If aliens were to beam down to our city to pick up some Melbourne artefacts, no doubt they'd swing by the American Doughnut Kitchen van at Queen Victoria Market. These sugar-dusted hot jam doughnuts have been giving Melburnians their sweet-and-fried fix since 1950, and we've even crowned them as one of Melbourne's must-try eats.
In case you've been living under a rock (or don't obsess over doughnuts as much as we do), let us share the good news that the beloved vintage van has a glossy new bricks-and-mortar store at Prahran Market. Here, you can pair your doughnut with a delicious cup of coffee for the ultimate market breakfast.
They've also just announced for the very first time ever new doughnut fillings beyond raspberry jam! Not that we don't adore the OG ones, you can now fill a box with salted caramel, Biscoff, vanilla custard doughnuts and more. We'll take a box, please! There's also a new menu of nostalgia-inducing classic milkshakes and iced drinks.
And don't just expect another van. The new shop features a fit-out that pays homage to the truck, with the same open workstation so you can watch all that glorious doughnut magic take place – from the cutting and cooking, to the royal filling and sugar treatment. It's an immersive in-store experience guaranteed to enthral old-timers, little ones and kids at heart alike.
As for the celebrity-status jam doughnuts, not much needs to be said if you've tried them. They've got the perfect Goldilocks level of oily crunch and they're piped with a sweet red dollop of classic raspberry plum jam (that's well worth getting your hands sticky for), then dusted in a generous snow of sugar. It's the taste of childhood in a single bite.
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