DOH Donuts Melbourne is a Korean doughnut shop near Queen Victoria Market serving incredibly soft, fluffy doughnuts with Asian-inspired fillings. They have flavours like black sesame, durian, sweet corn, matcha and red bean with butter plus drinks like a Sesame Dirty Matcha and a silken tofu latte.
I recently saw a TikTok that said that the best way to attract Asian customers to your sweet shop is to tell them that a dessert is "not too sweet". And it's true, especially when you go to places like DOH in Melbourne at Queen Victoria Market where the donuts are sweet but not overly so. Chances are donuts are probably already on the mind as the American Donut Van is a short stroll away.
DOH, which stands for "Daily Oven Heaven" is a Korean doughnut store that sells a range of ridiculously fluffy doughnuts with Asian-style cream fillings and an interesting drinks menu.
For those seeking more Western flavours there's also Dubai chocolate, cookies and cream, blueberry and Earl Grey tea but I've ordered more of the Asian flavours like durian, red bean butter, black sesame and sweetcorn. The queue moves quickly and there's a display showing all of the donuts. I have just enough time to pet Corgi Rye and choose what drinks and donuts to order. The owner Matthew Youn was inspired by Korean donut chain Knotted who recently opened up a branch in Sydney's Burwood.
The doughnuts are incredibly light and soft which is what you get from a very yeasty dough but these don't have the telltale yeasty smell. At a guess I would say that this is thanks to the slow ferment. Even when Mr NQN picks one up I can see how incredibly soft it is.
We start with the least sweet donut, the Earl Grey, which is like a creamy, unsweetened earl grey tea fragrant in bergamot. The cream is smooth and silky with tiny flecks of Earl Grey tea. All of the donuts are lightly rolled in sugar but the cream fillings are not very sweet so it balances the sweetness for an Asian palate.
The next donut I try is the black sesame with a fat wodge of nutty injeolmi (roasted soybean powder) cream centre atop a thick layer of roasted black sesame cream paste. It's also not as sweet as some black sesame desserts and is more similar to other Korean desserts like tteok or rice cakes.
The durian cream donut has the distinct aroma of durian which isn't quite my thing but Mr NQN loves this donut.
The corn has the strong flavour of fresh corn with a slight texture of creamed corn with corn kernels on top. This is mildly sweet and if you love corn desserts then you'll enjoy this.
The matcha donut is a surprise as it's the only one in our selection with flavoured dough. It's a black sesame donut filled generously with a matcha cream and dusted with matcha powder.
This is a slightly sweeter donut but the light bitterness of the matcha pulls the sweetness back.
However my favourite is the red bean anko or ang donut with butter. It is also the sweetest one out of the lot but it really hits all the spots with its soft layer of butter that reminds me of Hong Kong pineapple buns and the sweet anko red bean filling and is deeply satisfying.
In terms of drinks they label each according to sweetness and you can get anything from a matcha tiramisu latte with a whole slice of matcha tiramisu on top. I was curious to try the Sesame Dirty Matcha which is a fragrant mix of black sesame paste, a shot of espresso coffee and matcha with a mugwort rice cake topping which are flavours that you don't often see together.
But it's the silken tofu coffee that we both love and it's nothing like we expect. There's no tofu texture in it and it tastes like it is made with soy milk. It is actually fantastic with a light lemon flavour to it.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like the sound of these donuts? Which flavour would be your pick?
This meal was independently paid for.
DOH Donuts
9 Dhanga Djeembana Walk, Melbourne VIC 3000
Open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm
Monday closed
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