There is a new Donut shop in town!

Since it is the only Donut shop in Wuxi this is big news! Luckily the King of Wuxi is a Canadian and Canadians know a lot about donuts. All Canadians are experts in Hockey and Donuts. We sorta invented Donuts, just like a lot of other things for which Americans commonly get all the credit.

Historical record clearly shows that the "Donut" was invented by Herbert H. Donut in 1935 in Toronto, but the plans were later stolen by his American Partner Chester C. Cream. American academics like to argue that Herbert H. Donut is nothing more than a fictitious character created by the CBC to promote Canadian Unity. However, since this site is run by a Canadian I don't put too much stock in what them facy pants Americans talk about. The purpose of this article is to review Bestbite Donuts?not to argue the rights or wrongs of who invented the Donut.

Located downtown, across from Chong An Si, in the Moresky 360 Building, if I say noting else good about BestBite Donuts in this review at least they got a good location. Even the most hung over newbie Australian Expat could find Bestbite Donuts. They got this big sign which reads very clearly in English "Bestbit Donuts and Coffee." It is really hard to miss. Click here to find the location.

Having a good location however does not make a good Donut shop or good Donuts. Thus when I walked into the place to sample the stock I was offended by the loud Chinese techno pop music that was blaring in my ears and the post modern minimalist style of the furniture. Horrific is the word that really comes to mind and the first thing I said to myself,  “this is not the sort of place I actually want to have coffee in.”

The decor is loud and flashy. It is very far away from the Tim Horton's white middle class urban Americana design which has infected most of North America including Canada.

My mission however was to try a few Donuts not mock Chinese commerical design styles. Bestbit however  did not make things easy. First, although there was no line up they make you line up to order. Seems they are expecting Donuts to be popular.

So there I was waiting behind a couple of Chinese customers who it seemed had no idea what a Donut was. They were evidently discussing the finer points of Chinese Donut Science. There were 5 employees at the other end of the counter but I was stuck behind the neophyte Chinese customers, so I waited like a polite Canadian. 

It turns out that they thought I was with the other Chinese customers, even though there was no one else in the store, I walked in 10 minutes after them, and it was not until I motioned for serving personal that someone actually approached me to buy a Donut.

Now I speak a fair amount of Chinese, but I will admit that in my haste to get a Donut I did not ask my wife just what is the Chinese word for Donut. There was then that akward moment when you ask for something and point.

It seems however that pointing at Donuts through a glass window is a language that escapes me. You see it is very important that they know exactly how many donuts you want before you start ordering them. You can't just go in and say, " I want that one, and that one, and that one, ohh and that one over there." (even if you do it in Chinese) This is because they first have to get the right size box to fit the exact number of Donuts. Without this box all movement towards donuts in Wuxi will stop.

I learned however that you can only order Donuts in groups of one, four, 6 or 12, and you must first say how many you want. Then you can pick the donuts to fill the box. If you don't know exactly how many Donuts you want I suggest that you think about this question before you enter.

One Donut will cost 5.50 RMB, 4 for 20 RMB, a half dozen will cost 35 RMB and dozen will cost 55 RMB. I ordered 4, I was going to pick a half dozen but the serving clerk pissed me off so badly that I figured four would be enough! My eyes were dazzled at this point. Not because for all the wonderful Doinuts but becuase of all the bright, bright colors.

Bestbite Donuts are not your plain western style Tim Hortons, Dunkin Donuts or Crispy Cream donuts. These suckers have color. They have one that is called Miss Pink. Looking at that Donut in the white shop I almost went into epliecptic shock! I never associated Donuts with neon colors before, but Bestbite donuts has some shockingly bright colored Donuts and Chinese flavours.

At first I searched for a plan honey glazed or basic chocolate donut. To my dismay there were none. It seems they have a Choclate donut and but nothing that looked like a honey glazed. Most of the stock was sold out it seems. They did however have something called "Fish Flossy" which sorta says it all. That and the "Red Bean" donut were actually enough to turn my stomach. I could go on about these strange Asian flavours but frankily I live in China and have gotten used to it.

For my self I picked Mango, Almond, Bannana cream and Apple donuts. They are not as bright as some of the other ones offered and I was not disapointed. If you can excuse the service - which was poor - the decor and the music then Bestbite does have some good Donuts.