Earlier this month it was announced that the original General Porpoise in Capitol Hill would be closing, so I had to stop by before it was gone forever (two other locations will remain open however). General Porpoise serves English style custard-filled doughnuts coated in coarse sugar. The dough itself is medium light density (Doce being the lightest so far, and an old fashioned donut being the densest based on my donut density scaling system). The menu rotates frequently so today I got to try Nutella Cream and Chocolate Marshmallow. I didn't think it through well enough when I ordered because they tasted similar enough to each other that I could not tell them apart. The cream fillings were light and fluffy in their own right, nothing heavy or separated going on there. The chocolate or nutella was subtle (read: not overwhelming) and delightful. I do not ordinarily like cream filled doughnuts but that is the burden I chose to carry. Also these were seriously delicious.
The space is bright and large, decorated with Renee Erickson's signature look of French inspired blues and golds, wood and marble, and minimalist line art. By the time I post this the location will be closed but I'll assume the locations in Pioneer Square and the Amazon Spheres are just as light and airy as their doughnuts.
Plenty of seating inside and on a nice day the garage door opened up to let the warm in and the sugary smells out. The Capitol Hill location is near the heart of Pike/Pine corridor, lending itself to local residents (or formers like myself) and early morning families and probably more than a few hungover club-goers.
