Reviewing Tim Hortons in London Park Royal… finally!

Having arrived from across the Atlantic, Canadian franchise chain Tim Hortons have taken the UK’s highly competitive fast food scene by storm.

Since landing on our shores in 2019, this brand has launched a staggering 58 sites – many of which aren’t your tiny little takeaway joints either, but humongous drive-thrus.

And this particular one that opened last weekend in the north west of the capital’s Royale Leisure Park is Tim Hortons much anticipated London debut.

Being another drive-thru, the venue itself hopes to stave off stiff competition from a Halal Nando’s, while also hoping to attract foot-fall from the upcoming cinema opening.

With a huge drinks and donut red van strategically situated outside for a quick grab-and-go, the clean and contemporary 100-cover restaurant itself is a spacious one, with convenient touch screen kiosks.

What’s Halal at all Tim Hortons across the UK?

Tim Hortons have informed FtLion that they introduced a pair of Halal items to their menu in 2019 which recently included a Halal Turkey Hot Dog.

“Our Turkey Hot Dog is Halal approved. Please note that if you are purchasing our new Tims Turkey Hot Dog, please ensure you order with tomato ketchup and not the maple & chorizo ketchup which is sold as standard.

“The Chicken and Turkey Hot Dogs are baked in our restaurants on separate trays, therefore there is segregation of the Halal-certified products throughout the process,” the representative said.

The other two items include the Tims Crispy Chicken and the Tims Chicken Tenders which are “sourced from suppliers whose products are certified as Halal by religious authorities.

Additionally, the “chicken is baked in our restaurants on separate trays. Therefore there is segregation of the Halal certified chicken throughout the process”.

Tim Hortons clarified: “We don’t promote our restaurants or meat as Halal approved. However, our Tims Crispy Chicken and Tims Chicken Tenders are sourced from suppliers whose products are certified as Halal by religious authorities.”

The business has also explained that while “the rest of our meat is purchased from EU countries and is not Halal…. The chicken is baked in our restaurants on separate trays. Therefore there is segregation of the Halal certified chicken throughout the process”.

Hot Dog – A turkey frankfurter inside a bun, topped with tomato ketchup, yellow mustard and crispy onions

Tim Hortons’ hot dog will certainly challenge the British palate. While it undoubtedly housed one of the most succulent sausages we’ve had, and a tasty plump one at that, the peculiar choice of toppings did take us by surprise.

With the traditional mustard, ketchup and onions being replaced by warm, melted cheese and broken nachos, this might take some getting used to.

Although we enjoyed the mildly piquant cheese sauce, we’re left to imagine how much better this might have been had the ketchup and crispy onions, which should have been there according to the menu, been added in place of those irrelevant nachos.

Tims Crispy Chicken Stack – Chicken, mayonnaise, lettuce, cheese slice, hash brown, with smoky tomato mayo

First thing’s first, while you’ll have the choice of adding bacon or smoky tomato mayonnaise, be sure to opt for the latter, since the former is not Halal.

The second thing to be said is that Mr Hortons’ chickens are actually air-fried, which means that not only do they boast a thick and crispy batter, but are also far healthier than your standard variety found elsewhere.

Alas, that crispy texture didn’t quite come through as we were expecting due to the addition of a soft and mushy hash brown, which simply served as a distraction.

Nacho Chilli Cheese Crispy Chicken Sandwich – Cheddar cheese sauce, nachos, sweet chilli sauce, iceberg lettuce, white onion, lattice fries & chicken

This Nacho Chilli Cheese Crispy Chicken Sandwich, though an improvement over the above, turned out to be a tale of two halves.

Despite the white onion providing a pleasant zingy edge, what this needed was more of that sweet chilli sauce to help compliment things.

Further still, the crunchy nachos didn’t really bring anything worthwhile other than overwhelming the delicate crispy nature of the chicken, which itself wasn’t quite as moist as we were hoping for.

Tims Crispy Chicken Sandwich – Toasted brioche bun with chicken, green leaf lettuce & smoky tomato mayo

On the other hand, Tims Crispy Chicken Sandwich proves the adage that ‘less is more’, with that wonderfully addictive texture of the chicken finally allowed to express itself.

Taste-wise, the peppery batter could have been more robust, with perhaps some stronger spices and herbs being used to add an extra kick.

The smoky tomato mayo too played it respective part by providing that additional flavour profile. All that was missing, in our collective opinion, is a slice of that large white onion ring from the first burger.

Vegan Wrap – Meatless chicken patty, green leaf lettuce, tomato, onion, vegan mayo inside a tortilla wrap.

Now, despite one Lion’s incredulousness, as much the texture of this plant-based chicken was there or thereabouts; and as crispy as it was; our biggest gripe with this wrap was that, aside from the patty itself, there wasn’t much else therein, with barely any lettuce and mayo to speak of.

5 Piece Times Chicken Tenders

Given the size of the tenders, the same batter, whose crispy-cum-crunchiness worked with the thicker pieces of poultry in the aforesaid burger, turned out far too dry and overly-crunchy in this case.

Delux and standard donuts

This is where Tim Hortons, for us, stands out from the crowd as a fast food brand.

Chocolate Brownie Donut

Their variety of donuts and their ‘Baked Goods’ isn’t just impressive in terms of the range, but the fact that they bake everything on-site on a daily basis is, quite frankly, impressive.

The picture above is a mix of their delux and non-delux range, and includes the following: Strawberry Trifle (bottom left), Chocolate Cake with Oreo (top left), Rainbow (top, 2nd from right), Salted Caramel Choc Truffle (bottom, 2nd from right), Maple & Caramel (bottom, 3rd from right), Honey Cruller (bottom, 3rd from left).

These were very well made, with a pillow-like texture, full-flavoured, distinct, and no skimping on the ingredients and toppings.

TimBits – Mini donut-style cake balls

These TimBits in contrast disappointed, turning out dense and stodgy, in spite of the assortment.

Tims Shake Strawberry (left) & Tims Shake Maple (right)

Iced Latte (left) Cherry Crush Cooler (right)

Starting with the Tims Shakes, then these erred far more on the milky side for our liking, with the flavouring of Strawberry and Maple, respectively, working their magic.

The Cherry Crush Cooler, however, while also being flavoured, had depth to it, with the ice being crushed nice and fine. The Iced Latte too was quite superb, turning out strongly flavoured.