General Porpoise Doughnuts

Best Cream Filled Doughnut Award: General Porpoise Doughnuts

Recommended by: After our Top Pot vs Mighty O post and our post on the doughnuts at Tempesta Coffee, a co-worker advised me that General Porpoise Doughnuts puts all of these places to shame.  Let’s see.

Description on the General Porpoise’s website: Made fresh doughnuts—filled with handmade curds, custards, creams, and jams—paired with remarkable coffees from roasters near and far.

Neighborhood/Type:  University District/Laurelhurst

Address: 4520 Union Bay Place NE, Seattle WA 98105

What we ate/drank:  Chocolate Marshmallow, Vanilla Custard, Peaches & Cream, Rainier Cherry Jam and a Macchiato.

Comments: As mentioned above, I told my co-worker that I found a place called Tempesta Coffee that had perhaps better doughnuts than either Top Pot or Mighty O. She then told me although she’d never been to Tempesta Coffee, there’s a place called General Porpoise Doughnuts that puts Top Pot and Mighty-O to shame.  We’d heard of Renee Erickson’s new doughnut place that had opened in Pioneer Square and Capitol Hill, but we never made it out. We’re big fans of Renee Ericsson’s sea-themed restaurants such as The Whale Wins, The Walrus & Carpenter, Barnacle Bar, so we were looking forward to trying General Porpoise.

We’d see the beautiful pics of the filled doughnuts on Instagram and salivated. Then we heard a branch was opening near University Village, which is closer to where we live. It finally opened in late July, so one Saturday morning we took the family to see if my co-worker was right.

As mentioned the new location is near UW/University Village off Union Bay Place that has only a few parking spots, so beware. The interior is super minimalist and more conducive for taking out and enjoying the doughnuts at home than eating there although we ordered enough to do both. General Porpoise doesn’t have your traditional doughnuts with the hole in the middle. They specialize in cream/jam filled doughnuts. We ordered four doughnuts

• Chocolate Marshmellow
• Vanilla Custard
• Peaches and Cream
• Rainier Cherry Jam

It wasn’t hard to pick since they only had 5 types to choose from. We ended up eating to there and taking the other two to eat at home later in the day. All were really delicious, but the four doughnuts totaled over $18+, which includes a 10% service charge, so it’s pricey.

On one of our visits, they had a group of doughnuts that did not pass their standards, so no filling was inserted. These doughnuts were only $1.00 a piece and we don’t know why they didn’t pass muster, but they were perfectly fine to us.

They have locations in Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square and within the Amazon Spheres, but this location is only open to Amazon employees. It is open to the public on every other Saturday from 9am-3pm by reservation only.

On General Porpoise’s website you can pre order online the day before pickup. You can’t pick doughnuts individually like Mighty-O, but you can ask for favorites, but it’s ultimately the bakers choice. The orders come in increments of 10 doughnuts up to 50 and can be ordered up to one week in advance.

Although the doughnuts are creative and tasty, the price will stop us from making this a regular stop. For now we’ll stick to Top Pot, Mighty O and Tempesta. We will reserve visits to General Porpoise to special occasions,such as visitors from out of town or special birthday desserts.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.25

Service: 4.50

Food/Drinks: 4.75

Bang for the Buck: 3.75

Overall:  4.35

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Servers recommendations to visit in the future: None

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• Tempesta Coffee- A New Challenger Appears
• Battle of Seattle Doughnuts(or Donuts?)- Top Shop vs Mighty O
• Seattle Food Wars
• Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating