Short Stop Donuts, Sydney

Donuts.  Glorious donuts.  I eat a lot of donuts.  Usually at least once a week.  Fueled by the fact that my work group has a donut rotation, where someone brings in donuts every week.  Even when I travel for work, my donut eating tends to continue, as most of my other offices have the same kind of donut rotation.  Let's just say, we take our donuts seriously, and I have a lot of comparison points.

When I was recently in Sydney, my donut eating ways continued.  This time, I got a check out a donut shop there that had been on my list for a while: Short Stop Donuts.  They have two locations in Sydney, and one in Melbourne.  

"Countless hours of research, experimentation and refinement have gone into every mouthful and we think you’ll love what we have to share."

Short Stop sells coffee and donuts, and nothing else.  They do not make any gluten-free nor vegan donuts.  That does not mean their donuts are plain or boring.  The flavor lineup is generally quite interesting, e.g. for cake donuts there is the earl grey & rose or triple matcha, raised options are maple walnut brown butter or a seasonal eggnog and candied pecan star shaped, and decadent filled options include dark chocolate glazed and peanut butter filled, passion fruit filled and brulee topped or Fluffernutter filled (!!!), and even ones with torched meringue on top.  

Thanksgiving Flavors.

In addition to their regular, already interesting donut lineup, for one day only, on Thanksgiving, Short Stop offered Thanksgiving 5 pie inspired flavors: lemon meringue, apple, and pumpkin of course, plus sweet potato pie and chocolate cherry pudding pie, and, to round out the seasonal offerings, a standard donut just coated in pumpkin spice.

I really wanted to try all the pie ones, but also tried to have good manners and let others get their fill, so I only tried 3.  I give Short Stop major kudos for celebrating an American holiday in this way.

Lemon Meringue. $7.

"A light & fluffy ball of fried dough is filled with a tangy lemon curd, topped with a coconut meringue and freshly torched."

I didn't try the lemon meringue as it is my least favorite of the pie lineup.  The torched meringue on top was pretty stunning though.  This is actually on their regular menu, available on Sundays only.

Apple Pie.

I also skipped the apple pie, topped with caramel and crumble.  My co-worker gave it a rave review, and I tried to go back to get a hunk, but alas, they were all gone.

Chocolate Cherry Pudding Pie.

The first one I tried was the chocolate cherry pudding pie.  Not the most traditional Thanksgiving pie, but, I was drawn in by the chocolate pudding.

The donut itself was fairly unremarkable.  Raised, a touch greasy, not particularly lofty nor otherwise notable.  Inside was mild chocolate pudding filling, and whole stewed cherries.  Fluffy whipped cream on top.  The chocolate glaze was a bit cloying sweet, more sugar than deep chocolate flavor, even though it looked deep.

Overall, a fairly boring base, tasty enough pudding, cherries, and whipped cream, but not something I'd get again.  ***.

Pumpkin Pie.

Next up, classic pumpkin pie.  Which clearly others were excited for as well, as there was only two hunks left when I got to it.  

It had a caramel glaze, pumpkin-ish filling, and bits of pecan on top for crunch.  The donut base itself was also mildly pumpkin spiced, a light orange raised donut.  The caramel was sweet and tasty, and I like pecans, but besides the mild pumpkin spicing in the donut base, I didn't get a very strong pumpkin pie vibe from this.  I still am not entirely sure what the filling was, it wasn't pumpkin cream, but it also wasn't a pumpkin custard like you'd find in a pie.  It was also a bit too orange to be natural.  The donut base was also a touch greasy.

So overall, mostly a let down.  Even the mild pumpkin spice to the base wasn't appealing to me, the filing I wanted more from, and the donut itself was ho-hum.  At least I liked the toppings?  ***.

Sweet Potato Pie.

And lastly, the one I was most excited for, the sweet potato pie.  Far less common than pumpkin, but one I adore.  It came topped with a bit of meringue, not a full covering like the lemon meringue.

The donut base wasn't orange hued like the pumpkin one, but it did seem to have a bit of seasonal spicing.  I again didn't really love the base.  But the other bits of this were a major hit for me.

The filling was sweet potato mash pudding.  It was creamy, smooth, lightly sweet, far more flavorful than the pumpkin pie one.  It got even better from there, with the glaze, that reminded me to the core of my grandmother's butterscotch pie.  With the creamy sweet potato filling and this glaze together, the two combined to really, really remind me of her butterscotch pie filling.  And then .... the meringue, which, incidentally, is how my grandmother finished her butterscotch pie too.  This was a very sweet style of fluffy meringue, and much like the lemon meringue pie donut, it was beautifully torched.  

The fillings/toppings to this donut ate very very sweet.  The meringue was extremely sweet, as was the glaze, and even the filling.  I adored the flavors and textures, but, wow, it was sweet.  I wanted fresh blackberries, or a tart style froyo, to pair with it to cut the sweet a touch.  

My favorite of the donuts, no question, but, I would have been happier with just a bowl of the pudding filling with the toppings.  ***+.