A guide to the best doughnut shops in Melbourne

FROM Oakleigh to Ascot Vale and Croydon to the Queen Victoria Market, we’ve rounded up Melbourne’s best doughnut dealers.

Gourmet doughnuts are taking over Victoria. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

IF YOU’VE ever listened to All of Me by John Legend and found yourself thinking about doughnuts, then, like us, you might have a problem (and I mean that in an ‘I got 99 problems but a doughnut ain’t one’ kind of way).

That line where he sings “All of me, loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections” — it’s like that was actually written about our doughnut love affair (see: addiction).

The thing with doughnuts is, they’re like the ultimate treat. They tick all the boxes: butter, pastry, icing, jam, chocolate, caramel, fat, salt, sugar. They’re like fluffy, fried spheres of sweet perfection.

And now that the school holidays are here, you can indulge your inner doughnut addict by pretending you just HAD to take the kids out for a treat. I mean, they’ve been so well behaved, it would be rude not to reward them with cinnamon sugar and sweet pastry.

So, if you’re looking for a way to stay in your kids’ good books these holidays, we urge you to go forth, find doughnuts.

And because we understand the call of the doughnut is strong, we didn’t want anyone to feel left out. That's why we’ve even found places making delicious gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, raw and paleo versions.

This is Melbourne, after all, so it’s barely surprising that a vegan Snickers bronut filled with chocolate custard and topped with caramel glaze, chocolate ganache and chopped peanuts now exists. And yes, it is delicious. To paraphrase from that Fabio guy in that margarine ad, you really won’t believe it’s not buttercream.

Because you know what they say; a doughnut a day keeps the doctor away. Or something like that. #carpedoughnuts

MELBOURNE’S BEST DOUGHNUTS:

CITY

DOUGHNUT TIME: Degraves St, City | QV Melbourne | Chapel St, Windsor | Brunswick St, Fitzroy
It’s literally Love at First Bite at this doughnut dealer. Especially given that’s the name of their signature, Nutella-filled and cinnamon-dusted delight.

WALKER’S DOUGHNUTS : 2/26 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
For those days when you just want a traditional, no-frills doughnut.

DOUGHBOYS DOUGHNUTS: 535 Bourke St, Melbourne
Relationship status: doughnuts. Especially when they’re fresh dragonfruit doughnuts with lychee mousse, dragonfruit glaze and salted coconut shards.

AMERICAN DOUGHNUT KITCHEN: Queen Victoria Market, Queen St, Melbourne
We’re calling it. These renowned hot jam doughnuts might just be the most famous doughnuts in Melbourne. If you’ve never had one, you probably haven’t lived.

SHORTSTOP COFFEE AND DONUTS : 12 Sutherland St, Melbourne
Lemon meringue or salted hazelnut chocolate for the kids. Quince and mulled wine doughnuts for mum.

MELBA RESTAURANT : Langham Hotel, 1 Southgate Avenue, Southbank
Head in for a high tea or check out the doughnuts buffet. An entire buffet dedicated to doughnuts. All the doughnuts.

WEST

LUKUMADES: 83 Peel St, West Melbourne
Two words: Greek. Doughnuts.

FOOTSCRAY DOUGHNUTS : 51 Irving St, Footscray
Keeping it simple with classic doughnuts and coffee. What more could you need in life?

SOUTH-EAST

DANIEL’S DONUTS: 819 Princes Hwy, Springvale
There are queues out the door at this place for a reason. Doughnuts are freshly made in store with bargain basement prices at $3 each, instead of the $6 you’ll pay at other artisan stores.

ST GERRYS : 18 Eaton Mall, Oakleigh
Melbourne’s original roaming Greek doughnut specialist. Follow their food truck, or check out their Oakleigh dessert bar.

BISTRO MORGAN : 190 High St, Prahran
Golden Gaytime doughnuts, macaron-topped doughnuts. Fairy floss doughnuts. Sauce-filled syringes. It’s a kid’s doughnuts dream. And it’s run by a 16-year-old school kid. So it’s almost like an educational excursion.

