MANILA, Philippines – Who’s up for some fluffy, Japanese doughnuts? Me! And after trying out Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory’s newest pastry and Japan’s latest food craze – the Nama Doughnuts – I believe you should be, too.

The new sweet treat of Japanese pastry kiosk Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory (TMCF) is only available to order from its newest branch at Bonifacio Global City’s new Mitsukoshi Mall starting Thursday, December 15. Although made by the brand’s Japan culinary team, the first-of-its-kind Nama Doughnuts are only being sold in the Philippines and exclusively at the BGC branch for now.

Lucky us, then! These donuts are sweet clouds of heaven – it’s a delicately thin, subtly chewy donut dough that’s so soft and pillowy to the touch, generously filled with a luscious creamy filling that overflows with every bite.

Chef Yuichi Inoue from Japan trained TMCF’s Philippine staff himself, teaching them how to strictly control the temperature and mixing time to retain the donuts’ unique, cloud-like texture. The ingredients still are sourced from Japan; its flour and frying oil are developed specifically for these donuts, and only pure Hokkaido butter and Hokkaido milk are used for the filling. Even though they’re deep-fried on the spot, the donuts don’t taste heavy, oily, or greasy at all.

So far, there are three variants to the Nama Doughnuts: The Classic Doughnut is a regular sugar donut with no filling, and is meant to be enjoyed in all its soft, airy simplicity. It costs P95 for a piece and P435 for a box. The Mascarpone & Custard Doughnut is filled with a rich mascarpone cream and sweet custard cream, similar to the custard filling of TMCF’s best-selling Milk Pies. The creamy filling is sweet, rich, a tad tangy, but still light, and the donut is dusted with powdered sugar.

The Rare Cheese Nama Doughnut is my personal favorite – it’s filled with a tangy cream cheese filling and coated with white sugar for some crunch and as a sweet contrast to the deliciously zesty cream. As someone into citrusy and cream cheese-based desserts, this would be my go-to. Both the Mascarpone and Rare Cheese Doughnuts cost P135 a piece and P635 for a box of five. Like most Japanese desserts, the donuts aren’t too sweet, but they’re still very satisfying.

They’re only available for take-out, so make sure to eat them right away! They’re best enjoyed fresh out of the fryer, while warm, or at room temperature.

Also at TMCF’s BGC stall are the brand’s signature Japanese Milk Cheesecake, Cheese Cookies, and Cow Cow Ice soft serve ice cream. You can also watch the TMCF team make your donuts from scratch behind the glass display!

TMCF’s Nama Doughnuts stall is located at Basement 1 of Mitsukoshi Mall on 8th Ave. corner 36th St., Grand Central Park, North BGC, Taguig City. The mall is open from 10 am to 11 pm daily. – Rappler.com