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The Great Breakfast Sandwich Face Off

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2006_10_3tims2.jpg
We admit that it’s a bit of a stretch to file this post in the food category, but after a long night out, a fast-food breakfast sandwich can be pretty damn tasty. With that in mind a gang of Torontoist’s finest minds (Patrick Metzger, David Topping, Karen Whaley, Christopher Bird, and myself) got together one morning and decided to stack up the classic Egg McMuffin against the upstart Tim Horton’s Egg, Cheese and Bacon/Sausage sandwich.
Which sandwich comes out on top?


Appearance:
2006_10_3tims.jpgThe Egg McMuffin edges out Tim Horton’s here. The McDonald’s product looks better, more professional, and more factory produced than Timmy’s sloppy looking product. Patrick Metzger noticed that the biscuit has a light glaze or sheen and looks incredibly fatty. “[The Tim Hortons sandwich] looks like your hungover friend put it together,” remarked Christopher Bird.
Taste:
Things change when the panel takes a bite out of the sandwiches. Tim Horton’s seems to have turned the table on McDonald’s. “The biscuit does make it very rich and the cheese is better. It’s rich but in a good way,” Bird said. Or have they? “This is definitely more delicious but I do feel like I’m going to have a heart attack,” commented Karen Whaley.
The Tim Horton’s sausage sandwich gets high marks with one panelist pointing out the “peppery taste” and added flavour. However, Tim’s bacon sandwich gets middling reviews. It seems a little limp, and flavourless, but what can you expect from mass produced bacon?
Chalk it up to familiarity but the Egg McMuffin takes a critical drubbing from every corner. “The Muffin looks like your could put it in a fallout shelter and eat it 20 years later,” Bird remarked. Metzger seems to have nailed McDonald’s marketing strategy saying that “the McDonald’s [sandwich] has a very bland quality to it. It’s for small children and people with no teeth.”
The Verdict:
Tim Horton’s: 4
McDonald’s: 0
Undecided: 1
“Whereas I wouldn’t go to McDonald’s, I would actually go to Tim Horton’s again for this sandwich.” – Karen Whaley
Postscript:
Two of our panelists reported feeling a little queasy after the taste test and Whaley even reported heartburn. “Four hours later, I have heartburn and I NEVER get heartburn,” she said. Coincidence? We think not. Our final piece of advice: stay away from both these sandwiches and have a nice bowl of sugary cereal instead.
Photos from David Topping.

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Comments

  • Marc Lostracco

    Wow, I absolutely love McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, so that Tim’s sandwich must be awesome! I can feel my intestines contracting already…

  • Karen

    Never have the details of my digestion been so widely distributed on the internet.

  • Marc Lostracco

    I’m wondering if it’s the Tim’s sandwich or Patrick Metzger that Ron says “looks incredibly fatty.”

  • Jeff

    A little unknown tip… I asked for it on a bagel and they gave it to me… I think the “tea biscuits” are pretty fatty so if you want a healthier option, ask for it on a bagel.

  • http://www.newmindspace.com kevin bracken

    The best breakfast sandwich I have gotten in Toronto is definitely from the bakery in Bathurst station.
    Still doesn’t compare to New York’s bodegas, though; why can’t we wash down our heart attack sandwich with a 40oz bottle of 99 cent malt liquor?

  • http://photosapience.com jerrold

    That’s definitely the first time I’ve heard of a McDonald’s sandwich referred to as looking “more professional” :)
    On the rare ocassion that I eat McD’s, I opt for the bacon and egg bagel with that rich “hollandaise-type” sauce. It’s nasty and good.
    Looks like you guys had a fun taste test, and Timmy’s won by a landslide. I wonder how the coffee at these to places would have compared?

  • http://karigignac.blogspot.com Kari Gignac

    I’ve actually heard that McDonald’s coffee and Tim Horton’s coffee is the same. This is just hearsay, though.
    The best “morning after drinking” breakfast? Super-sized fries from Mickey D’s. That’s the ONLY time I eat McDonald’s.

  • http://pukegreen.com Gary

    Thanks. I was waiting for something like this, since I don’t do the McDees thing anymore, but I do find myself at Tim Hortons with frightening frequency. I agree, the bacon on the club sandwich is not that great; I suspect it’s the same dehydrated microwaved stuff on the breakfast sandwiches. As a rule I find sausages scary, though.
    But I have to say that food that looks “more factory produced” is usually a bad thing, not a good thing, in my books.

  • rek

    Back when I worked the grill at McD’s in high school, I’d make the best sausage-and-egg-and-bacon mcmuffins for myself. Extra bacon, extra cheese, ketchup, parmesan cheese, butter on the muffins, and maybe a few mcnuggets crammed in.
    I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s more that twice in the last 5 years, and I pretty much don’t eat breakfast at all anymore, so I’m over it.

  • http://www.delineated.com Carrie

    Tried the Tim’s breakfast sandwich (the sausage one, minus the egg)…definitely better than McD’s Sausage McMuffin. While I wouldn’t eat either of them on a regular basis, I’d much prefer the Tim’s one on a hangover morning.

  • john higgins

    MickyD`s will throw your empty Tims coffee cup away for you.. Tims said ” No..we will not throw away their empty cup”..if you only have one cup holder.. go to MickyD