SIDESHOW COFFEE: 30 Chatham St, Prahran
Stop in for one of Sydney’s famous Mill and Bakery doughnuts or a Butterbing cookie sandwich. Sandwiches are healthy, right?

NEWMAN ESPRESSO: Shop 2/7 Yarra St, South Yarra
Specialty coffee, doughnuts and brunch bar, inspired by everyone’s least favourite Seinfeld character.

RAW TRADER: Melbourne CBD, Chadstone, Mount Martha
Looking for a healthified doughnut option? Raw Trader has a range of vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free options in all your favourite flavours. Perfect for kids with allergies or food intolerances.

COMBI: Shop 1, 140 Ormond Road, Elwood
Raw, unicorn doughnuts and rainbow lattes. Paradise found.

COCOMAMAS JUICES: 1C Staniland Gr, Elsternwick
Raw, vegan and totally delicious. Get around the vegan Snickers and vanilla cinnamon.

NORTH

ALL DAY DONUTS: 12 Edward St, Brunswick
There are vovo doughnuts. Enough said.

NUTS ABOUT TELLA: 70 Lygon St, Brunswick East
Creators of the original doughnut burger. And yes, it is exactly what you’re picturing. Oozy Nutella and fresh strawberries sandwiched between two doughnut buns. What a time to be alive.

DONUT SHOP DONUTS & COFFEE: 130 Gertrude St, Fitzroy
The vegan PB+J and cinnamon twist doughnuts are so good you wouldn’t even know they are vegan.

MISTER NICE GUY’S BAKESHOP : 151 Union Rd, Ascot Vale
Melbourne’s first allergy-friendly bakery, specialising in vegan baked goods with sugar-free and gluten-free options. You definitely want to try their Snickers bronut filled with chocolate custard and topped with caramel glaze, chocolate ganache and chopped peanuts. #getinmybelly

EAST

GOLDELUCK’S BAKESHOP: 15 The Mall, Croydon South
Your local, neighbourhood cronut dealer (or dossant, as it is known in Goldeluck’s dialect). Check them out for all your doughnut, cronut, and cronut cake needs.

LE CLEC: 727 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
Red velvet doughnuts are almost too pretty to eat.

RUSTICA: 402 Brunswick St, Fitzroy | 33 Guildford Lane, CBD | 121 Power St, Hawthorn

Because, cronuts.

OUT OF TOWN

UNCLE DONUT : 100 Little Malop Street, Geelong
More like fun-cle donut. This G-town doughnut joint possibly has Victoria’s best doughnut line-up. We’re talking a seasonal doughnut menu with rotating monthly flavours such as pumpkin pie filled with eggnog, pumpkin ganache and chocolate cream; pina colada with pineapple curd, coconut glaze and maraschino cherry; and brandy snap with salted caramel custard, chocolate, almond praline and, of course, brandy snap. Plus a classic range. Grab your keys. We’re going for a roadtrip.

STINKIES DONUTS: Doughnuts designed and created by pure imagination, made on the Mornington Peninsula. And yes, that is bacon on a doughnut. I repeat, THERE IS A BACON DOUGHNUT.

DELIVERY

AHHH, DONUTS: Gourmet doughnuts, delivered to your door. Hello, sticky date, Tim Tam and butterscotch box of 12.

DOUGHNUT INSTITUTIONS

DONUT KING: Sometimes, nothing beats an original.

KRISPY KREME: Because 80 years of original glazed can’t be wrong.

SAN CHURRO: The doyennes of Spanish doughnuts in Melbourne. Best enjoyed dunked in milk chocolate or loaded with caramel popcorn.

FOOD TRUCKS

THE HUNGARY BOY: A food truck dishing up kurtosh doughnut cones inspired by the streets of Budapest. A European delicacy dating back centuries, the pastry is traditionally baked over hot coals for celebrations such as weddings and village fairs. The result is an unmistakeable tall and twisted pastry, which is not a simple doughnut, cake or bread, but a heavenly combination of all three.

MANNYS DOUGHNUTS: Would you like apple fries with that? Doughnuts, churros and a hole lotta delicious.