After having dinner at Savio Volpe with fellow food bloggers Kristina (Drunken Noms), Hanson (Nosh and Nibble) and David (Picky Diner), the four of us ventured to Carterms Donuterie for some dessert.
Heritage Building
Located at Main Street and East 6th Avenue, the Cartems Donuterie in Mount Pleasant is the second location for the donut shop. It occupies the bottom of the historic Ashnola Apartments which was built in 1913. This Cartem’s location is a lofty space with high ceilings. Seating can be found at counters, a communal table with stump stools or a very unique wooden “slab table.”
Fresh Donuts using Locally-Sourced Ingredients
The flagship Cartems in Downtown Vancouver is where they have a kitchen to produce their donuts. They transfer these donuts to the Mount Pleasant location multiple times a day. They use ingredients that are sourced locally and organic wherever possible.
What We Tried
We ordered half a dozen donuts for the $18. We thought it was the best deal since you could have a mix of “rings” and “stuffies,” which are $3.25 and $3.75 each, respectively.
The flavours we tried were:
- Triple Chocolate Threat
- Canadian Whiskey Bacon
- Salted Caramel
- Key Lime Stuffie
- Watermelon
- London Fog
I enjoyed the light, fluffy texture of the donuts. Even though it was near closing, the donuts were not dry.
In terms of flavours, I enjoyed the Triple Chocolate Threat the most. I felt like it had the right amount of chocolate flavour and I loved the fun textures from the crispy callebaut chocolate pearls. The Canadian Whiskey Bacon was my next favourite as I liked the sweet and savoury flavour of it. It is made with whiskey, bacon fat, maple extract and topped with a house-made double smoked bacon.
We tried two donuts of the month: the Key Lime Stuffie and the Watermelon. I liked how citrusy the Key Lime Stuffie was. Delicious and tangy Key Lime cheesecake filling with fresh citrus glaze and graham cracker crumble. Yum! The Watermelon is a vanilla cake donut topped with fresh watermelon glaze with black sesame seeds on top. It tasted refreshing like a watermelon and the black sesame seeds were a nice touch.
The Salted Caramel was a bit of a miss for it. I found that it tasted more like chocolate than salted caramel. The London Fog flavour was the lightest of the bunch with a subtle vanilla and Earl Grey flavour.
Overall Impression of Cartems Donuterie
All in all, I enjoyed quite a few of the donut flavours we tried especially the Triple Chocolate Threat. The May donuts of the month are worth a try as well as I thought the flavours were quite fitting for the spring/summer season. I also enjoyed the fact that the donuts were still fluffy and moist even though it was near closing. Rating: 4/5
Website: cartems.com