Doughnuts meet sandwiches — with both sweet and salty results

When we heard that special “doughnut sandwiches“ were being sold at Tokyo Station, we naturally had to get our hands on them and see how they taste. We’ve already told you about how croissant doughnuts were making their presence known here in Japan, but could these doughnut sandwiches be the next big thing?

The doughnut sandwiches we were anxious to try were sold at the “Patisserie KIHACHI and LE SUN PALM” located inside the Grandsta Dining area of Tokyo Station. There were three varieties available, and when we learned that despite using sweet, sugar-glazed doughnuts, one of them was a meal-type sandwich involving eggs and bacon, we have to say our interest was definitely piqued.

The shop is a collaboration between fast food sandwich and pancake shop LE SUN PALM and well-known patisserie shop KIHACHI. There’s a small eat-in counter in the back which seats about 5-6 people.

The doughnut sandwiches seem to be selling well, as two of the varieties were sold out for the day when we first visited the shop in the evening. We ended up having to come back the next day after asking them to keep one of each for us, but we were happy enough to be able to try all three sandwiches.

We first tried the “caramelized apple and blueberry jam” doughnut sandwich which cost 440 yen. Besides the caramel-flavored roasted apple and blueberry jam, there’s also custard cream sandwiched between the doughnut. And how did the caramelized apple and blueberry jam doughnut sandwich taste? The custard sauce went very well with the sweet, glazed outer doughnut, but it wasn’t just sweet — it also had a pleasantly surprising amount of zest to it, owing in large part to the flavor of the blueberry jam. It was a delightful combination of sweet and sour.

Next, we had the “mascarpone cheese cream with red bean paste and mango banana” doughnut sandwich (also 440 yen). This was actually quite milder than the apple and blueberry jam sandwich we tried first. The mascarpone cream itself wasn’t that sweet, and combined with the red bean paste, the sandwich had a very mellow taste. In fact, we thought the flavor, while pleasant, could maybe even be considered too light to satisfy a serious sweet tooth. (And we’re guessing, if you’re having a doughnut sandwich, you probably have a serious enough craving for sweets to begin with.)

And lastly, we had the “bacon, cheese and egg” doughnut sandwich (490 yen). We were particularly interested to see how this sandwich would taste, as it combined a sugar-coated doughnut with ingredients for a regular, non-sweet sandwich. Well, we thought it actually tasted quite delectable. The saltiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the doughnut complemented each other unexpectedly well, and the runny egg yolk gave the sandwich a creamy texture. It was a pleasure to eat, as long as you didn’t think about all the sugar, fat and salt combined in this harmless-looking little sandwich. (Maybe it’s not too bad if we had just this sandwich for a meal and no dessert?)

But seriously, we really enjoyed the doughnut sandwiches, even if the mascarpone cream and red bean paste variety was perhaps a little mild for this writer’s taste. We thought the sweet and zingy apple and blueberry jam sandwich would make a great dessert, and the bacon cheese and egg sandwich combined opposing flavors to produce a surprisingly pleasant result. We did feel that it would probably be better to eat these sandwiches as soon as possible after they’re made, since the glaze on the doughnuts tends to turn oily after a while, but we still think these sandwiches are worth a try if you’re ever in Tokyo Station and have the opportunity.

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