Old Ferry Donut is a donut specialty shop that introduced yeast donuts(using a dough that went through over 12 hours of low-temperature fermentation) to Korea for the first time. CEO Choi Min-yi had traveled across the United States looking for great donuts after getting inspired by the texture and flavor of the donut she had in New York. She created a donut brand presenting flavors that could appeal to the Korean palette and the product packaging with Korean folk paintings(‘Hojakdo’ depicting tiger, magpie and pine tree) on it. 

At 9AM, the showcase of Knotted Cheongdam is stocked with adorable donuts and cakes. The shop’s busy with customers carrying donut boxes with smiley faces(The shop’s signature logo carries a message about delivering happiness through desserts) on them. Having started the creamy donut trend, Knotted is a dessert shop focusing on donuts, cakes, and other pastries like croissants. The clean-tasting, fluffy bread contains generous amounts of various flavored cream including vanilla, earl grey, and chocolate. 

A clean white building with a green awning looks like a high-end cookie shop but houses a donut specialty bakery selling what they termed ‘Guilty Pleasure for Vegan.’ CEO Kim Ae-ri previously worked in restaurant menu consulting and launched Overte, the vegan donut brand, after realizing the absence of it in Korea. Overte uses plant-based materials such as soy milk and coconut oil in donuts, instead of animal-based materials such as eggs, milk and butter. It is almost impossible to tell the difference between Overte donuts and regular donuts unless you are told about the vegan option. 

“I wanted to give people an experience of amazing flavors.” Head over to Awesome Donut Seoul if you are up for tasting the most unique donuts in Seoul. CEO Kim Hyun-soo is using never-heard-of ingredients in donut making to present one-of-a-kind donuts. After a donut experience during a trip to Japan, he realized for the first time that donuts can be food, rather than just a sugary dessert. With a tendency to find a balance in unexpected combinations, Kim creates ‘universally likable’ donuts, using some extreme ingredients such as avocado, red pepper paste, bacon, mint chocolate, and red bean. The soft, chewy bread itself is delicious, so try out as many varieties as possible in terms of cream or topping. 

In my childhood, my favorite snack was twisted Korean donuts, also known as kkwabaegi, sprinkled with sugar that my mom used to buy for me at a marketplace. The nostalgic snack has been transformed by Bontemps. Located on Songnidan-gil in the vicinity of Seokchon Lake, the popular dessert shop specializes in Korean-style twisted donuts made with care, using a natural fermenting agent instead of regular glutinous rice. CEO Lee Sang-hoon emphasizes the importance of dough as the donut base. He adjusts the cooking temperature depending on the weather condition in order to produce a consistent flavor. 

This is the place if you have been looking for the trendiest dessert shop on Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong. Seriously orange-colored with a kitschy decor, Beebeede sells the ‘cronut’ which is a blend of croissant and donut. CEO Park Sun-ji revived the pastry that was once popular about 7-8 years ago, in her Seoul shop. Born in the hands of New York-based pastry chef Dominique Ansel in 2013, the cronut was so popular that people would line up in front of Ansel’s bakery before the sunrise. Instead of a donut dough, a croissant dough filled with flavored cream is fried in oil and garnished with various toppings. It is notorious for its labor-intensive making process which takes four days from kneading to molding. So the rise of Beebeede in Korea’s dessert scene requires a high-five.