OK, so it’s Hannuka now, which means only one thing – doughnuts everywhere! There’s other stuff to do with the holiday too but who the fuck cares. Israel goes doughnut-mad before and during Hannuka and I love being here and sampling the increasingly creative variations on the theme. Yes, sometimes I actually plan my trip so it coincides with the “doughnut holiday”, as my friends back in London now know it as.
So tonight I suddenly got a craving for a dolce de leche doughnut (they are pretty common here now) and braved the strange, sudden dust storm to get to my favourite doughnut-dishery.
The place is called Roladin. It’s a patisserie/ cafe that usually sells cake and biscuits and things like that. I think you can have sandwiches too. There is a chain of them, but the branch on the corner of “Ibn Gabirol” (as Google seems to call it) and Daniel Frisch (Ibn Gabirol 24) actually sets up a little marquee outside every Hannuka and makes insanely good, fresh doughnuts with exotic flavours. How about a vodka and melon doughnut with white chocolate ganache? There are also other boozy things like machiato and pistachio flavours for adults and a different range for “kids” without booze, but I see no reason why kids should have them and not adults like me.
Tonight I got a dolce de leche doughnut and a vodka and melon one.
Here’s a picture of the “2009 collection” as they’re called. They actually list the calories next to each one now. I ate mine too quickly to take pics. Maybe I will go back tomorrow and update with more:
2010 UPDATE: The new Roladin range looks awesome! They also do traditional doughnuts, but I also have it on good authority that the bakery at no. 5 Mikve Israel (parallel to Yehuda Halevy, Allenby end) does perfect traditional jam doughnuts.
For more great bakeries in Tel Aviv, download the full guide.