This chain seems to pop up only after the donut-craze has calmed down. But they seems to be pretty well in the race with coffee also on their menu. I saw their Bugis Junction branch on a Sat afternoon and it was full, with customers from youngsters to family with little kids, probably because they know where to choose the location for their branches.

I went to the one in Raffles City basement and we had a nice coffee donut for an after-dinner chit-chat. They place was decent, but I thought the seats were rather uncomfortable. They have the chairs type and the sofa type, with the chairs type placed rather in the way and the sofa type rather low.

I had the blended toffee and I thought the blending was not bad, at least there’s icy feel and yet not underblended. Cost me $5.80, pretty ok.

I didn’t try the donuts, but I thought just the colours looked great to brighten up my day. Just that that day do not feel like having donut with so much chocolate after a full dinner (normally would be my top choice). At least I don’t remember seeing one of those strange fillings (“wasabi” yet no wasabi spiciness?).

The donut craze in Singapore was kick-start by the emergent of the rivalry between Donut factory at raffles city, and Dippin’ Donut (of former Vinco fame) at Vivocity a few years back.

I remember when Donut factory and Dippin’ just started out, people will queue one two hours just to get that dozen of donuts. Now many more others have jumped into the wagon which includes the likes of Missy donut, Donut & Donuts, Munchy Donut, Summer house donut.

And of course, the latest and by far the one with the cafe concept to be found in our local shores, J Co Donut.

J Co Donut chooses Raffles city basement as their entrance to the Singapore market, of course where other than the battleground with Donut Factory. Since the opening of the donut cafe at Raffles city, the sales of Donut Factory has pale in comparison. And Donut factory isn’t really giving up the fight, with the cafe concept at Velocity@Novena, and Suntec city.

A couple of weeks ago, i wanted to try J Co Donut but the seats were all fully taken up, so we ended up at Cedele. This time when we go there was quite a lot of seats available, so i guess the timing must be right.

We were rather confuse because there are two counters inside J Co, one on the left which are where all the folks are queuing up for their donuts, and there’s another one on the right which we thought that its where the drinks counter is. We buy from the normal queue, but after that we saw people getting a menu from the drinks counter and ordering from there.

Furthermore, as we were having the donuts there, we were wondering whether will it be serve on plates or boxes, we saw people having it on plates, but ours are given in box. So i guess these are really some parts where J Co can do better to let us know, or perhaps the problem are just occurring to us and not ours.

Nonetheless, all the donuts look really really nice, and they are the sort that you know eating them will mean lots of calories, but you cant stop yourself from having them. O well, eat and exercise more!

Just for your info, I tried Dunkin Donuts when i were in KL last time, and i think i’ll preferred J Co Donut to Dunkin’s

I were rather surprised because they offer box for 3 donuts, and even when there are boxes for minimum of 2 donuts. If my memory didn’t fail me, it was at least half a dozen donuts for box last time.

Don Mochino ($1.30)
Dark Belgian chocolate topping perfected with light cappucino cream filling. Pleasure you shouldn’t feel gulity about.

One thing i really like about J Co donut’s is that they come up with really fanciful descriptions for all their donuts.

Anyway, the Don Mochino looks really nice with the beautiful chocolate toppings, but somehow the cappuccino cream fillings are a tad too light to the tongue.

Choco Cavier Strawberry ($1.30)
Sprinkle Premium chocolate with strawberry that will tickle your mouth.

The small chocolate balls on the choco cavier strawberry donut are quite nice, brings back a certain childhood memory.

Hazel Dazzle ($1.30)
Be sexy with dazzling hazelnut chocolate and get surprised with coffee cream.

The Hazel Dazzle donut is one of the new additions to the J Co donuts. I always like hazelnut, so this always work for me.

Ice chocolate ($5)
The ice chocolate comes in two sizes, $4.50 for the medium, and $5 for regular. We were discussing whether the regular is really a bigger size than the medium, because regular just sounds, regular. Smaller in size you know?

Tira Miss U ($1.30)
Dear Tira, it’s been so long i haven’t meet you. Now, i really miss you.

The tiramisu donut is really nice, i come to love tiramisu and this one is definitely the one i’ll try again when i revisit J Co. Because we brought 3 donuts at first, when i go and get one more, this tiramisu, i tell the manager i want one, he stared at me, giving me the nobody-buy-one-donut look!

