Glory Hole Doughnuts

The Banana Cream Pie

There’s been a lot of hype (read about it here, here and here) about Glory Hole Doughnuts, which recently set up shop on Queen, just past Sorauren, and I’m here to say that this place is worth all of that hype and then some.

While owner/baker Ashley Jacot De Boinod has been whipping up A+ doughnuts and other baked goods for a while now (she used to work over at Buca), she only opened her own place less than a month ago and since then I’ve been lucky enough to start two of my Saturdays off with her amazing doughnuts.

Glory Hole’s “thing” is creative flavours. Around a dozen, rotating flavours are sold at this small, but bright and cheerful shop each day, alongside coffee and other occasional goodies like cinnamon buns. So far I’ve tried the pretzel, which features chocolate icing and bits of pretzels; the cookies and cream, which features a very sweet and fluffy cream topping and crushed Oreos; the beer, which only faintly tastes like beer and has beer nuts on top; the banana cream pie, which really does taste like banana and is a must for cream-lovers and the lemon, ricotta doughnut holes, which have an olive oil glaze that just pushes them into the realm of fantastic.
Regardless of the flavour, all of these yeast-based doughnuts are incredibly fresh (they’re all made in-house), appropriately airy and just all around amazing. If I had to pick a favourite, I would have to go with the doughnuts holes, with the cookies and cream flavour being a close second.

Not surprisingly, something this good isn’t cheap. Doughnuts range in price from $3-$4 each, with a half-a-dozen costing $20, regardless of flavours. The holes cost a $4 for three and you can also add bacon to any doughnut for a $1. So yes, this place is pricier than Tim Hortons but it’s also a thousand times better than Timmy’s.

But if you want to try out any of Glory Hole’s tasty treats, get there early, like before it opens early. On Saturday, we showed up at 9:55 am, five minutes before the store opened. There was already one guy in line. By the time 10 hit and the doors were unlocked, there was another three people in line. And then, in the matter of maybe five minutes, the place was packed.

The guy in front of me ordered two dozen doughnuts (note: Glory Hole prefers that you advance order large purchases like that) and between him and the rest of us, I’m sure the first batch of the day was more or less gone by 10:30.

Thankfully, additional batches are made throughout the day but still, if you have your heart set on a certain flavour, go early.

Would I buy this product again: Yes!

Should you buy it: Yes!