The search for Vancouver's Best Doughnut.....

I know this wasn't on my list but I subscribe to an online magazine called BC Living and the last issue in my email inbox had a headline that caught my eye....Vancouver's 5 best Doughnut Shops you say? Although I am sure the author did extensive research on this topic....I thought it would be best if I conducted my own little taste test....you know....just to be sure! And just to get a few more opinions, I waited until my Mom and sister came for a visit this past weekend, so that they could join me in my doughnut tasting adventure. The original intent was to go to all five shops and try one flavor from each..... but since one of the shops was only open weekdays and another I had already tried before, we narrowed the field to our top three, came up with a four part criteria and set out on our quest to find Vancouver's best doughnut!

Our four testers:

Our criteria: 

We decided to give each shop a ranking of 1st, 2nd and 3rd in these four categories.....

1. Presentation (how pretty is it?)

2. Creativity (innovative flavours? variety?)

3. Taste 

4. Best bang for your buck (considering size, price, taste and overall value)
but we also chose our top 3 favorite doughnuts 
5. Best all around doughnut

The 3 contenders (in no particular order):

Lee's Donuts 

Cost- $1.52

One of the oldest vendors on Granville Island this classic shop is reasonably priced and serves handmade, fresh dougnuts that taste just like the ones you get at the fair. They carry the old standby flavours like honey, old-fashioned glazed and maple or chocolate dipped. 

Edible Flours 

Cost- $2.00

This relative newcomer specializes in tasty gluten-free treats and they offered flavours like chocolate raspberry, maple vanilla and chocolate peanut butter. 

Cartems Donuterie 

Cost- $3.oo

Given the location and limited hours, this is a destination doughnut shop for sure! From 10-3 Weekdays and 11-3 on weekends, Cartems serves up handmade doughnuts that are all made from local ingredients! They offer various flavours that are both delicious and innovative such as Earl Grey, chocolate mole and even bourbon with bacon. Oh....and with a little notice they will bake you a dozen doughnuts of your choice and deliver them by bike for free....now that's what I call a green delivery system!

Rankings in each category:

In Mom's opinion.....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Taste

1st Cartem's

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Lee's Maple Dip

3rd Cartems Chocolate Mole

In Ty's opinion....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Lee's

3rd Cartems

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Edible Flours

3rd Lee's

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Cartems Carrot Cake

3rd Lee's Maple Dip


In Shauna's opinion...

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Lee's Old-Fashioned Glazed

3rd Lee's Maple Dip

In my opinion.....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Edible Flours

3rd Lee's

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Cartems Earl Grey

3rd Lee's Maple Dip

As you can see the clear winner is......Cartems!!!

They ranked highest in 3 of the 4 categories AND had our favourite overall doughnut. 
Who cares if they don't look as pretty as the Edible Flours doughnuts? 
I mean, let's be honest ....you don't sit around looking at doughnuts, you eat them right!?! We all agreed that the flavours they offer like Earl Grey (which tastes like a London Fog in doughnut form...YUM!), carrot cake (which has some sort of oat topping that I could eat by the bowl full) and chocolate mole (think Mexican hot chocolate with a kick) are both delicious and innovative.  Since these handmade gems are made from quality local ingredients, they do carry a higher price tag, however the taste definitely makes up for the cost difference in our opinion.
 Great people, creative flavours and taste that can't be beat....they are doing doughnuts right for sure!! 

♥Lindsay