Billy G's Doughnuts

Bakery: Billy G's Doughnuts 
Address: 2326 Alberni Hwy, Coombs BC 
Website: n/a 
Style: Doughnuts 
Price: $$ 

Part of the Goats on a Roof ultimate tourist-trap empire is this small doughnut shop tucked along one side of the building. This extremely bustling stand sells nothing more besides doughnuts and a few drinks, with the latter prone to selling out by the afternoon -- I would know, it took two tries to find this place open! Coming in about a dozen flavours, the doughnuts feature inventive names that mask the fact that the flavours themselves are generally anything but. Rather, I wouldn't go so far as to call them gourmet doughnuts; instead, you'll find mostly classic, typical cake and yeast dough varieties at slightly marked up prices, mostly due to the location, no doubt. Most flavours, including some unique offerings, usually chocolate-oriented, cost an additional $0.50. Perennial favourite, the apple fritter is, as is usually the case, the most expensive at $2.99.

I love my yeast doughnuts and if I had a choice between yeast or cake doughnuts, I would always take the former. Fortunately, Billy G's offers both. Unfortunately, their more unusual varieties -- including various types of dough, which is hard to find in better doughnut shops like this -- are cake doughnuts, so essentially I was hard pressed to find an interesting yeast doughnut that wasn't chocolate. Sometimes, however, simple is the best way to gauge how good the doughnut is, so I picked out the cinnamon twister ($1.99). Good dough: nicely fried with a denser, rip-apart texture. I probably would have preferred glaze over the cinnamon and sugar, but a simple, tasty doughnut.

I also decided to try the Coombs Cut-Off ($2.50), essentially a Boston cream doughnut with a flatter yeast dough base, thick custard and equally thick chocolate top. I liked that same dense, sponge-like dough, but personally was not a fan of the chocolate glaze which was far too thick and sticky. Overall: not baaah-d! ;)

Rating: ***