The Box Donut

Bakery: The Box Donut
Address: 100 City Centre Dr FM12, Mississauga ON (in Square One)
Website: https://theboxdonut.com
Style: Doughnuts
Price: $$$$ 

I've always had mixed feelings about gourmet doughnut shops and The Box, home to the revolutionary? square doughnut, brings a lot of these issues to light. Located in the new food district of Square One mall, this stall features several rows of their signature doughnuts at varying grades, i.e. price points. The idea is fundamentally not a bad one; after all, gourmet doughnuts get quite pricey and it's not really fair to pay the same for a plain glazed doughnut as a maple bacon one; however, the prices in this case start at pricey ($3.49 for a basic) and go up to downright exorbitant ($5.99 - yes! - for an exclusive). Now, I love doughnuts. Nothing satisfies like a doughnut on the baked good front, but even this doughnut fan will admit that a doughnut is a doughnut. It's not supposed to be fancy; it's supposed to be good and comforting. A fried piece of dough dipped in glaze should not cost the same as quality cake or pastries, partially owing to the simple fact that the time, effort and skill is incomparable.

 Going back to the price levels, it is a little frustrating that if you want a unique and/or interesting flavour, it starts at fancy. There's also more selection among the more expensive varieties; I don't even remember what there was in the basic category. Cinnamon sugar is labelled "classic" - level 2 which came as a bit of a surprise.

Anyways, I took two fancy doughnuts ($4.49 each): the creme brulee and the matcha. Taking my first bite, I was disappointed with how thick, glutinous and flavourless the dough was. On its own, it had no taste. Luckily, there was the cream filling on both doughnuts, although the creme brulee was all sugar and the matcha could have needed some more matcha. Nonetheless, all you really got from these doughnuts was the glaze and cream. It's a bit like going to an ice cream shop and the cone is better than the ice cream itself - the star of the show was the cream filling when it shouldn't be.

Rating: **