Vicky’s Donuts
We knew today we would bask, that the sun would light us up as we went to the best donuts in all of London. This is a bold claim, but there has yet to be a single visit to Vicky’s where we have not come away saying that.
So why don’t we go everyday? Well, Vicky’s started in 2015 by one woman inspired by a trip to Toronto, the land of doughnuts; coming back to her Dalston flat she started making donuts, photographing them, selling them and of course eating them. Now with a donut team she makes donuts to order for special occasions or big events, but occasionally does she come to small pop-ups. To know where Vicky is going to be you have to follow her social media, and today she told us she was going to be at Noshville food market.
Vicky has become a titan on the scene through her impeccable food styling; no one makes more aesthetically pleasing pictures of donuts than her, as proved by her over sixty-five thousand followers on Instagram. And although we respect her social media skills it is not what we rate our adventures on.
Let’s first discuss the texture of the dough. She does both regular and vegan - which we could not tell the difference between - and she does two sizes. The smaller of the two gives a less satisfying bite and requires real ripping from the teeth if you’re trying to share (we realize few but us would share these tiny donuts). However, what the smaller of the two allows is for you to try all the flavours on a smaller budget or smaller stomach.
And the flavour is what makes Vicky the best. She elevates the potential of what simple fried dough can be. Each flavour has distinct layers and depth, taking your tongue on a journey. We had four separate adventures in our mouth today: Apple Pie (v), Smores, Snickers and The Homer (v). Instead of one mixed flavour hitting you all at once you get each flavour in stages; with the Apple Pie it starts with a sweet apple and then goes to a tart apple and with a final kick of cinnamon at the end.
The Smore was the weakest of the bunch with just chocolate and marshmallow fluff, which was also messy and took down the ease, but in no way was it bad.
The Snickers was the surprise MVP with a hit of peanut butter flavour, then salted caramel, and finally to just peanuts with chocolate chips added for a boost to the texture. And even a classic like The Homer bursts with fresh tart raspberry flavour, making it the best of its kind.
Texture: 4.5
Flavour: 5
Ease: 3.5
Ratio: 4.5
Balance: 5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
The texture rating has increased from last time with an improvement to the vegan dough. Ease has gone down due to the mess that is marshmallow fluff, and balance has increased just by us figuring out how to articulate why Vicky is so special.
What Vicky does seems unfathomable; this woman has a deft control of our palette. Each mouthful providing several moments of reflection on the flavours in your mouth and how they interact. Today we basked in the sunshine of Granary Square but Vicky doesn’t seem to be moving out the spotlight of Instagram, the London Doughnut scene or of our hearts.
