I came to Bombay when I was 9, having spent my childhood in New York. It took a while to get used to the city (I'm totally in love with it now), but what I could never get used to was the lack of certain foods... particularly (for a 9-year-old, this is very important) donuts! With Dunkin' Donuts at every corner in NYC, it was a total culture shock to have no real donuts here. The only thing available then were the mass-produced Monginis cream-filled donuts, which were tasteless, greasy, and unappealing. Or the slightly better, still paling-in-comparison, donuts available at Croissants,Etc and Birdy's. The only place you'd get a honest-to-goodness donut was a bakery inside a five-star like the Taj, the (then) Oberoi, and the Renaissance, but of course those were ridiculously expensive.
The deprived child in me found respite when I discovered The American Donut Shop in Irla's Prime Mall and then later at Infiniti Mall in Andheri West a few years ago. Now those guys really know how to make donuts. Even though this review is about Mad Over Donuts, I'd suggest you try out the donuts, specially the dark chocolate and blueberry variants available at American Donuts. They even have cute little bite-sized donuts that you won't feel guilty about indulging in. The owner is a very sweet, soft-spoken older gentleman who talked to me once when I was buying donuts at Infiniti. He told me they have a donut machine at the Prime Mall (Irla) outlet, so the next time I was there I took a look. It looks like a simple enough, but huge, machine, but it churns out bites of heaven :)
Anyway, about a year after The American Donut Shop came Mad Over Donuts, and pretty soon these guys had expanded all over the city. The first place I found them was the outlet they have at Oberoi Mall in Goregaon. I was like a child in a candy shop looking into the counter, unsure of what I wanted to try first. It was like discovering treasure, wanting to try out each one (or at least the ones with any hint of chocolate).
Mad Over Donuts has many different types and flavors to choose from. You can opt for a traditional ring donut, like the Mint-a-Million, which is glazed with a minty chocolate.or you can get a filled one, like the Hazel Dazzle, which has dark chocolate on the outside and hazelnut chocolate (something like nutella) creamon the inside. In terms of variety, they leave their competition far behind. If you're adventurous, you can even try their savory donuts, like the Mama Mia, which has herbs, garlic, and cheese.
If you want something to wash down your donuts with, Mad Over Donuts has several different coffees for you to choose from, hot and cold. You can get a classic latte or cappuccino, or get a cold coffee, or even a cold coffee flavored with hazelnut. The coffee is not great, it's as good as anything you'd get at a Cafe Coffee Day, but not comparable to a good Barista or Costa beverage. But coffee and donuts go really well together, so you should definitely get some.
A cute, but annoying, thing that Mad Over Donuts does is refuse to give you a spoon. They say it's a policy, so you have to lick all the creamy, gooey goodness off, or if you're embarrassed and too civilized to lick your fingers in public (I am!), then you'll just have to waste away the yumminess by wiping your fingers on a paper napkin. To avoid this, you could always take a few donuts home. And the more you buy, like half a dozen or a dozen, the less you pay! Even if you buy coffee, you won't get a spoon, you'll get a flimsy stirrer, so that won't help (I thought I'd be a smartass and tried that once and discovered the little plastic stirrer was no match for a gooey donut).
All the Mad Over Donuts outlets are consistent in quality, taste, and freshness. I've visited the ones at Powai, Goregaon, Andheri West, Bandra, Breach Candy, and Malad. The guys and girls behind the counter are very helpful, they try to get your order out fast even when the weekend crowd is driving them crazy. And if a flavor you're looking for is unavailable, they tell you how long it'll take for them to get it out and you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to wait, or you could just pick something else. The best part is all the donuts at Mad Over Donuts are vegetarian, they have no egg in them! I have several favorites there, so if not one, I just get the other.
Talking about their flavors, let's end with some must-trys:
Hazel Dazzle: If you like the idea of hazelnuts and chocolate, this is sure to hit the spot. It's got a coat of dark chocolate on the outside and is filled with hazelnut flavored chocolate, so every bite is heaven. This is my absolute favorite flavor, and if it's available I inevitably end up getting this, even when I promise myself I'll try something else.
Colour Me Badd: This makes me nostalgic, because I'd always get a ring donut with chocolate glaze and rainbow sprinkles when I was a kid. And besides the beautiful memories, it doesn't hurt that it tastes delicious too!
Double Trouble: My motto is, you can never go wrong with chocolate and the more the better! Double trouble has a chocolate glaze outside and is filled with a dark chocolate ganache. This is usually my second choice when I need my chocolate donut fix.
Nutty Buddy: Another of my favorites, this gives you peanut butter on the inside and dark chocolate glaze on the outside! It's the perfect combination, just don't try expressing how good it is with the gooey peanut butter inside your mouth.
Lemon Sunshine: If you like lemony cakes, you'll love this. A tangy, citrusy donut, this has a lemony cream inside and is glazed with lemon-flavored chocolate. The perfect combination of a citrus fruit and chocolate, how could it go wrong?
The Apple Dream: If you like apple pie with cinnamon, this is a great play on that. A cinnamony sugar donut with apple on top, this is the perfect apple pieina donut avatar.
Thinking about all the donuts I've tried there has left me with a major donut craving, so I'm going to have stop at the nearest outlet on my way home... if you do too, try the Hazel Dazzle for sure!
