Underground Donut Tour: A London Walking Tour with a Difference!

When we first heard that the hugely popular US Underground Donut Tour was coming to London, UK, we wanted to be the first to sign up! So, on a balmy Saturday morning we made our way across London to the walking tour’s starting point near Borough Tube station in London. Arriving early, we discovered our meeting point was right next to a rather delicious Italian deli … it would have been rude to not have a coffee or two, right?

Oscar gets his own heading, and deservedly so. He was our guide for the 90-120 minutes walking tour of London. With his quintessential ‘posh’ English accent (think Jack Whitehall) – and looks to match – his witty prose and interesting facts led us around a well-planned route. At each stop we were rewarded with – you’ve guessed it – a donut! But donut number 1 didn’t require us to go anywhere …

That lovely deli I mentioned, where we sat outside enjoying coffees? Well it was right next door to St. John Bakery, the starting point of our walking tour. Having introduced ourselves to Oscar, we were asked to choose between a jam donut or a chocolate filled doughnut (I thought I ought to write it the English way too!) Millie and Huw opted for chocolate, while Toby and myself picked jam. Now, for those of you who follow me online, you’ll understand how fussy I am about traditional jam doughnuts. Last year I had to have chemotherapy and I craved a GOOD jam doughnut throughout. Crispy on the outside and covered in granulated sugar; filled with really good quality strawberry or raspberry jam. No skimping on the filling, and the dough needs to be light and not chewy (you know what I mean). So, could St. John Bakery meet my high standards? Of course they could … what a yummy start to what I could tell was going to be the best London walking tour I’ve ever been on!

In fact, we could go so far as to say that first donut was Michelin starred … as the bakery is part of the highly acclaimed St. John group, who have a Michelin-starred restaurant in Smithfield.

We walked up Borough High Street towards the famous Borough Market, stopping often to discuss the architecture and the history of some of the buildings. It wasn’t long before donut two was on our horizon, and this time our stop-off was at the colourful Doughnut Time.

In a matter of a few hundred metres we had gone from a traditional donut to a, quite frankly, rather decadent over-the-top one! How do you pick from donuts with elaborate names like Bruno Mars, Chris Martini, Ice Ice Bae Bae, 99 Problems, The Og, and Emma Ra-dough-canu?! I can’t actually remember which ones we picked – I know I picked a 99 Problems, and one (maybe two) kids had the Bruno Mars. Totally scrumptious, of course, but these ones were more challenging because they were rather sweet (strangely enough!)

After donut #2 we needed time to digest and recover, so we headed into Borough Market to taste cheese, chutneys and pate! You have to love Borough Market … there are some amazing food producers here, and the atmosphere is always buzzing. Yes, we bought cheese. And chutney.

As it turned out, donut #3 was IN Borough Market 😊

Bread Ahead is a bakery school in the heart of Borough Market – if their doughnuts are anything to go by, they have some very talented bakers working and teaching there! We had a tough choice here, as all options were tempting.

I went for their Eton Mess donut. Quite frankly I took no notice of what the other three went for! Other options were covered in honeycomb, and pistachios, and a black forest cherry jam. All of them were very Instagram-worthy!

Oscar guided us out of the Borough Market crowds, and down towards The Golden Hinde galleon, where we found a wall to sit on to enjoy our third doughnut. It was, again, delicious. I also have to say that the sugar rush was well and truly kicking in by this point!

Donut #4 was a little walk away – but a lovely one, along the banks of the River Thames towards Tower Bridge.

As we walked and chatted with Oscar, admiring the views of London on a gloriously warm day, we approached our final donut stop, at the wagon of Crosstown Doughnuts. However, on our arrival, this is what we discovered …

It was closed! They’d already sold out (if they’d opened at all that day). Oscar was horrified, but can I confess to being a little bit relieved … Four sugar-laden doughnuts was a tall order, even for me! Had they been open, I’d have taken it home to eat (much) later on. It was totally fine, but clearly it isn’t usually closed when Oscar brings his tour here.

We may not have had a doughnut, but what we did have at our walking tour’s destination was an AMAZING view of Tower Bridge.

And it was here that we bid farewell to our guide, after receiving a sticker!

What a brilliant idea, and such a fun activity. We all loved it. Ignoring the calories, I couldn’t believe how many steps I’d achieved! The tour was fascinating, the stops totally divine. Do we recommend it? Hell yeah! From now on, every walking tour we sign onto needs a foodie reward stop every 300 metres! The teenagers loved it too – now, come on, that’s a parent win right there!

Visiting London soon? Get booked on this tour. It’s so much more than a walk!