Tim Horton's, China Edition

A few months ago, Allison and I decided that we would plan a trip to Shanghai, China. Since we're living in Asia right now, the distance wasn't too far, and we had a long weekend to use for just such an adventure. The focus of our adventure was going to be Shanghai Disneyland (you'll be able to read more about that later), but with an early flight into the city, we decided to spend our first day in Shanghai proper.

We didn't know what we were going to do on this day. We would have just got off a strange midnight to 5 am flight, likely with little sleep. The only thing we knew for sure is we wanted to walk along the Bund. Other than that we had nothing planned until we checked into our hotel in the afternoon at Disneyland. We asked a few friends about what we should see, and got a list of fun neighbourhoods and sights to check out. Then it dawned on us, we had heard rumours that there were Tim Horton's opening up in China, and Shanghai would be the perfect city to do this. We did a little research and were delighted to find that this was the case, and that the one location (two more have opened in the last few days) was well within our touring plans.

While it would have been great to make Tim Horton's our first stop in Shanghai, geographically it didn't make any sense. We decided instead to start with the Bund, and work our way into the city towards the People's Square (where the TIm Horton's is located). The day pretty much happened as expected. We wandered around Shanghai finding a few snacks and treats to sample along the way, but we always kept a bit of room for some Timbits (and whatever else we might come across at Tim Horton's). It was a fun day seeing the sights and enjoying the vibe of  the city, and it wasn't until after lunch that we finally came to the doorway.

When we came to the door it was as if we were back in Canada. The sign is perfect, even slightly understated (very Canadian). There were a few advertisements stuck to the window as well promoting things that seemed very Tim Horton's and the might have even been recognizable (it's been a little while since I've been back in Canada). But the outside is where any similarities to a regular Tim Horton's stopped.

Once you walked into this place the decor took a drastic change. There was a lot of wood and heavy tables and chairs. There were also neatly stacked mugs and bags of coffee stacked for sale in an elegant display in the middle of the store. The decorations were much more modern than one might find at a regular Tim Horton's, but most interesting was the employees uniforms. They were all wearing bright red plaid lumberjack shirts. Stranger still was the lack of any kind of doughnut rack. Instead there was a glass display case with the various doughnuts available displayed under glass. I'd never seen Timbits displayed on a slate black stone plate before, fancy to say the least.

The look was a bit jarring, but the menu did have a few things to make you feel comfortable. It was a little odd to actually see a book style menu as well. I'm glad the menu was there though because there were a few different items available, and these menus provided a good way to communicate with the people taking your order. My favourite part of the menu was the full description of what a Double-Double was and how to order it. While a few menu items tempted us, we thought that Timbits and coffee would be the prudent thing to order. We also thought it would be quick, and just in case we couldn't get a table, something we could carry outside if necessary.  Did I mention that the place was packed, it made me happy to see so many Chinese people celebrating Canada.

This is the part where things kind of fell apart a little. First of all they don't offer Timbits the same way that most Tim Horton's offer Timbits. It appears that you could only order Timbits in batches of six. We asked for assorted (since the example Timbits in the glass case didn't mention what flavour was available), when we said we wanted assorted, the girl helping us looked at us strangely. It seems like the only way one can order Timbits in this location is to buy a box of six different Timbits. It worked find for us, but if you had a craving for a full box of chocolate dipped you might be out of luck.

This is what you get if you order 1 Timbit... how cute.

Remember that they didn't have doughnut racks, so that meant that the donuts had to come from the busy kitchen. The thought was that they had racks, but they might be in the back, out of the way. As it turns out, this might not have been the case. We waited a good 20 (or 30) minutes for our Timbits to be prepared. I was peeking into the kitchen and I spotted an employee carefully preparing our Timbits, one at a time. This did turn our quick Timbit grab into a longer adventure, but a table opened up in that time, so it worked in our favour. I'm not sure if this slow Timbit issue is just a kink to be worked out, so I'm willing to give them a pass on that. I'm particularly willing to give them a pass because of the quality of the Timbits we finally got.

We ordered 12 Timbits, and we each got a box of six, the math works I guess. In each box were 6 carefully decorated Timbits that were frankly beautiful. Two in particular were absolute masterpieces (one was a little too strange for Allison). There was a maple iced Timbit that was covered so carefully with just the right amount of maple icing., but the real hero was a Timbit that was coated with chocolate icing, and then sprinkled on top was some kind of amazing chocolate powder/milk chocolate. These two doughnuts were just amazing, well beyond anything I've ever seen at a Canadian Tim Horton's.

The chocolate glazed, sprinkled, and cherry powdered Timbits were pretty close to what you might get at home with one exception. In the case of all of these doughnuts, they were far less sweet than what you find in a Canadian Tim Horton's. I imagine that this is a change made to deal with Chinese tastes, and it was a really nice twist. It helped the flavour of these Timbits come through a little bit better, and if you're like Allison, the lack of extra sugar is a plus.

The last Timbit was truly the strange one in the mix, and most certainly the one geared towards Asian tastes. It was a cheese filled powdered Timbit. It wasn't cream cheese though, it was a creamy version of something I would describe as similar to cheddar. While this seems like something out of left field, cheese doughnuts are actually pretty common in Asia. While it wasn't my favourite, I'm glad I had the chance to taste it.

All it all I would say that we had a pretty good visit to Tim Horton's in Shanghai. It didn't really fill the nostalgia hole I was hoping, but it was fun to see. A friend asked me later if it felt like I was in a Tim Horton's in Canada, and I'd have to say that the answer is no. It felt more like I was in a Tim Horton's themed restaurant. It was a little bit too fancy and complicated to feel like a Canadian Tim Horton's. There was also a lot of Canadianana being thrown in my face from all angle. The lumberjack shirts, the wood everywhere, and the general Canadian iconography all over the place (hockey sticks as door handles) made it feel like it was trying so hard to be Canadian. I would by no means call this place a failure, but for Canadians looking for a taste of home, it's a little strange.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with any of our travel and snacking adventures.

CC