Perryman’s
Bakery

Nov 2018
$2.80
Donut from Perryman's Bakery

North Adelaide is a beautiful suburb. Generous, green parks surround the clean and pretty tree-lined avenues. Old stone buildings rise up gracefully from well-paved streets and well-nourished gardens. It’s a short jog from the city, just across a small bridge. There is a plethora of food and drink places to fill almost every need and a 24-hour bakery to fill the donut sized hole in every stomach. Although we live out of the city, both my work and our church is in North Adelaide and it’s always a joy to come to.

Having been coming to North Adelaide, nearly daily for two years, it’s surprising I hadn’t come across Perryman’s Bakery before. Perhaps I was too single-minded towards <a href="https://theholeygrail.blog/adelaide-north/bakery-on-oconnell-donut/">Bakery on O’Connell</a>, and with their 24-hour access and generous donuts, I didn’t look too hard elsewhere. However, one sunny Sunday I had been meandering around North Adelaide, wasting time by walking the streets, when I came across Perryman’s – a mere stone’s throw away from the main hub of O’Connell Street. The bakery was shut at the time, but peering in the windows I could tell it was a smaller affair and vowed to return another day.

Perryman's Bakery, North Adelaide
Perryman’s Bakery,
Tynte Street, North AdelaideView on Map

It took nearly a year for me to get back to Perryman’s – my wondering past usually colliding with when it was shut. Then, finally one Wednesday, I saw people gathered outside tables in the front and a small queue out the door. I quickly joined that queue and snagged a couple of the chocolate, sprinkle donuts before they were all gone. The customers at the tables and in the queue appeared to be well-dressed and likely retired locals. The bakery itself was tiny, barely managing a few through its doors at any one time – but clearly, they have a dedicated lunch crowd for their high-quality pies. The other desserts looked delicious – the fruit tarts, in particular, looked absolutely phenomenal! The donut was good, definitely satisfying, but I think if I returned it would be for their other delicious looking pastries and goods.

Aesthetics — 4

The dough was extremely dark, appearing to be overdone. Topping the dark dough was an even darker and appealing chocolate icing. The icing, unfortunately, was cracked and dripped down the sides, squashed in all the wrong places. The sprinkles on top were more like pink crumbs – likely from the end of the sprinkle bag – but contrasted the darkness of the dough well.

Topping — 5

The dark chocolate flavour was fair, but the pink sprinkles had a taste to them – a terrible "berry-licious" flavour. The soft sprinkles were stale and topped the thin and sticky icing which covered the dough, the plate, my hands and almost everything else in its vicinity.

Dough — 8.5

The dough was lovely and yeasty, a real dough highlight, and was accompanied by the taste of oil (in a good way) which reminded me of fresh, hot donuts from carnivals and fairs. The dough itself was more savoury than sweet, with a good balance of salt to sugar.

Texture — 7.5

The dough was lovely and soft, with a great chewing density but surprisingly no crunch from the outer shell despite it looking so much darker and crispy. There was also no crunch from the sprinkles which were soft and stale, and the icing was thin, sticky and dripping. The dough really saved this texture rating, but a lot of work needed to be done with the topping.

Overall

6.3

Almost Wonderful

I really liked the dough taste and texture, but the topping really let the donut down in aesthetics, taste and texture. However, the rest of the goods at Perryman's were very appealing, and the bakery is a nice spot to appreciate North Adelaide from – so perhaps we will return another day.

  • Aesthetics: 4
  • Topping: 5
  • Dough: 8.5
  • Texture: 7.5
Adelaide City
#4
All Donuts
#58

Where Next?