Vancouver Restaurant: Divine Donuts at Cartems

I do have quite a sweet tooth. When a few Vancouver mom friends invited me to check out the new Cartems Donuterie pop up shop in Gastown, who was I to say no?

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Not Your Average Doughnut

These are not Tim Hortons doughnuts. You won’t find your standardized variety of fried circle treats here.

With options such as Triple Chocolate Threat, Key Lime, Earl Grey (the most popular) and an infamous Maple Bourbon Bacon, this Vancouver restaurant is on top in uber, trendy and hip food fads. With a whopping $3 per doughnut price tag ($27 per dozen), you get what you pay for. Cartems Doughnuts are handmade daily using locally sourced ingredients, including Chilliwack’s Anita’s Organic Mill flour, Richmond’s River Farms eggs, and Burnaby’s Avalon Dairy milk. The doughnuts are gently fried in coconut oil (organic of course), and come in vegan and gluten-free alternatives.

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Vancouver Restaurant Scoop

All of Cartems doughnuts are made off site in a kitchen on Commercial Drive. They are then trucked over to their pop up shop location at Carrall and Hastings from Monday to Saturday. The tiny Vancouver restaurant offers no seating, so plan to eat on the go. It’s open Monday to Friday at 10:00 am and Saturday they open up at 11:00 am. They close when the day’s batch has sold out and rumour has it to be around 3:00 pm. We got there right when the shop opened and I have to say, a long line quickly formed behind us. If you do go, try to get there early. They do sell out of their Commercial Drive kitchen as well and open up at 9:00 am.

Is it worth $3 a doughnut? They are quite delicious and the various flavours will keep you coming back.

Guest post by Amy van Weelderen, Vancouver restaurant reviewer and owner of a fierce sweet tooth.