Tim Hortons in Quebec City, QC

Tim Hortons is a fast food restaurant that had locations all over Quebec. I was told they were the Canadian equivalent of Dunkin Donuts. Because this chain was so prevalent, I decided to see what they were all about. I stopped into a Tim Hortons attached to a gas station in Quebec's Limoilou neighborhood.

The menu here was very similar to a Dunkin Donuts. They had a selection of doughnuts and pastries available, along with a menu of breakfast sandwiches and drinks. I tried their Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich. It was what I would expect from a fast food breakfast sandwich. Microwaved eggs, processed cheese, and a couple slices of bacon. Interestingly enough, I didn't come across Canadian bacon anywhere in Canada. Turns out they don't call it Canadian bacon in Canada...

I also tried a Maple Glazed Boston Creme Doughnut. It was tasty, with a really strong maple syrup flavor.

For the last couple days of my stay in Canada, I used some rewards points for a free hotel room in the neighboring town of Levis. Getting back to Quebec City involved a 6 km walk and a ferry ride. On one of these walks, we got hungry and ended up stopping in another Tim Hortons. This location was stand alone and had a much larger menu than the gas station Tim Hortons.

I had a Chicken Salad Sandwich, served on a croissant with lettuce and tomato. Again, it was about what I would expect from a fast food restaurant. The chicken salad had a strong mayonnaise flavor, and  the croissant seemed very mass produced.

I can now say I've tried a Tim Hortons. Being that the chain was bought out by Burger King not too long ago, I wonder if we will see some Tim Hortons locations start popping up in Florida any time soon?

Krispy Skremes at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Orlando, FL

I went to the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Orlando near Millenia Mall to try their Halloween/Autumn doughnuts. They have all sorts of doughnuts known as Krispy Skremes decorated for Halloween, including Jack-o-Lanterns and spiderwebs. They also have Ghostbusters doughnuts to celebrate the movie's 30th anniversary.

I liked their Pumpkin Cheesecake Doughnut. It was stuffed with a pumpkin cheesecake filling, topped with creme cheese icing and gingersnap cookie crumbles. Also pictured is the Pumpkin Spice Doughnut.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Doughnut and Ghostbusters Doughnut were also tasted. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Doughnut was a marshmallow Kreme-filled shell topped with white icing, decorated with Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s familiar face and a sugar piece hat. The Ghostbusters Doughnut consisted of a marshmallow Kreme-filled shell topped with white icing, a decorative green “splat” inspired by Slimer, and a Ghostbusters logo sugar piece.

Jack-o-Lantern Doughnut!

They had a doughnut decorating station set up and I created this Ghostbusters Doughnut. Should I be proud of my slime placement on this doughnut?

Now for the important part! Everyone likes free food. Make sure you wear a costume to Krispy Kreme on Halloween. It will get you a free doughnut!

Dunkin' Donuts' Fall Lineup/National Coffee Day in Winter Park, FL

I was invited to the Dunkin' Donuts in Winter Park on University Blvd to try some of the new Fall foods on their menu. I'm always a fan of pumpkin flavored stuff, so I was looking forward to trying some of their seasonal menu items.

The Spicy Smoked Sausage Breakfast Sandwich was the first food item which was sampled. This consisted of a spicy split sausage link with egg and American cheese, served on an English muffin.

The Pumpkin Pie Donut came next. This doughnut was filled with a pumpkin pie flavored buttercreme. It was frosted with white dipping icing and sprinkled with grahmn cracker topping. This was good, but the filling and icing was very sweet.

The Pumpkin Donut wasn't nearly as sweet as the Pumpkin Pie Donut. Out of the two pumpkin flavors, I preferred this doughnut.

While on the subject of doughnuts, I was also able to try the Pumpkin Munchkins. Same as the pumpkin donut, only in a much smaller size.

The Snack 'n Go Chicken Wrap was filled with chicken, bacon, and ranch in a folded tortilla.

The Pepperjack Bagel Supreme was a bagel smothered in melted pepperjack cheese. The cheese had a nice, spicy kick, which I enjoyed. This was spicier than I was expecting from a fast food restaurant.

Dunkin' Donuts also served several varieties of their coffee. We tried their Dark Roast Pumpkin Coffee, Hot Pumpkin Mocha Latte, Pumpkin Creme Brulee Latte, Iced Hazelnut Swirl, and the Iced French Vanilla Swirl. I'm more of a tea drinker and not much of a coffee connoisseur, so I'm not the best judge of good coffee. The Hot Pumpkin Mocha Latte was my personal favorite. It tasted much more like a hot chocolate than a coffee to me.

