Not every doughnut is worth the calories.

Around this time every year, Mister Donut delights fans by releasing a special range called Satsumaimo Do. With “satsumaimo” referring to sweet potato, and “do” being an abbreviation of “doughnut”, this range is so popular it’s now in its eighth year, but one person who’s never really gotten on board with the craze is our reporter P.K. Sanjun.

He’d always thought they were tasty, but not really worth recommending, given that the sweet potato wasn’t strong enough to win him over. However, this time around, the range is said to be very different, with Mister Donut claiming to have reinvented the doughnuts, enhancing the sweet potato flavour by giving them a brand new shape and texture.

▼ The three-lobed shape is said to resemble three sweet potatoes in a circular formation.

Image: Press Release

This was enough to lure P.K. into Mister Donut for a tasting, and with his hopes high, he ordered all of them to see if they were any better this year.

▼ First up was the most basic of the bunch, the Satsumaimo Do Plain (183 yen [US$1.17] for takeout and 187 yen for dine-in).

Taking a bite, the first thing that stood out was the texture. It was incredibly crumbly, almost on par with the texture of an Old Fashioned, but with an extremely light mouthfeel. More importantly, though, was the flavour of sweet potato, which was significantly stronger than before. P.K. couldn’t quite work out how they managed to pack this much sweet potato flavour into the doughnut without any topping, and it was so good that he began to think that this eighth evolution might really be worth paying for.

▼ Next up was the Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato-style (194 yen; 198 yen), which was a stunner.

The stone-roasted sweet potato-style glaze made it look near-identical to an actual roasted potato, and it helped deliver the flavour faster to the taste buds too. This one totally earned P.K.’s respect, and it was so good he says it was the best one in the range.

▼ The next doughnut, however, the Satsumaimo Do Melty Salted Butter (194 yen; 198 yen), totally fell short, with P.K. saying it was his least favourite.

Though it was tasty, the cream totally overpowered the sweet potato, burying it to such an extent that he could barely taste it, making it the weakest sweet potato flavour of the five.

Things got much better with the Satsumaimo Do Fragrant Creme Brulee (216 yen; 220 yen), which turned out to be just as good as the Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style.

The crispy brulee sheet was irresistibly delicious, with a slight bitterness that didn’t detract from the sweet potato flavour. It was the crispiness that really took this sweet to the next level, giving it the best overall balance out of all the doughnuts.

The final variety, the Satsumaimo Do Rich Sweet Potato (216 yen; 220 yen), was delicious, and also had plenty of sweet potato flavour, even without the sweet potato paste topping.

At this price, though, he’d recommend the Fragrant Creme Brulee instead, seeing as it costs the same and you get a more decadent experience.

So, after trying them all, P.K. is happy to eat his words on the Satsumaimo Do, at least for this year’s collection. It turned out to be much more delicious than past iterations, with more flavour, better visuals, and satisfying textures that capture the experience of eating a sweet potato more realistically than ever before.

In terms of delicious sweet potato flavour, P.K. highly recommends the Stone-Baked Sweet Potato Style as his favourite, followed closely by the Fragrant Creme Brulee, then the Plain, and then the Rich Sweet Potato, with the Melty Salted Butter at the bottom of the list.

Still, if you’re not watching your wallet or your waistline, then you could easily try them all and walk away happy as this is a tasty bunch of doughnuts. They’re only available in limited numbers and for a limited time, though, so you’ll want to get in quick before they disappear like the Mrs. Donut range in honour of Mrs. Green Apple earlier this year.

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