Just Open: Doughnut Time, Degraves Street, Melbourne

After a late-night sugar fix? Head for the neon doughnut down Degraves Street.

Brisbane's cult Doughnut Time has opened its first permanent Melbourne store in one of the city's laneway cafe heartlands.

Opening special "The Flinders Treat" is a nod to Melbourne's coffee culture – a doughnut topped with cream cheese icing, coffee glaze drizzle, and an espresso martini flavoured Tim Tam biscuit.

"Melbourne is one of the origins of great coffee in Australia," founder Damian Griffiths says.

While the stall sells colourfully glazed, confectionary decorated doughnuts and milkshakes, Griffiths hasn't ruled out adding a coffee offering.

"There's lots of great coffee in Melbourne and so many great operators.

"It's hard to decide which coffee to use."

The yeasted brioche doughnuts ($6 each) are made in Doughnut Time's Richmond kitchen and delivered to the hole-in-the-wall.

Griffiths says the "Love at First Bite" Nutella-filled doughnut is the most popular flavour. Given Melbourne's love affair with Nutella doughnuts, we predict it'll be top here, too.

Doughnut Time offers gluten-free and vegan options, with two vegan flavours daily.

"Classic" milkshakes come garnished with whipped cream and mini doughnuts ($10.50) - but Griffiths insists they are "not like an over the top frankenshake".

Griffiths' doughnut domination continues, with plans to open an outlet at 377 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (opposite Vegie Bar) in March, and with a third outlet on Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn to follow in six to eight weeks.

The first Doughnut Time stall opened a year ago in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley and has sparked 11 standalone stalls along the east coast, including a pair of Sydney outlets (in Newtown and Glebe) that opened earlier this month, and five in-store shopping centre pop-ups.

The cult doughnuts – including the M&M-scattered "Slim Shady" and the bacon topped "Ya Bacon Me Crazy" – have a hole lot of fans, with almost 100,000 social media followers.

Doughnut Time doughnuts are also available at a pop-up within Topshop at Emporium.

Open Mon-Fri 7.30am-11pm; Sat-Sun 8am-11pm.

5 Degraves Street, Melbourne CBD, doughnuttime.com.au