It was so funny, i guess, nobody really go in and buy one donut. But i guess i’ll do it often, just to get to see that expression on their face. You all should try also yeah! Alright, i’m joking, we shouldn’t do doing such things to the service staff who work so hard selling our favourite donuts.

Total bill for 4 donuts and one ice chocolate is $10.20. J Co Donut is certainly very impressive, their first outlet in Indonesia was open on 26 June 2005, and within three years of operations they have 39 outlets throughout Asia with presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

I think despite the sinful and guilty feeling after eating donuts, i think i will be back to try other donuts at J Co. It’ll be quite a good place to chill out with your friends, munching donuts and sipping a cup of coffee, while sitting down at the cozy couch.

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

” Munching donuts & sipping coffee - perfect! “

I have heard of this brand of donuts for sometime especially from those who had been to Indonesia. They had been saying that this brand of donuts one of the best there. Some even say it is better than Krispy Kreme. Wah. This is a very big thing to say. Finally I had the chance to taste it when they open their first flagship store in the newly create Raffles City Basement. No need to search for it, just follow the smell, you are able to find the store already.

I was there and have to say that Singaporeans are quick to try all things new. There was a long queue going on, people trying out their new donuts. Other then selling their donuts, they also open a café where you can drink their drinks while eating and smelling their donuts. Wahahaha. Their café is a bit small, can only seat a small number of people.

Well you can read from the above post on how they sell/pack their donuts. A person is in charge of a few flavors of donuts, so you inform him/her what you want then she will grab whatever is within reach, if not, they will pass it to the next person to get the donuts from you. This will go on until you reach the cashier at the end of the line. I did not have to wait long but I did not managed to get ot buy all the flavors that I want.

They got quite a number of different flavors of donuts, at least 10 plus over flavors. From the normal almond glazed one to special ones that have crème inside the donuts. I tried a few and I shall use the almond glazed donuts as comparison. From the outlook, it does look like any other donuts (the same kind) that are selling from other donuts shops. My first bite into it, the donut is soft and simply melts in the mouth. The almond glazed is not too sweet. Pretty good. I dare say one of the best. For other flavors like

Alcapone which got lots of almond nuts with white chocolate, but my mum prefer Donut Factory version.

Tiramisu which is loaded with tiramisu cream inside. A bit sweet, not for those who don’t like cream.

Whynut which inside is filled with peanut butter and the donut is topped with white and milk chocolate.

Well after tasting a few times, I think some of the donuts are actually quite good while some of them are just average. To me it is just another donut company that came into Singapore to grab a slice of the pie. I will still go back to eat the almond glazes provided there is no queue. I think it is sooner or later you will see that they will pop up all over the little island of ours.

Not as special as I thought

Before J.Co arrives in this little small dot, I'd read bloggers from across the causeway sharing how good it is and how much they love it. So when I head they've set up their very first outlet at Raffles city, I was delighted! Off I went to try the infamous J.Co donuts.

When I was there, the queue wasn't as long as I'd expected. Instead the competition nearby, Donut Factory, was having a longer queue than J.Co.

I joined in the queue and started observing the staff behind the counter. They've in place an ordering system where each staff is incharge of some flavors within the hand-reach. And each customer is given a number for their order. The first staff will ask the quantity you want to buy and get the boxes ready. She's in charge of the first few flavors and will issue you a number when she passes you to the next staff who'll serve you for the rest of the flavors available. When you're done with your selection, you'll then proceed to the cashier where they'll tally your order and collect payment.

This seem like a systematic and effective way for them. But its not so friendly to some of the customers. Especially if they're there for the first time and not sure of what flavors they want. I would recommend to decide on the flavors and quantity for each before you reach the first staff. This will surely speed up the ordering process.

Hmm... looks like I've spent more time typing and explaining the process rather than talking about the donuts! Well, because, after tasting almost all the brands of donuts available in Singapore and also those from Krispy Kreme, I find the J.Co is just another brand of donuts. Nothing much to wow about. Other than some of the interesting looking ones with special names for some, there's just nothing much I would comment on. But because this is the only outlet here in Singapore, for now, I'm sure many will still queue to buy some just to get a taste of this sweet indulgence that is still getting the attention for the mass in Singapore.

As for me, I'll be staying away from these fattening snacks for now. :)