The best donut in Tokyo, Japan, ever!

Thursday, May 15...

Today, I went to the local donut shop and had the best donut ever. This is not Tim Horton’s or a donut shop as we know it. It’s a small place that’s on a old laneway just around the corner from Veggie Paradise that is almost hidden and a place you would pass by as it looks like the other old houses, but then you see a line-up of people waiting and a small sign that says “Horbitts”. These people are waiting for the best donut.

The small donut bakery cafe usually makes several kinds and by the end of the day they are totally sold out. Often when they are making more, people will wait for the new batch to come out of the oven, as we did and they will bring them right to you from the oven warm... yum! It’s not like a donut we’re used to but 100% better, not too dense, not too light, but fluffy with lots of flavour and texture. In short, irressisstable and I know why people rave about the donuts there, there are often line-ups and they sell out every day before they even close. Wow, that is not my last donut there for sure!

There are a lot of French bakeries and cafes in Tokyo now, with absolutely beautiful looking patisseries, and I’m sure they are delicious but I prefer places like the cute bread bakery and natural foods cafe place near Yuki’s apartment that uses whole grains and old fashioned techniques to make their delicious bread, and I also prefer the Japanese desserts that are often not that sweet as other kinds and are more simple… red bean paste “an” soup with mochi dango balls and mitsumame fruit or freshly made rice manju cakes with the “an” inside, etc.

Tonight, I was in the Veggie Paradise kitchen helping to prepare for a big party at the restaurant on Friday and learning lots about kitchen work and life in general, in speaking to the server Keito (who is half Japanese (her father) and half American/German (her mother who was a model working in Tokyo when she met her father who was an actor). She is fluent in English and Japanese, very nice and easy going, and hopes to go to a performing arts school in Los Angeles shortly. I think she’ll do very well. The other person was the chef’s brother who dropped by and studied and lived in South Dakota for several years, loved it and would like to return. I asked him what he loved about living in South Dakota than Japan and he said the people… more hanging out with lots of friends he made, the ability to express your emotions and be yourself, the culture - more music venues, movies, etc.