Bombolone Donut Shop off Trafalgar Square: £4.90 Bomboloni

Bombolone, at 21 Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7HA, is a small Italian donut shop two minutes on foot from Trafalgar Square, and every doughnut on the counter costs the same £4.90. There is no booking and no queue system, just a walk-in counter that opens at 9am on weekdays and 10am at weekends. The catch is printed on its own menu: flavours rotate, and most sell out by mid-afternoon.

The shop was started by Sonia and Paweł Sipta, a couple who say they fell for the bombolone, Italy's filled doughnut, in the hills of Tuscany. They opened in September 2025 after spending more than six months testing the recipe, and the bakery now starts frying before sunrise. The word bombolone comes from bomba, a nod to how full of cream each one is meant to be, and the name sets the rule here: no holes, no rings, only round brioche doughnuts piped to the brim.

Inside, the room leans into the idea of an Italian summer, with sun-bleached colours, fresh flowers and a handful of cafe tables. It is closer to a neighbourhood cafe than a grab-and-go counter, which is unusual in a block that mostly serves theatre crowds and tourists. In its first month it claimed the top bakery spot in London on TripAdvisor, a boast it still prints on the menu, and that early attention is why weekend afternoons can feel crowded.

Pistachio Amore is the flavour the shop itself calls the one everyone comes back for: Italian pistachio cream inside, a white chocolate glaze and roasted pistachio pieces on top. Order it first, because it is usually the first tray to empty. Vanillissimo is the purist choice, filled with crema pasticcera made in-house with real vanilla pods and finished with icing sugar rather than glaze, so it tastes most like the bomboloni sold on Italian beaches.

Mama Mia Tiramisu! is filled with fresh mascarpone cream and real espresso under fine cocoa, and it pairs well with a short coffee. Raspberra brings a raspberry filling, white chocolate glaze and freeze-dried raspberries, while Choco Hazel Bacio uses hazelnut gianduja cream with roasted hazelnuts. Dolce Cheesecake is filled with sweet cheese cream and is the least sweet of the set. If you only try one, skip the cheesecake and go for pistachio or vanilla.

Buying in a box saves a little: two cost £9.00, four £17.00 and six £24.00, compared with £4.90 each when bought singly. The box of six is the sensible size for sharing at the gallery steps or taking home on the train from Charing Cross. Coffee is from Moresso, the specialty roaster the shop uses, starting at £2.80. The menu also runs to tiramisu from £6.90 and cheesecake from £5.50 if you want a plated dessert.

This is one of the few doughnut counters in the West End that also does proper lunch. Italian brioche sandwiches start at £7.50 for the Mozzarella Classica, and the Chicken & Avocado is £8.50. Breakfast bowls such as chia pudding and granola yogurt are £5.50. That makes it a realistic plan for a full late-morning stop rather than a five-minute sugar run, especially on a cold day before an afternoon in the galleries.

Doughnuts are made on the premises each morning, so the full range is on show at opening. Weekday mornings between 9am and 11am are the easiest time to see every flavour and get a table. Saturday is the long day, open until 8pm, but the popular fillings rarely last that long. Sunday runs 10am to 6pm. If you arrive late and the counter is down to one or two flavours, take a box of whatever is left rather than waiting, because the bakery fries its batch in the early morning, not through the day.

If Bombolone is sold out, Donutelier on Charing Cross Road is about five minutes away and makes French-patisserie doughnuts at higher prices, with later hours. For a cheaper alternative, the cafes inside the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery serve cakes and coffee without the walk. Either way, check the counter before you queue: if Pistachio Amore is gone, the line will not be worth it for most people.

There are no reservations, and you order at the counter. Allergen information is published on the official site, and since pistachio, hazelnut and dairy run through most of the fillings, guests with nut or milk allergies should read it first. The shop also takes catering and delivery orders across London, with personalised and branded doughnuts, but those need ordering ahead and are separate from what is in the window.

Whitcomb Street is a quiet lane running behind the National Gallery, between Pall Mall East and Leicester Square. From Charing Cross station it is about six minutes on foot, and from Leicester Square station about four. Piccadilly Circus is eight minutes away. Coming from Trafalgar Square, walk up the west side of the gallery building and the shop is a short way along the lane.

The location makes for an easy afternoon. The National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery are both free to enter and sit within three minutes of the shop. Leicester Square, with its half-price theatre ticket booth, is just to the north, and Chinatown's Gerrard Street is a short walk beyond. Covent Garden is about six minutes east. A good loop is doughnuts first, a gallery second, then Chinatown for dinner.

Given the address, expect gallery-goers taking a break, theatregoers with time before a matinee, and people who read about the TripAdvisor ranking and came specifically for the pistachio. The shop also caters birthdays and office orders, so you may see staff boxing up a large order behind the counter. The sensible etiquette is to order at the counter before sitting, and to give up your table on a Saturday afternoon once you have finished, because the room is small and the queue builds quickly.

Address: Bombolone, 21 Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7HA. Hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 6pm. Prices: doughnuts £4.90 each, box of two £9.00, four £17.00, six £24.00, brioche sandwiches from £7.50, Moresso coffee from £2.80. Nearest stations: Charing Cross and Leicester Square. Walk-in only, no bookings.