Do Tim Hortons Doughnuts Do Justice to Canada?

Seattlest was in Vancouver this weekend, and, on a whim, made our first foray into a Tim Hortons. We'd heard good things -- "the apex of Canadian cuisine," for example -- and as lifelong doughnut fans we were happy to test that claim.

We bought a maple glazed ring and a chocolate longjohn and took them back to our room.

The verdict: Canada, you're better than that.

The doughnuts were fine, but they're nothing special. They're comparable to Westernco or Winchell's -- decent raised doughnuts with glaze that's ten times sweeter than it is flavorful.

We know -- half of you are asking "Where's the downside?" Like we said, the doughnuts are fine -- but they don't touch the brilliance of any of the trifecta of great doughnuts available locally, namely Krispy Kreme, Mighty-O, or Top Pot. We're not huge fans of Krispy Kreme, but we can see the appeal -- fresh from the line there's nothing quite like 'em. Mighty-O is the platonic ideal of the store-bought doughnut.

And Top Pot? Top Pot is sublime. (Also, they spell it "doughnuts" and not "donuts," bespeaking the seriousness with which they treat their artistic products.)

Tim Hortons? Well, we used to eat a lot of Mister Donuts when we were young midwesterners, but we don't conflate nostalgia with flavor.

Then again, maybe we just picked wrong. We didn't get Timbits -- "Worth the 5 dollars I paid for them," noted Accidental Hedonist. And when we updated our Facebook status with "James thinks Tim Hortons' doughnuts are overrated," fellow doughnut fan Kirsten Anderson told us that "The secret is Tim Horton Honey Cruellers."

Noted for next time -- because, truth be told, we'll stop in again. We just won't buy Amtrak tickets just for the doughnuts.