When I initially saw images on facebook of some ‘doughnut cone’ coming to town, I was instantly transported back to Prague where I had something that looked exactly the same – a tube- or cone-shaped pastry called trdlenik: a sweet snack most famously sold in tourist areas of Czech Republic, made with dough rolled on a stick that rotates over fire and eventually sprinkled with a mixture of sugar and spice and crushed almond. It is also filled with several variations now from ice cream to fruit to whipped cream to even savoury fillings. This is what piqued my interest in those doughnut cones I saw on facebook.

Doughlicious opened up a little over two months ago in T block, Defence, near Lalik Chowk. While their specialty remains the ice-cream filled doughnut cones, they also serve a host of other sweet delicacies – doughnut sandwiches, waffles, gelato, doughnut holes, brownie and shakes.

Located around the corner from Hot Spot in Defence, it’s a small, almost congested, two-storey café with a wooden interior, a ‘Nutella fountain’, and a baking station rolling out cones live in one corner.

The flagship menu item is basically a soft, airy doughnut baked in the form of a cone and sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugars. There are three variations with similar bases, but different toppings. First things first, from among the cones, I chose what was called the King Chocolate. It had brownie at the bottom, the inside of cone glazed with Nutella, vanilla soft serve ice cream filling with a chunk of brownie sitting on top, and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauces and crushed nuts. The cone was softer than what I remember I had in Prague, so that is a plus here.

Other variations include The Original cone that has fresh fruit and brownie at the bottom covered with a mountain of vanilla ice cream, but this one’s topped with fruit, chocolate sauce and nuts. Then there’s the Dream Cone that again has the same brownie and Nutella base under loads of vanilla ice cream, but topped with walnut, wafers, caramel and chocolate sauces.

The calorie-conscious might want to stay away because one really needs to have one of these cones on a partially empty stomach. Devouring it is also a bit of a (messy) task which the owner told me he was working on to rectify. The cones are not just alarming for the waistline, but heavy on the pocket too; they’re priced between Rs420 and Rs460, but this is one dreamy treat for those with a sweet tooth.

Another fun item on the menu is the doughnut sandwich. These are soft, slightly crispy, freshly baked doughnuts filled with your choice of an in-house gelato flavour, drizzled with Nutella sauce and sprinkled with chocolate chips and crushed waffle. This finger-licking dessert could get a little messy to handle too, but totally worth the effort for around Rs250.

The soft, crispy doughnut holes – eight in a bowl for around Rs300 -- are drizzled with Nutella sauce, sprinkled with waffle crunch with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream on the side.

Belgian waffle, classic molten lava cake, melt-in-the-mouth Belgian chocolate brownie with French vanilla ice cream and an assortment of shakes are some other of the offerings at Doughlicious. Though I had no complaints with the amount of sugar I was consuming, I did miss a cup of freshly brewed coffee after the cone and sandwich. The menu may need a little expansion to that side, but they’ve just started out and as of now what they offer is distinctive, delightful, gratifying.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018