Homesick Americans who are out hunting for good, old-fashioned “real” donuts can find them in two stores in Jerusalem. There are competitors, but they are still essentially just folks who are dressing up the ubiquitous Israeli sufganiya in fancy attire for the holiday.
Israeli sufganiyot are the oil-fried jelly donuts that are traditionally eaten to celebrate the historical holiday of Chanukah, which commemorates the miracle that occurred when a sole remaining cruse of sanctified olive oil lasted instead for eight days instead of one. A small band of faithful Jews had defeated the mighty Seleucid (Syrian-Greek) army and reclaimed their defiled Holy Temple, using the oil -- an amount expected to last only for a day -- to rededicate the national house of worship to the service of G-d.
A flood of of Israelis have already snapped up vast quantities of bountiful sufganiyot injected with red jelly made from unidentified fruit that adorn every store in the country, from your local supermarket down to the kiosk around the corner. These days one can also find every other form of filling, from dark chocolate, white chocolate, custard and dulce du leche to more exotic fillings, such as halvah, unique to the various communities in which the bakeries are found.
Beyond the powdered confectioners' sugar that blankets the city and all sufganiyot within a range of all Israeli borders, one can also find various toppings and icings these days, including the specialties seen at the English Cake outlets in the capital that include a bright red glaze that make the sufganiyot look like bright candied applies, shiny chocolate icing topped with chopped a slightly salted almonds and a gooey caramel covering that oozes the words "Eat me!" when you look at it.
But if you’re looking for a REAL donut, one with chocolate icing and filled with luscious, custard-colored Bavarian cream inside or a donut with a hole in the center (remember those?) and strawberry icing on top – you need to go to Aldo's, that fancy little ice cream shop. There are two Aldo's outlets that just began stocking these uniquely American treats less than two weeks ago -- one in the trendy German Colony, on Emek Refaim Street, and the other in the heart of the capital, on Ben Yehuda Street, near King George Street, at the far end up from Zion Square.
The donuts are produced by the Mr. Donuts firm, which has also begun distributing its product to selected Alonit gas station convenience stores around the country.
Aldo's owner Assaf Ben Ami told Israel National News in an interview Tuesday night that since he began carrying the product 10 days ago, he has sold an average of 100 donuts a day at the Ben Yehuda Street store alone.
“Surprisingly, though, it’s not just Americans who are eating them,” he said. “It is true that there are a lot of American tourists, but they’re not the majority. We get many Israelis coming into this outlet, and Americans who have made aliyah and are now Israelis, of course,” he acknowledged.
So what’s the fave front runner so far?
“You would not believe it,” Ben Ami said with some amusement. “Neither did I.” It turns out that Jerusalemites prefer strawberry-iced donuts, with chocolate-frosted Bavarian cream-filled dainties as the first runner-up. Banana-iced donuts place third, he said. Aldo's offers 10 different varieties, but Mr. Donuts produces many others. Ben-Ami is still tweaking his offerings, he said.
“Actually, it’s the filling that counts,” Ben-Ami added. “I was very surprised by that. But apparently, Americans really like filling in donuts,” he shrugged with a smile. "We are going back and forth on what to order next."
Several years ago, the U.S.-based Dunkin' Donuts franchise tried to launch a similar effort in Israel -- but although the initial few months were successful, ultimately the business failed to catch on and was forced to close. Ben-Ami is optimistic that won't be the case with Mr. Donuts, however.
"There are many more American immigrants here now," he said. "Also, people are much more familiar nowadays with what donuts are all about. They really grow on you."