I used to think that Duck Donuts were the best in the world, and they are really good; for the uninitiated, they are essentially soft cake donuts that are cooked to order and then coated in any of about 500 different ways. Always very satisfying.
HOWEVER, my wife and I had heard about this Amish donut shop in Philadelphia called Beiler's Donuts, and people were ranting and raving about these things. I figured they were exaggerating, as people do. But we found ourselves in Philadelphia, so we looked them up and gave them a try. The store is located in the Reading Terminal Market (a fun place to visit pre-Covid). Anyway, they looked pretty good, but I was sure they couldn't be as good as people said, but we bought a few to give 'em a try.
Um....whoa. If you haven't tried these, you need to. Apparently they also have a separate location in the University City section of Philly and in Lancaster PA as well as in the Dutch Market in Germantown, MD.
I don't know how to describe what it is about these donuts that makes them so incredible. Everybody who has ever eaten them has similarly been at a loss for how to describe the sensation. I'll just say that the texture was different from any donut I've ever eaten anywhere in the world. Lighter, softer. It felt like you could eat a dozen of them for the calorie count of a couple of regular donuts (although I don't think that is actually true). But they just had such a delightful texture. The flavor was really, really good, too; probably a little less sweet than most donuts. Tbh I think sometimes donuts can be a bit sickly sweet, or overly sweet. These were sweet in just the right amount. Eating a Beiler donut was just delightful in a way that I had never experienced with other donuts, and I do love donuts.
If you ever find yourself anywhere near a Beiler's donuts, go there and get some. I haven't eaten every donut in the world, but I have a hard time imagining that anybody anywhere could make a donut better than these.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust