of flavor.

This particular branch of Truffle Donut was located on the basement level, so I had to walk roughly 10 steps down to reach the counter area.

Compared to the choices available at their Oita (大分市) outpost that I last visited during Christmas, this outlet offers far more options. 

There were the usual truffle-infused nama donut series, a separate chocolate series, and a “Flaky Donut” line which is essentially their take on cronuts (remember those?).

Unfortunately, all the chocolate series options featuring chocolate choux dough were already sold out. I’ll have to try those next time.

Matcha Nama donut (444 yen) — The Uji matcha cream was noticeably thicker with this one.

Very tasty, with the ultra-rich matcha custard working beautifully with the pillowy pumpkin-blended dough.

Salted vanilla Nama donut (398 yen) — Like most of their donuts, the cream filling was on the lighter side, and it worked surprisingly well with the truffle-infused dough. The extra saltiness from the truffle salt added an interesting twist to every bite.

Creme brulee Flaky Donut (417 yen) — I haven't had a cronut for quite some time, so this was extra special.

I really like the texture: crispy on the outside, but flaky throughout the interior. The crème brûlée flavor was also front and center — perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth.

Truffle Donut currently has 27 locations across Japan, as well as international branches in Taiwan, Thailand, and Canada, with a new opening in Hong Kong just two days ago! Overall, it now has more than 30 locations worldwide.

Food Rating: 7.2/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: B1F Motoya Building, 4-12 Marugamemachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 760-0029, Japan

Closest Train Station: Kawaramachi

Tel: +81 (0)87-897-5030

Website: https://truffledonut.com/

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm daily

Grand Maison Lowe (Takamatsu, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

It’s my first-ever trip to Shikoku (四國), an island known for its untouched nature, temple pilgrimage, and so much more. Our first destination on the island was Takamatsu (高松市), the lively capital city of Kagawa Prefecture (香川縣) on the north side. Known as the gateway to Shikoku, Takamatsu is widely celebrated for its modern arts, traditional culture, and culinary heritage. I think we’ll really love it there especially since our stay will be less than 24 hours.

After checking into our hotel, we took a quick 5-minute walk to the Marugame-cho Green complex, where the recently opened Pokémon Center quietly awaits. That immediately kicked off my quest to check out a number of places I have pinned on my private map. The first stop on my itinerary was Grand Maison Lowe, a long-established pastry shop founded in 1978.

Step inside and you get that antique-style interior vibe (thus the name 'Grand Maison'). Grand Maison Lowe offers a lovely mix of European-style traditional baked goods, cakes, and carefully curated gift boxes.

What I didn’t realize, though, was that besides the European pastries on display, they also reserve a corner for something extra: doughnuts. 🍩🍩

And they’re not just any doughnuts. These are nama-donut style, the kind that have taken Asia by storm in recent years (though apparently not Hong Kong… at least not yet).

Double cream (330 yen) — Little one was pretty hungry after the long flight, so instead of going straight to the Pokémon Center, he hung around with me long enough to enjoy his own doughnut. 

According to him, this wasn't bad.

Salted caramel (360 yen) — The salted caramel custard was definitely nice and runny, but the dough itself didn’t quite live up to expectations for a proper nama donut. The dough tasted a little strange at first, and even worse, it was too soft and not nearly pillowy enough.

Luckily, we came here first, with my next stop as Truffle Donut, so at least the bar wasn't set too high (with Truffle Donut touted as one of the best in the business).

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 7-16 Marugamemachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 760-0029, Japan

Closest Train Station: Kawaramachi

Tel: +81 (0)87-811-7557

Website: https://lowe.co.jp/gurame/

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 8:00am daily

Friendship Market Admiralty Station (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Friendship Market is a popular modern Western bakery brand in Hong Kong. As I’ve been told by my personal assistant (AI), it’s a vibrant spin-off of Fresh Fresh Bakery, an online cake shop known for its 3D cakes and handmade cookies though I couldn’t find the exact connection from the web (except from IG).

With branches in areas like Tsim Sha Tsui and Lohas Park, Friendship Market has built a reputation for its cute, trendy aesthetic, playful packaging, and innovative, on-trend baked goods — plus the convenient locations.

This afternoon, while strolling along the island side, I finished my Basque cheesecake at JOM and was on my way home… but the cute mini donuts (and mochi pudding) here suddenly caught my eyes at its Admiralty Station counter.

They're calling them "lava" donuts!

Mini pistachio donut ($12) — I always thought the traditional donuts are a little too big for my appetite so this was perfect. 

More than bite-sized, the pillowy, brioche-like choux has a crisp crust that hugs the hidden centre of a rich and runny pistachio custard — so smooth and satisfying. With this size, I think can finish it in about 3–4 bites.

And honestly, $12 is a pretty good price too. These days, it feels like you can’t really do much with $12 anymore!

Food Rating: 6.8/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 26-27, Admiralty MTR Station, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Admiralty

Tel: +852 5583-8981

Website: https://www.instagram.com/friendshipmarket_am/

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 9:00pm daily

Bakehouse Bakery & Restaurant Shatin (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I have a few business errands to take care of in Tai Po today, and I’m meeting up with the team for car pooling at the New Town Plaza Shopping Centre (沙田新城市廣場). With a bit of spare time left, I thought I’d pop over to Bakehouse to grab a small treat.

One of these days, I really need to sit down for a proper meal here but for now, I’ll settle for a chocolate hazelnut doughnut ($42). This was incredibly pillowy, and the generous portion of chocolate hazelnut custard left me totally stuffed well after our lunch hours. It was sooo good!

I have to admit, I hate going to this vendor’s place. A visit once a year is my absolute maximum tolerable limit. 

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 247, 2/F, New Town Plaza Phase I, 18-19 Sha Tin Centre Street, Shatin, Hong Kong

Closest Train Station: Shatin

Website: https://www.bakehouse.hk/locations#Shatin

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 9:00pm (Mon - Thu), 8:00am - 9:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Doughman Bakery & Coffee Tsuen Wan (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Last year, Doughman, my neighborhood bakery, opened a new branch in Tsuen Wan, near the MTR station. I always assumed they carried the same baked goods, so I never took the time to check it out personally. But this afternoon, I finally went.

As it turns out, some of the popular items at my usual location like the blueberry muffin weren’t available here but there were also exclusive items that you can’t find at the other branch.

Check out this strawberry doughnut! It was so cute.

It’s disguised as a croissant, but it’s actually a doughnut with a soft crust, almost like a baked bread or brioche. Inside was a centre of sweet strawberry ganache.

This definitely gave me a reason to come back for more!

Food Rating: 5.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 208-212, 2/F, Tsuen Kam Centre, 300-350 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsuen Wan

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 8:30pm daily