Times Square Japanese Bakery I'm donut ?: Open to 11 pm

I'm donut ?, at 154 W 45th St between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, is the Japanese bakery that brought Tokyo's nama donut craze to Times Square. A nama donut is made from an enriched, brioche-like dough and fried so lightly that the inside stays pale, moist and almost custardy, closer to a fresh milk bread than to the cakey rings sold at a coffee chain. The shop is walk-in only, first come, first served, and it stays open later than any other Japanese bakery in Midtown.

The brand belongs to chef Ryouta Hirako, whose other projects in Japan, listed on the shop's own about page, include hiracon'chez, DACOMECCA and AMAM DACOTAN. A chef who built his name on bread is an unusual founder for a donut shop, and that background shows in every bite. The question mark in the name plays on the same idea: what lands in your box sits somewhere between a donut and a piece of very soft, freshly baked bread, and the shop seems happy to leave the answer open.

The Times Square shop opened on April 22, 2025, and Time Out reported it as the first location of the brand outside Japan. It celebrated its first year in New York on April 22, 2026 with a one-day promotion, selling 500 donuts for $1 each with a limit of two per person, according to Resident. The New York Times covered the shop again in January 2026, and the line has been part of the block ever since.

The room is designed to be looked at. A tiered open kitchen sits behind pink-tinted glass, so you can watch the bakers shape, fry and fill the dough while you wait. The shop's own description singles out a six-ton granite boulder, sourced from upstate New York, that forms a communal table in the middle of the room, with shoji-style panels softening the walls.

Do not expect a cafe. The Infatuation put it plainly: there is nowhere to sit, and the boulder is a place to set down your bag and take a photo rather than to settle in. Most people carry their box to Bryant Park or eat standing on 45th Street, which is exactly how the donuts are meant to be eaten, still soft and only minutes out of the fryer.

Start with the Original. It is the plainest item on the menu and the clearest test of what the shop does: tear it open and the crumb should pull apart in soft, damp strands. If you only buy one, buy this, because every other flavor is built on the same dough.

The Matcha Cream is the most Japanese of the filled donuts, and the Sake Cream is the one that people talk about. The official menu describes it as the original nama donut filled with dry junmai sake and chantilly cream, so the filling is lightly boozy, floral and not very sweet. The Zaku-Zaku has a crunchy coating that gives the soft dough some contrast, while the PB&J is the shop's nod to American lunchboxes.

There is also a savory side to the menu. The NY BLT is a donut built into a sandwich with bacon, lettuce and tomato, and it works as a quick lunch in a neighborhood full of overpriced ones. Seasonal specials rotate, and this autumn the case includes a limited Pumpkin Cheesecake donut, so look for it before the season ends.

Ordering is simple once you are inside. You choose from the case at the counter, the staff box your picks, and you pay on the way out. Filled donuts are delicate, so ask for them to be packed upright and carry the box flat if you are taking them to a hotel or an office. They are best eaten the same day, ideally within the hour, before the cream starts to soak into the dough.

Because there are no reservations or holds, the shop's own contact page says donuts are available on a walk-in, first come, first served basis. Lines are longest on weekend afternoons, when theater crowds and tourists overlap, and the most popular filled donuts are the first to disappear.

The easiest windows are the first hour after the doors open at 10 am and late in the evening, especially Thursday to Saturday when the shop stays open until 11 pm. After a show lets out is a good time to come, since many visitors have already moved on to dinner. If waiting is not an option, the shop now delivers through UberEats and DoorDash, though the texture is at its best when you eat the donut on the spot.

Bryant Park is a short walk south and east toward 42nd Street, and its lawn and movable chairs make it the natural place to open your box. The New York Public Library's main branch sits on the park's eastern edge, which turns a donut stop into a quick look at the Rose Main Reading Room.

Heading north up Sixth Avenue instead brings you to Rockefeller Center within a few blocks. The walk from 45th Street takes you past the glass towers of Midtown, and the Channel Gardens between the buildings are a calmer place to finish the last donut than the sidewalk outside the shop.

Address: 154 W 45th St, New York, NY 10036, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Phone: 917-588-8339. Hours: Sunday to Wednesday 10 am to 10 pm, and Thursday to Saturday 10 am to 11 pm. The closest subway hubs are the Times Square complex a block south and the Rockefeller Center station on Sixth Avenue, served by the B, D, F and M lines.

There is no seating, so plan to eat outside or take the box away. Pick your donuts at the counter and pay, then move aside so the line keeps flowing. If you are building a whole evening around Times Square, the Karpo APP can suggest a pre-theater dinner or a quieter bar nearby.