Many times in past blogs I've talked about a doughnut store in Taiwan called Mister Donut. Mister Donut is an interesting story in that it's an American company which wasn't so popular in the states and most of their stores were changed to Dunkin Donuts when they were bought over twenty years ago. However in Asia, particularly in Japan, Mister Donut is extremely popular.
They are so popular in Japan that when it spread to Taiwan, all Taiwanese people think that it's actually a Japanese company. This happens a lot in Taiwan. A foreign company will move to Japan and do well and then it will spread to Taiwan and be viewed as Japanese company.
Anyway I've talked before how when Mister Donut first came to Taiwan there were lines of over two hours outside store. And how now they are everywhere so not as special, and there are also Dunkin Donuts all over town.
The one thing I haven't talked about though is what makes Mister Donut so special. In the picture is their signature doughnut. It's very very very (yes it needs three "verys") chewy and in my opinion not very tasty. However since this is pretty much the first kind of doughnut that Taiwanese were exposed to, this is what Taiwanese think a doughnut is and should be.
It also means you have to be very careful when somebody says they are going out to get doughnuts. You have to remember to make sure to tell them to get some "real" doughnuts or else they'll come back with a bunch of these...with things like green tea or cantaloupe frosting. I'm surprised that they haven't taken a note from most bakeries in Taiwan (which can't have bread without something in it) and tried to put cheese or meat on the doughnuts.
Because of this Dunkin Donuts isn't so popular here, because their doughnuts are not considered to be a "real" doughnut. It's not a comment on their quality, just that even though they are "authentic" doughnuts, in Taiwan they are just considered some weird thing that's not really a doughnut. Eventually Dunkin Donuts wised up and started selling Mister Donut's style doughnuts but by then it was too late.
Then again it's not like Dunkin Donut's quality is amazing. In Taiwan it isn't even like America's Dunkin Donuts. I have a feeling like I mentioned this before in this blog a few weeks ago, but it was such a shocking experience, I'll mention it again. A few years ago an old Taiwanese lady just went off on the Dunkin Donut workers. She was yelling at them and blaming them for their doughnuts not tasting like those in the Dunkin Donuts in America.
