Vancouver Magazine
Burdock and Co Is Celebrating a Decade in Business with a 10-Course Tasting Menu
The Frozen Pizza Chronicles Vol. 3: Big Grocery Gets in on the Game
The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Crab Cakes from Smitty’s Oyster House on Main Street
Wine Collab of the Week: A Cool-Kid Fizz on Main Street
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
5 Wines To Zero In On at This Weekend’s Bordeaux Release
If you get a 5-year fixed mortgage rate now, can you break early when rates fall?
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (September 18-24)
10 Vancouver International Film Festival Movies We’ll Be Lining Up For
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Fall Wedges and Water in Kamloops
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
On the Rise: Meet Vancouver Jewellery Designer Jamie Carlson
At Home With Photographer Evaan Kheraj and Fashion Stylist Luisa Rino
At Home With Interior Designer Aleem Kassam
Duffin’s Donuts brings sugar, salt and an unpredictable spice to this city, with wide-open doors and an even wider menu.
When you enter Duffin’s Donuts, you’re welcomed in with a mouth-watering—albeit confusing—smellscape. On a popularity level, their greatest hits include fried chicken, doughnuts and tamales, but it’s the Viet chicken sandwich that takes the cake for me. Yes, they also have cake. Of course they do.
When I was growing up, the beige-tiled confines of Duffin’s was one of my family’s favourite take-out spots—we’d go for any occasion, from after-school snacks to the first taste of real food after a stint in the hospital. My sister had an affinity for window-shopping the perfect box of doughnuts, but my one true love was that Viet chicken sandwich. The weight alone will tell you that this sandwich is an architectural feat, but once you unsheathe it from its paper-bag cocoon, that fact becomes unmistakable. It’s stuffed crust-to-crust with enough ingredients to satisfy a hungry stomach after baseball practice, yet boasts the structural integrity to survive the inevitable bumps of any road trip. Crunchy French bread slathered with mayo envelops shredded lettuce, tangy marinated chicken, cucumber, herb-that-shall-not-be-named (cilantro), pickled carrots and the wild card: a sliced jalapeno pepper—sometimes just a sliver, enough to wake up a tired palate, and sometimes a green inferno, living proof that variety really is the spice of life.
Jenny Reed
MORE ON DUFFIN’S: We Spent the Night at this 24/7 Diner
While Duffin’s has always held sentimental real estate in my heart, it has also achieved cult-like status in Vancouver as the premier establishment serving hungry customers 24 hours a day on weekends (and from 6 a.m. to midnight on weekdays). Nothing triggers a more vigorous head-nod when I’m out and about than a fellow fan spotting me rocking my T-shirt with the Duffin’s logo emblazoned in red across the front. It’s really the only time anyone looks at my chest with any hint of admiration.
An added bonus is that there is no better place to people-watch: the Duffin’s clientele is as varied as the items on their menu. Painters caked in the residue of their day’s work, business folk nervously squeezing BMWs in the cramped parking lot… hell, I’ve seen a funeral party make their way through these doors for a respite from a difficult day. This is a place where people from all walks of life (and levels of sobriety) converge at all hours of the day for something affordable, comforting and satisfying. Yes, those are three things that Vancouver may not always be known for, but they are also three sentiments that make Duffin’s special to me. It’s a hug you can taste, and it’s a stubborn stalwart in a city of constant change.
MORE LOVE LETTERS: In Heartfelt Memory of My Crappy Vancouver Basement Suite
