Well, yes and no. Krispy Kreme doughnuts have landed in London. Will anything ever be the same again? On Wednesday night your weary correspondent queued – yes, queued, for half an hour in the rain – outside a back door of Harrods for a taste of the latest sensation from the USA: a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut, fresh out of the oven. And I have to say, it was without doubt the best doughnut I have ever tasted. There are many exciting flavours to choose from, but a hot Original Glazed is pretty close to baked perfection. But it's never just about the product, is it? Harrods, you see, 'understand luxury'. They know a good thing when they see it and they're not afraid to charge their customers accordingly. Which is why they have taken a staple of the American diet, available in hundreds of stores across the States, and introduced it to an unsuspecting British public with the sort of fanfare that might usually accompany the launch of a new range of Gucci handbags. Al Fayed's self-proclaimed 'Palace in Knightsbridge' is losing out in the style stakes to Selfridges, who are romping across the country in an apparent bid for world domination via high fashion and stylish homeware. Does his redemption really lie in a well-marketed glazed snack? This is, allegedly, Homer Simpson's Favourite Donut. Krispy Kreme stores worldwide produce 7.5 million doughnuts per day – that's 2.7 billion annually. Devotees really wanting to live the 'Kreme dream can buy their very own branded mugs and boxer shorts. I hate to break it to you, Mohammed, but this is not a luxury product. InStyle magazine might have recommended them as a neat snack for wedding receptions last year but I don't see 'world's sexiest couple' Brad and Jen tucking in and ironic foodstuffs are surely a step too far on the supposed best day of your life. The Harrods launch was, aptly enough, held on the fourth floor next to the toy department. Indeed many faces, not least my own, were lit up like kids let loose in a candy store. Upon departure, each delighted party-goer was given a whopping 24 donuts each to take home. I'd had four already and that was enough to put me off my champagne (you can have too much of a good thing, apparently). A canny trick – most will take their leftovers (all 23 of them) into work the next day, and so a 'word of mouth' phenomenon is born. Boxes have already been sent to the glossies just in time for the Christmas issues and an item in the Evening Standard is a foregone conclusion. The lure of the hygienic transparency of a 'unique doughnut-making theatre experience' (surely the bakery equivalent of those pointless see-thru GameBoys) seems to have been too much for even the most jaded hack. Krispy Kreme is tackling the Atkins diet head on with a protein-free (nearly) challenge to the nation's tastebuds. So on one hand, we have a doughnut that considers itself too classy for abbreviations and obviously hires excellent PR people. On the other we have, well, a donut. A damned fine donut but a donut nonetheless. What must all those Americans in Harrods think? Can any US readers enlighten us Brits? You know where the forum is, my good people.