Donutelier Donut Shop, Charing Cross Road: Open Until 10pm

Donutelier, at 48-50 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0BB, is a donut shop that treats each ring like a French pastry: a filled brioche donut topped with ganache, Chantilly cream and a decoration such as a macaron ring or a caramelised profiterole. It opens 8:30am to 10pm every day, bank holidays included, a minute from Leicester Square station. Expect £5.75 to £7.25 a donut, and come after noon if you want to see the whole collection.

The shop opened in central London around the end of 2022 as the first UK venture from Roladin, the Israeli bakery group known at home for its festival doughnuts. Roladin was founded by brothers Kobi Hakak and Avi Keinan, and the London business took the name Donutelier, a play on atelier. The pitch is that the boutique doubles as a workshop, with chefs finishing donuts in-house from dough to final garnish, three batches a day.

The brand leans hard on design. Its chandeliers are shaped after patissiers' piping bags, and it describes a decoration theatre at its Covent Garden store where passers-by can watch donuts being piped and glazed. Since opening it has spread to Carnaby Street, the Strand and Soho Place on Oxford Street, but Charing Cross Road keeps the longest hours of the four and acts as the hub for delivery.

The St Honoré is the showpiece and the most expensive at £7.25: toffee caramel and blonde chocolate ganache inside, a hazelnut and chocolate crust, Chantilly cream and a caramelised vanilla cream profiterole perched on top. The Berry Macaron, at £6.75, is filled with rose, raspberry and lychee ganache and crowned with a macaron ring and fresh berries. It is the one most people photograph through the glass.

For something less ornate, the Chocolate Pretzel is the cheapest at £5.75, a chocolate ganache and pretzel filling with a vanilla sugar crust. The Vanilla Pecan at £6.25 pairs vanilla ganache with pecan praline and caramelised pecans, and the Fraisier at £6.75 is the closest to a British jam donut, with strawberry jam, Chantilly cream and sliced fresh strawberries. Our honest view: skip the Vanilla Cookie Cream, which tastes like what it is, an Oreo on a donut.

The October 2026 menu prices boxes at £23 for four, £34 for six, £48 for nine and £64 for twelve, so a box saves only a little over buying singly. Coffee is the counterweight to all that cream: a flat white is £3.90. The drink worth ordering is the Rochers Gianduja Hot Chocolate at £5.60, which echoes the hazelnut praline in the Rochers Gianduja donut, though ordering both together is a lot of sugar for one sitting.

If this branch has run low, the sister shops are close. Donutelier Oxford Street, at Soho Place, opens 9am to 9pm, and the Strand shop runs 8:30am to 6:30pm. Carnaby Street opens later, 11am to 7pm. All four carry the same collection and list the same or until sold out warning, so the nearest one with stock is the right choice rather than a longer walk to a favourite branch.

The shop says plainly that while there are always items available from opening, the full collection goes on display from 12pm, because the donuts are made fresh in store each morning. That makes the early opening better for a coffee and pastry than for choosing donuts. Late evening is the other good window, since the shop stays open until 10pm when most West End bakeries are shut, though popular flavours can be gone by then, as the or until sold out note warns.

There are no reservations. The seating area is small, but the shop's own advice is that tables clear quickly, and takeaway is always an option. If every seat is taken on a Saturday, carry your box five minutes down the road to the benches of Leicester Square, or walk round the corner to Cecil Court. For a cheaper filled doughnut nearby, Bombolone on Whitcomb Street sells Italian bomboloni at £4.90, though it closes far earlier.

Read the dietary notes before you go. All of the donuts contain egg, and none of the products are gluten free. The gelatine used is fish gelatine, and nothing contains alcohol. From the donut collection, only the Double Chocolate Sprinkles and Chocolate Pretzel are vegetarian. Vegans are limited to two pastries rather than donuts, plus plant milk for the coffee. Many products contain nuts, and the shop advises nut allergy sufferers not to eat anything here.

The donuts are fragile and meant for the same day, ideally within a few hours. Keep the box flat and out of the sun, and do not plan to carry one through a long afternoon of sightseeing before eating it. Delivery runs within a 2.5 mile radius of this branch, with a minimum of nine donuts, and corporate orders of 50 or more get a 10% discount.

The main door has one step, but there is a step-free side entrance on the Great Newport Street side of the shop, which helps with buggies and wheelchairs. Leicester Square station on the Northern and Piccadilly lines is about a minute away, and Covent Garden and Tottenham Court Road stations are both under ten minutes on foot. The shop publishes email rather than a phone number, so delivery and catering questions go through the website.

Charing Cross Road is the old bookshop street of London, so a donut here sits naturally with browsing. Cecil Court, the narrow lane of antiquarian booksellers and print dealers, is a two-minute walk south. Chinatown's Gerrard Street lies just west, across the road, and Leicester Square with its theatres is around the corner. A sensible evening plan is a show, then a late donut, since the shop is still open when most matinees and early performances finish.

Address: Donutelier, 48-50 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0BB. Hours: Monday to Sunday 8:30am to 10pm, including bank holidays, or until sold out. Phone: none published. Contact is by email through donutelier.co.uk. Prices: donuts £5.75 to £7.25, four-box £23, six-box £34, flat white £3.90, Rochers Gianduja hot chocolate £5.60. Nearest station: Leicester Square. Full collection from 12pm. No bookings, small seating area, step-free side entrance.