Being that Dunkin' Donuts served coffee at their sampling event, it is appropriate that today, September 29, is National Coffee Day. That means Dunkin' Donuts is giving away a free medium cup of hot Dark Roast Coffee at all of their participating Orlando stores! Go get your free coffee!

I had fun trying the foods at Dunkin' Donuts. I vote that they bring back that pumpkin cream cheese that was served a couple years ago which wasn't brought back this year. That was my favorite pumpkin flavored food that I remember trying at Dunkin' Donuts in recent memory.

 

Donut Pub in Manhattan, NY

During one of my most recent visits to New York, I stumbled upon a place called Donut Pub. Their classic neon sign quickly pulled me from across the street and the awards hanging in their window pulled me inside. The humungous muffins and cupcakes in the window helped get me in too...

Inside, the wall of Donut Pub was covered in racks of desserty deliciousness. There were several counter seats in the narrow restaurant filled with customers enjoying their late-night donuts and coffee.

I decided to go for a French Cruller. I'm not a donut expert by any means, but this was definitely better than what you get from the donut chains. The cruller was really light and airy inside, almost having a flaky consistency. It was almost too sweet, but this is a donut that we're talking about. It's supposed to be sweet...

An oreo muffin was also purchased. It got less than rave reviews, therefore my conclusion is to stick with donuts at the Donut Pub...

Donut Pub was new to me, but it's definitely worth checking out. Can't go wrong with a 24-hour bakery in a classic diner-like setting serving all sorts of desserts...

China Star in Lake Mary, FL

Today we're going to yet another Chinese take-out restaurant! China Star gets confusing because of the prevalence of the name in the immediate area. This China Star is in Lake Mary, right on the Sanford border. Go less than five miles away into Sanford and you have another take-out called China Star and a very scary buffet called China Star. I don't get the feeling that any of the China Stars are connected.

I've picked up food from this China Star on several occasions and they messed up the order for the majority of these visits. After a certain point I stopped getting food there, but I recently gave China Star another try. When I got the food home, it turned out they got the order correct!

I had the Curry Chicken Combination. It came with fried rice, an egg roll, and wonton soup...

The Curry Chicken was nice and spicy, mixed with onions, peppers, snow peas, and mushrooms. The portion was huge and turned into three meals by the time the chicken was gone.

I guess we spent enough so they threw in a bag of these Chinese doughnuts. Can't complain about free extras!

China Star got the order right on this visit, the food all tasted good, and the portions were huge for the price. I think I'll add them back to my list of options for Chinese take-out!

Everything Bagel from Dunkin Donuts in Lake Mary

I didn't eat anything for breakfast one morning except for a cup of tea when I left the house at 8:00 am. Needless to say, by the time 10:00 came around, I was getting hungry. I've heard good things about the baked goods sold in the BP gas station on Lake Mary Blvd. I stopped in looking for a bagel. They had bagels and they looked okay, but if I wanted cream cheese, it would be $0.70 for a tiny tub of the bagel topping.

I decided instead to go a few stores down to the Dunkin Donuts in the Home Depot shopping center. For just about the same price, I had my everything bagel and not only did I get more cream cheese than what the gas station sold, they also put the cream cheese on the bagel for me.

It bothers me when I order a bagel with cream cheese at a restauant and I receve a bagel and a cup of cream cheese on the side. Normally the cream cheese is barely enough to cover the bagel and I have to do extra work that I would hope to skip when eating out. As for the big chains, I've found Dunkin Donuts and Einsteins will put the cream cheese on the bagel. Panera Bread sells the tiny cups of cream cheese. Normally the cups are right out of the freezer so the cream cheese is too hard to apply to the bagel with the plastic knives provided. And forget having your bagel toasted at Panera. You have to do it yourself as well. Most private bagel places seem to follow the method as Dunkin Donut/Einsteins and will provide the bagels already buttered. This really is pointless bagel blabber, so I will stop now...

Dunkin Donuts Sesame Bagel

I had a sesame bagel from Dunkin Donuts in Altamonte Springs, FL. I found it funny that there were several police officers in here buying doughnuts at 10:00 PM when I had my bagel...

Dunkin Donuts Everything Bagel

I ate an everything bagel from Dunkin Donuts. It was definitely lacking on the amount of seeds on the bagel...