Bob’s Donuts

When traveling at a certain age, even a cookbook author and food writer doesn’t look for certain foods – like doughnuts – trying to discover all that is more interesting. But there's a difference when you travel with kids. To please my ego, I would have skipped that part, but I could not as doughnuts (for a teenager in America) is something you have to try. Doughnuts are everywhere in San Francisco, but there' s only one Bob’s Donuts and that is the one you should visit to taste a real doughnut in SF. It is a story that started in 1960s and is still family-owned. Not much has changed: hundreds and thousands of yeast pastry puffs take a swim in hot oil to be reborn as doughnuts you will not forget. Lush, moist, airy, light, and so perfect that it is seems almost strange to say that. They are one of the last family-owned places that serve handmade doughnuts in SF. It was a surprise for the girls to go to this place.

After a long walk from Coit tower along Lombard Street with the wind getting colder and stronger and too few clothes to keep us warm, we arrived at the Nob Hill Bob’s Donuts, where both of them (let me tell you secret, all three of my family members) stood by the window trying to choose which doughnut to have. In addition to all the classics, they had some in Halloween-themed ones, making the choice even harder. Like others, we ordered the classics and then a Halloween one and an apple fritter the size of my husband's fist. The website says: “This isn't for the timid eaters. This is the heavy-duty, apple filled, frosted coated hunk of a donut that will scare away anyone who isn't ready for some serious eating,” and thank God we weren’t scared as it was one of the best I have ever eaten. Now, even without kids and even at my elegant age, I will head to Bob’swhen in San Francisco. Every single time. 

Story and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s
Flying with Turkish Airlines