uk tim hortons

My first visit to a UK Tim Hortons involved a trip to Gravesend with a friend, cold weather and the hope that my train wouldn’t be cancelled. Tim Hortons was a big part of my childhood in Canada, but there hadn’t been much happening with the chain near me in Kent. I wanted to see how this version compared with the one I remembered.

Once we had our food, the first surprise was what wasn’t on offer. No bagels. To me, those were one of the ultimate Tim Hortons foods. There were cheeseburgers, chicken fingers and even hot dogs, but the familiar bagel was missing. This was already a different sort of menu from the one I had grown up with.

The drink that tasted exactly right

The original Iced Capp was an immediate success. I used to drink these on my lunch breaks back home, and the first sip tasted exactly how I remembered. I had tried recreating one at home and couldn’t manage it. Now I was sitting in Gravesend drinking something that took me straight back to Canada. Six out of six Canadian flags. I was so happy.

That reaction set a fairly high standard for the rest of the order. The drinks, doughnuts and bagels were what I associated with Tim Hortons when I was younger. We hadn’t had much hot food there back in my day. Seeing lattice fries and chicken fingers on the UK menu was a surprise, and I wanted to try those too.

The hot food was disappointing

The chicken fingers reminded me of the sort I could buy from Tesco, except these were mushy. They weren’t very good, and I gave them two out of eight. I still intended to finish them, because I know who I am. Disliking a food and refusing to eat it are apparently two different things with me.

The lattice fries had a similar problem. The flavour was pretty good, but they were soggy rather than the fries I wanted. Four out of seven mushy lattices was my very scientific score. Our order had appeared in roughly 65 seconds, and I wondered whether the hot food had been prepared earlier and left waiting. That was my guess about the texture, rather than something I had watched the kitchen do.

The hot dog was another odd sight on a Tim Hortons menu. It did remind me of the North American sort that I had found harder to get here, but that wasn’t enough to make me enjoy it. It was squishy and not particularly good. I gave it two out of six confused bites. Again, I was going to eat the rest.

A double cheeseburger didn’t improve my opinion of the hot food. I thought there might be bacon in it, and the taste reminded me of a burger you would put in the microwave. I didn’t want to be mean, but I wasn’t enjoying it. I love a McDonald’s cheeseburger and would much rather have had one of those. By that point, the familiar Tim Hortons classics were doing much better than the hot meals.

Maple and coffee brought me back home

The maple doughnut was delicious. It had cream inside and tasted like maple syrup in doughnut form, very much like the ones I remembered from North America. After the disappointing hot food, I was happy again. It earned eight out of eight and a half maple leaves. My scoring system clearly needed a little work, but my opinion of the doughnut did not.

I also ordered the classic coffee as a double double. I couldn’t say how much of my reaction was nostalgia, but it tasted like home. I wasn’t claiming it was the best coffee anyone would ever have. Even my affection for Tim Hortons in Canada was tied to familiarity: growing up with it, knowing my usual order and having that little bit of comfort. This coffee did exactly that for me.

The Timbits were worth getting excited about

Timbits are little doughnut balls, like doughnut holes. I ordered twenty and received two boxes of ten. The glazed ones were a personal favourite, and trying one brought back childhood birthday parties and getting Timbits with my mum after a bad day at school. They tasted exactly the same to me. Ten out of ten, and suddenly I missed Canada a little.

A close view of small round glazed Timbits doughnuts on a white surface
Timbits are little doughnut balls. This illustrative photograph shows another selection, rather than my Gravesend order. Photo by Raysonho, CC0 1.0.

I tried a chocolate one as well. Some had sprinkles, which was new to me, so I chose one without. That tasted identical to the ones back home too. The Iced Capp, maple doughnut, coffee and Timbits had all given me the familiar flavours I wanted. The hot food had let me down on this visit, although I thought it might be better freshly made. We were going to finish the rest, naturally.

Watch my first UK Tim Hortons taste test.