Bakeries, Cafes, Food

Dunkin’ Donuts - Still worth the trip

Dunkin’ Donuts and I go back a long way. Back when I used to live in my grandmother�s house in Manila, we (my sister, mom, and I, all students in UST at the time) would pass by one of the nearby branches on our way to or from school. My favorite doughnut, as you might expect of any six year old girl, was their Strawberry Frosted: it had a nice pink sugar coating on top, which I would eat first before turning my attention to the less glamorous parts. I guess you could say I was a one marshmallow sort of child.

College days in UP Diliman saw me renewing my love affair with Dunkin’ Donuts. We (my sister and I, old enough to be sans mommy this time) lived in a boarding house along Katipunan and a constant breakfast / lunch / dinner standby was the branch in front of Ateneo. Here we would ponder that great question: was it cheaper to get a Ham and Cheese Bunwich with extra egg, or an Egg and Cheese Bunwich with extra ham? We certainly had time for such philosophical pursuits back then; if you�re wondering what the elusive answer is, with today�s prices, they cost the same (P36.50 total).

Eventually we moved to Teachers Village, and our new favorites became the branch in Glori�s, and the one tucked in the Philcoa Citimall next to the jeepney terminal. Back in those days, I pretty much lived on Bunwiches and Croissants. I remember one of the things that made Dunkin’ unique at that time: their cup covers had multiple little round bumps to differentiate the contents: there was soda, diet soda, orange soda, and orange punch.

With all the recent fuss about doughnuts caused by local brand Go Nuts Donuts and international Krispy Kreme, I decided it was about time to revisit Dunkin’ Donuts and have myself a much-missed Tuna Salad Bunwich. It wasn�t exactly easy: first we went to the small branch inside BF Homes, along Presidents Avenue. They had doughnuts, sure, but they were out of Iced Coffee at the time, and they didn�t serve Bunwiches. The guy behind the counter told me to try the Alabang branch�nope, not the one inside the mall, the one next to Jollibee near the viaduct�a suggestion I seriously considered until a friend pointed out that there was a full-sized branch in SM Southmall.

So one rainy day I made my way to SM Southmall for the sole purpose of having myself a doughnut, a Bunwich, and some iced coffee. Finally, success!

I had to work to find myself a Bavarin Cr�me (P10, like all their doughnuts), though: the donuts are laid out for the diners to pick from themselves, and for some reason the Bavarians had been tossed in with the Strawberry Filled ones, so I had to turn doughnuts around to check if their sides were bleeding red goo or not (I didn�t actually touch the doughnuts, but that�s a clear disadvantage to having an open display right there). Then I ordered my Bunwich (P32) and Iced Coffee (P28 medium, P36 large) and I happily sat myself down to enjoy my food.

All I can say is this: after more than ten years, the Bunwich tasted exactly the same, it brought back memories of college. The doughnut was smaller than the newer batch of GN and KK doughnuts, but hey, it was also around a third of the price, so no complaints there. The coffee was good�terribly sweet with lots of heaping teaspoons of sugar, but it�s certainly no time to nitpick about healthy choices when you�ve just had a sugar-dusted doughnut. Yep, their catchy jingle was right: it really is worth the trip.

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