Nine great ways to spend 1,000 yen at Japan’s favorite donut chain (or one great way to spend 9,000 yen).

Welcome back to another installment of Japan Super Budget Dining, where our panel of hungry reporters reveal their picks for the best meal you can put together at Japan’s most popular and prodigious eateries with a strict budget of 1,000 yen (US$6.70).

At SoraNews24, we’re obviously and unabashedly of the opinion that eating dessert counts as “dining,” so today we’re heading to Japan’s favorite donut chain, Mister Donut, with nine of our team members who’re ready to show us that the chain’s deliciousness goes beyond just donuts…even if our first pick is as straightforward as it can be.

▼ Takashi Harada’s Mister Donut Optimal Solution Set (970 yen)

● 6 Old-fashioned donuts (970 yen)

Mister Donut has a pretty extensive variety of treats on offer, but Takashi went all-in on the standard old-fashioned, with a rationale showing a surprising amount of maturity and common sense for our team. “I don’t think you’re going to eat 1,000 yen worth of donuts all by yourself, right? You’re going to be sharing them with other people,” he theorizes. “Everyone has their own individual favorite type of donut, but I don’t think there’s anyone who dislike old-fashioned, so whoever you’re sharing it with, a plate full of them is going to have the highest probability of making everyone happy.” We’ve gotta say, it’s some pretty sound logic, even if we’re not sure why he photographed his donuts upside-down.

▼ Takamichi Furusawa’s Autumn Packed with Pon de Rings Set (896 yen)

● Pon de Ring Witch (194 yen)
● Pon de Ring Strawberry Black Thunder (216 yen)
● Pon de Ring (162 yen yen)
● Ice coffee (324 yen)

The Pon de Ring, a series of little donut dough balls formed into a ring, is one of Mister Donut’s all-time best-sellers. In addition to the standard version, right now there’s a special Halloween Witch Pon de Ring with festive orange and purple sprinkles, plus a collaboration with the beloved Black Thunder chocolate brand. Unable to pick just one, Takamichi opts for the entire trio, plus an ice coffee to wash them down with.

▼ Mr. Sato’s Super Savings Drink Set (961 yen)

● Cheese Dog (440 yen)
● Blend Coffee (234 yen)
● Hot Savory Pie-Barbecue Frankfurt (242 yen [price as part of coffee set])

Meanwhile, Mr. Sato skips the sweets entirely for savory meaty satisfaction and a whole lot of coffee. Not only are Mister Donut’s hot dogs a delicious hidden gem that most people overlook, if you’re eating in instead of getting your order to-go you can enjoy unlimited refills of their blend coffee, which also allows you to add on a hot savory pie at a discounted price.

▼ Masanuki Sunakoma’s Strongest Set, Starring Kori Coffee (919 yen)

● Shrimp Gratin Pie (242 yen)
● Kori Coffee (336 yen [drink set price])
● Pon de Ring (162 yen yen)
● Honey Old-fashioned (176 yen)

Time to put on our thinking/linguist caps. As we mentioned above as part of Takamichi’s pick, Mister Donut offers “ice coffee,” i.e. coffee that’s served cold. However, they also have something they call “Kori Coffee,” kori being the Japanese word for “ice.” The difference here is that Kori Coffee is served with cubes of frozen coffee in the cup, keeping the flavor strong and the drink cold. The Kori Coffee also gets an extra dose of milk in its mix, which Masanuki thinks makes for a perfect pairing with the rich sweetness of the Honey Old-fashioned, and with the presence of the Shimp Gratin Pie too, he can claim this is a well-balanced meal, right?

▼ Yuichiro Wasai’s Set for Me and the People Around Me to Enjoy (980 yen)

● Honey Old-fashioned (172 yen)
● Golden Chocolate (172 yen)
● Pon de Ring (162 yen)
● Angel Cream (172 yen)
● 8-piece Donut Pop (302 yen)

Yuichiro started with the same premise that Takashi did, that everyone has their own personal favorite Mister Donut dessert. Instead of trying to smooth out those individual preferences with nothing but broadly crowd-pleasing standard Old-Fashioneds, though, Yuichiro made Donut Pops, as Mister Donuts calls its version of donut holes, the pillar of his set, figuring that the mix of donuts represented has a good chance of giving whoever you’re sharing the bounty with a good chance of having at least one that’s right in the center of their confectionary strike zone. Personally, though, Yuichiro thinks that Mister Donut’s Honey Old-fashioned is, far and away, the very best thing on their entire menu, so his set also includes one of those, just for him.

▼ Go Hatori’s Just Buying My Favorites One After Another Set (992 yen)

● 2 Chocolate donuts (324 yen)
● Chocolate Old-fashioned (172 yen)
● Sugar raised (162 yen)
● Honey churro (162 yen)
● Angel Cream (162 yen)

In Go’s mind, a good donut is a chocolate donut. If he could only buy one donut, it’d be a chocolate one. And if he could buy two donuts, they’d both be chocolate. And if he could buy three? The third would be an Old-fashioned…but covered with chocolate. Only then is he ready to branch out into cream and non-chocolate sweetness.

▼ Mariko Hanabatake’s Chewy Taiwan Gourmet Fun Set (979 yen)

● Taiwan Fruit Tea (550 yen)
● Taiwan Hujiao Bing-style Pie (264 yen)
● Pon de Kokuto (165 yen yen)

Mariko boldly uses over half her budget on her drink, but it’s a very special one for her. “The Taiwan Fruit Tea has berry bits and chewy gelatin in it, and it’s as delicious as any Frappuccino,” she says, which is high praise considering the high level of Starbuck’s Japan’s blended ice beverages. Keeping with the Taiwanese theme, Mariko added a hujiao bing-style pepper biscuit, and rounded things out with a kokuto (brown sugar) version of the Pon de Ring.

▼ P.K. Sanjun’s Zakumochi It’s All Mine Set (905 yen)

● Mincemeat Cutler Zakumochi Dog (308 yen)
● Blend Coffee (234 yen [set price])
● Honey Dip (165 yen)
● Satsumaimo Kobashi Brulee (198 yen)

The Zakumochi Dog is a sandwich with a fried bun that’s cripy (zaku) at its outer layer but chewy (mochi) inside. It’s become one of P.K.’s favorite things to eat at Mister Donut, right up there with their donuts in his personal ranking. The timing of his visit meant he also got to enjoy the Satsumaimo Kobashi Brulee, a limited-time autumn-only sweet potato (satsumaimo)-flavored donut with both delicious flavor ad enticing aroma (kobashii).

▼ Ahiruneko’s All-purpose Gift Set (992 yen)

● Pon de Ring (162 yen)
● Pon de Kokuto (162 yen)
● Old-fashioned (162 yen)
● Angel French (172 yen)
● Angel Cream (172 yen)
● Honey Churro (162 yen)

In Japan, it’s considered good manners to bring a gift whenever you visit someone’s home, usually some sort of food. Ahiruneko is of the mind (as are many others) that you’ll always be welcomed with open arms if you show up on your friend’s doorstep with a box of Mister Donut desserts, and so he put together a set with a lot of variety, but also one where just about anyone would be happy with each and every item.

Just like they all chose different items, all members of our team are now in the blissful midst of their own individual food comas, but once everyone is up and mobile again we’ll be back with another installment of Japan Super Budget Dining.

Photos © SoraNews24
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