Alimama
89A Bayard St, Manhattan, NY 10013
Alimama is a small cafe nestled in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown and they’re famously known in the neighborhood for their mochi donuts and cream puffs that originated and popularized in Japan. The first couple of months Alimama opened, hoards of people lined up inside the little cafe space in hopes of trying this new food item.
New York is famous for it’s plethora of Doughnut joints so there’s always steep competition but to name a few of my favorite doughnut shops that has met my expectations and not just there for the hype are as follows:
Dough offers their gigantic fluffy yeast donuts in very unique flavor combinations you can imagine. I really enjoy their limited matcha cream dipped donuts, dulce de leche with almonds and if I want something tart, I opt for their famous Hibiscus doughnut, pictured below.
- The Donut Pub which hones a very 90’s vibe and is open 24/7 for the late night drunks or the early morning risers. They offer tons of flavors from old school classics such as powdered jelly, simply glazed and even funky flavors such as maple bacon or fruity pebbles for the ones wanting some color on their foodstagram pages. Their first location is located on the corner of 7th Avenue and West 14th street and they also opened another shop near St. Marks on Astor Place (near the famous black cube). I enjoy these doughnuts for their simplicity and the fact that they’re so much better than dunkin donuts, LOL.
- DunwellDoughnuts is my third favorite doughnut shop in NYC. I believe they first opened their shop in Williamsburg Brooklyn and with high demand, they were able to open the East Village location as well. I really like Dunwell because despite the fact that their doughnuts are VEGAN, they don’t taste bad at all. The doughnuts are light and the frosting on top isn’t too sweet.
What makes Alimama stand out is that their doughnuts are made with a very familiar asian ingredient called sticky rice flour/sweet rice flour. This ingredient is crucial in making these doughnuts chewy instead of doughy like a traditional doughnut. The experience in eating these doughnuts are one of a kind if you’ve never had them before, it’s pretty fun chewing the dough.
I enjoy Alimama’s doughnuts because they’re reminiscent of the mochi desserts normally made in my Chinese household but with contemporary flavors that most millennials such as I enjoy such as matcha, ube (purple yam), boba milk tea, brulee;
This brulee doughnut pictured is easily one of my favorites at Alimama because there’s a crust on the doughnut and when you bite into it, you get the contrasting crunch with the soft and chewy mochi. It’s a one of a kind experience.
If you’re exploring Chinatown in New York, I highly recommend you try one of these doughnuts. I don’t think there’s any shop in NY that sells mochi doughnuts besides Alimama as of right now. Price for doughnuts aren’t cheap though, they’re $4-$5 per doughnut yet I justify them because they’re such a unique item and a delicious treat from time to time!
ShannonFoodie 
