The HOTA Farmers and Artisan Markets are held weekly at the HOTA – Home Of The Arts – in Surfers Paradise. It’s a big market with lots of stalls selling a wide variety of things, mainly foods, fresh and cooked. If I lived nearby, this would be a regular thing for me.

There were a couple of doughnut options, but the one I liked the look of most was the Dutch stand selling freshly-made Dutch Donuts – Olie Bollen. (I’m not sure of the name of the stand).

My Olie Bollen was a lot like the Italian doughnut called Sfinci, which I used to love growing up. To all those kids who teased me for being Italian – up yours! I ate food you could only dream of.

It was a little bit warm and clearly freshly made. It was rolled in sugar – an option that the guy serving offered me. So you could have it without sugar to make it less sweet if you prefer.

It had pieces of fruit through it, like cooked apple and raisins. It was very chewy and had a dense texture.

It was ugly and extremely delicious.

The service was exceptionally friendly too.

Great markets. Great Dutch Donut.

HOTA Markets