Gourmet Doughnuts at Chequers Bakery, TTDI: Restaurant Review

This review is brought to you in part by Chequers Bakery.

Taking doughnuts to the next level, TTDI’s friendly neighbourhood cafe, Chequers, recently unveiled a first-floor bakery that specialises in imaginative savoury & sweet doughnuts worth devouring, alongside an array of house-baked bread & pastries.

Savoury Doughnuts

Our favourites are the savoury doughnuts, which pack plenty of surprises, often featuring various components moulded into the shape of doughnuts. We love the Frittata doughnut, comprising double-stacked layers of thick, fluffy omelettes laced with sauteed spinach, capsicum, mushrooms & cheddar cheese – essentially an egg recipe transformed into a doughnut.

There’s even a mac-&-cheese doughnut that’s marvellously executed, heated to order & served warm. Flavours & textures prove complex & sterlingly well-tuned, spanning globe-trotting influences like a Chicken Tikka-inspired doughnut (a memorable russet potato-based doughnut topped with chicken, jalapenos, scallions & fiery mayo) a Mexican version (with grilled chicken, crusted corn tortillas, mozzarella sauce, chipotle sauce & garlic aioli).

There are options for carnivores (a chia seed doughnut with slow-roasted beef ribs & house-made BBQ sauce) as well as vegetarians (a raised spinach doughnut with portobello, oyster & button mushrooms, plus ranch dressing). For RM5 a doughnut, a fair deal – three doughnuts suffice for a light lunch.

Sweet Doughnuts

The sweet doughnuts also provide for playful pleasure, with rich glazes & frostings blanketing each baked-fresh-daily creation. We like how these doughnuts are very tasty but far from cloying – a white chocolate glaze is balanced with coconut & orange zest, a tiramisu-influenced dark chocolate glaze with coffee powder is finished with pistachios, while the creaminess of a Malaysian combination of pandan cream glaze & gula melaka caramel is offset by the crunch of oats. Also RM5 per doughnut.

Non-doughnut delights

The Chequers bakery’s capabilities extend beyond doughnuts; customers can also drop by for a complete lunch, with starters like piping-hot bread balls stuffed with spinach & cheese, topped with quail eggs & a choice of beef bacon, turkey ham or smoked salmon (RM10; cute & fun), heaps of sandwiches made with Chequers’ own-baked croissants, ciabatta or focaccia (the Cajun chicken makes for a hearty meal, piled high with grilled thigh meat, lots of avocado, turkey ham, butterhead lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum & honey grain mustard, for RM25), & inventive pastries like Shogun (RM17; crispy puff pastry with bulgogi beef, seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, a sunny-side-up egg, pickled radish & spicy teriyaki sauce).

Beverages

Beverages showcase a wholesome bent; Chequers does its own infused teas, smoothies & pressed juices. If you haven’t been back here in awhile, it might be worth returning, especially since the main cafe has also vastly expanded its menu beyond its mainstay of waffles to also cover everything from pastas to pancakes, enchiladas to lasagna & lamb racks. Many thanks to Chequers for having us.