Blueberry World Frozen Yogurt

Restaurant: Blueberry World Frozen Yogurt
Cuisine: Desserts
Last visited: March 6, 2010

Area: Vancouver, BC (Robson Street/West End/Downtown)
1703 Robson Street
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2.5
Service: 3

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Serves frozen yogurt only
• A tad cheaper than other places.
• Only flavours: original & green tea
• Twist option available
• Large is very large
• 1 oz - 0% fat
• Snowy ice option
• Smoothie options
• Sampling available
• Not enough toppings/options/flavour choices

**Recommendation: n/a

Blueberry World is never really busy, but most their traffic is by locals or people living in the neighborhood.

It’s a bit cheaper than the other frozen yogurt places but the cups are small and shallow so you don’t get as many toppings as you would with Tuttimelon or Qoola. The toppings are also limited and they don’t have as many options like mochi, or different nuts/cereals. The amount of toppings depends on who’s doing it…usually the case.

What I do like is that they offer twist and not many places do that, Tuttimelon offers half and half where they put the flavours side by side – but not twist. It’s not my first time at Blueberry World and it isn’t my first choice, but more of a “last resort, and I’m in the area and I want frozen yogurt choice”. This was my dessert after Santouka Ramen across the street…see – close by.

FYI the large size is extremely big! That has more value than small size.

On the table:

Original & Green Tea Twist 3/6

• Small: $3.50 Medium $4.50 Large $6.75
• Toppings: 1 topping: $0.95, 3 toppings: $1.50
• I got it with granola, just because I like the crunchiness.
• Compared to most places they don’t offer as many toppings.
• The green tea isn’t as tart as Qoola or Tuttimelon, but it is still tart and has more green tea flavour.
• The original flavour is quite tart, but not as tart as Qoola.
• I like the twist.This small size was significantly bigger than the other smalls I've had in the past! Maybe I was having a good hair day? j/k! =p
  

Original 2.5/6

• Small: $2.75 Medium $3.75 Large $5.75
• Toppings: 1 topping: $0.95, 3 toppings: $1.50
• Mangoes, coconut jelly, blueberries
• Original flavour is tart – it’s very icy yogurt and when it melts it melts like water.

Green Tea 3/6

• Small: $3.50 Medium $4.50 Large $6.75
• Toppings: 1 topping: $0.95, 3 toppings: $1.50
• Kiwi, strawberry, pineapple
• Green tea is sweeter than original – still tart. More green tea flavour than Quoola or Tuttimelon.
  
• Very icy yogurt – not the creamy thicker kind.
• Significantly more expensive than original flavour.

8 Juice

Restaurant: 8 Juice

Cuisine: Drinks/Desserts

Last visited: March 6, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

4151 Hazelbridge Way – In Aberdeen Mall
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2.5 (Based on their #1 drink only)

Service: 4.5

Ambiance: n/a – in a food court

Overall: 2.5

Additional comments:

• Healthy desserts/drinks
• Fresh fruit
• Made upon order
• Specializes in drinks only
• Fresh fruit juices
• Milkshake/yogurt drinks
• Cash only
• Asian Jugo Juice

**Recommendation: n/a – but if you’re going to go get the #1 house special – Mango + coconut milk + tapioca + pomelo drink

This is basically the Chinese version of Jugo Juice. 8 Juice is located in the Aberdeen food court. They specialize in fresh fruit drinks and everything is blended, shaken, stirred upon order…like a bubble tea place….but they have no bubble tea.

This is pretty much one of the only places in Richmond serving mango, coconut, tapioca and pomelo drink that is so famous in Hong Kong. You can’t even find this drink at many bubble tea places because the “tapioca” is not pearls – the tapioca is “sago” which is smaller and white in colour.

In Hong Kong the most famous place to have this dessert/drink is Hui Lau Shan. I love it! If you’ve had that then this place is really not good. I was so disappointed. To be fair it’s the only thing I’ve tried on the menu…but if it’s their “No.1 House Specialty” then I don’t have much hope.

After Twittering about the mango, coconut and sago drink the last couple days I had a major craving and decided to check this place out. The guy was really nice, but unfortunately my craving is not satisfied and I don’t think it can be because I don’t know anywhere else that serves it.

On the table:

Mango, Coconut Milk, Tapioca and Pomelo Drink 2.5/6

• It’s the “No 1 House Specialty”
• Compared to Hui Lau Shan in Hong Kong it is not good
• It was really watered down, frothey, but almost bland. I couldn’t taste much mango or coconut milk and it was a major 'save money' move.
• The mango juice has a very light mango flavour and they blend it with 2% milk and a touch of coconut milk which I couldn’t taste at all.

• There were small bits of mango in the drink, not a lot though. Some of the mango was hairy though….pieces that were too close to the seed.
• There was even less pomelo. The pomelo is very shredded into each sliver or ‘pocket’ so you have individual “strands” of it. Pomelo is basically an Asian grapefruit. It’s sweeter and not bitter though. It’s quite neutral in flavour.
• It’s a drink that you need to chew with all the fruit and tapioca. However the tapioca is so small you just end up swallowing them unlike the bigger black tapioca pearls.

Dragon Ball Tea House

Restaurant: Dragon Ball Tea House

Cuisine: Bubble Tea/Chinese

Last visited: February 21, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Shaughnessy)

1007 W King Edward Ave
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Drinks: 6

Service: 3 (well it’s pay at cashier and they go as fast as they can)

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Located at major intersection, but neighborhood area
• Famous for bubble tea
• One of the most popular places for bubble tea
• Attracts locals everywhere
• Family owned and operated
• Small operation
• Stamp card available
• Line-ups during peak hours (late night/after dinner)
• Fresh fruit flavours
• Seats 15 or so (very limited)
• About 4 hot rice dishes available (with fried egg style)
• Pay at cashier
• Great price
  
• Very casual/hole in the wall-ish
• Some small snack available: Pocky, instant noodles
• Open late
• Couple parking spaces in the back
• Pre-order/pick-up service available
• Opens daily at 1:30pm
  

**Recommendation: Japanese Green Tea Ice Cream, Supreme Milk Tea, and any of their fresh fruit series – I like blueberry

Next to Pearl Castle Bubble Tea and Peanuts this is also one of the most popular places for locals to get their bubble tea. Everyone loves Dragon Ball Tea House and it has been here for ages! At least 8 years I’d say…maybe even 10? It JUST got a make-over and it used to look even more hole-in-the wall-ish. It’s has very limited seating and it’s super casual and unpretentious. I’d even call it more of a to-go place. I’ve been coming here fore years and it’s my top bubble tea choice in the Vancouver area…although Capstone Tea & Fondue is good too.

Unlike many other bubble tea places, Dragon Ball Tea House really focuses on just bubble tea. They do offer maybe 3-4 hot dishes (which I’ve never seen anyone order) but they really focus on just bubble tea. They do a great job and they have steady traffic and pretty long lines and waits during busy hours…which is usually late at night or after dinner hours.

I’ve tried a lot of flavours here, but I always go back to the recommendations above. You can get drinks sweet/half-sweet/non-sweet/hot/slush/combination of flavours/mixed fruit etc. Almost everything can be customized, but they just don’t advertise it. Everything tastes like it’s made with ice cream here. The fresh fruit flavours are like smoothies. I haven’t had one bad drink. Even the tapioca pearls are great. Besides tapioca pearls they have coconut jelly, grass jelly and I think maybe mango stars as options.

On the table:

Pudding Slush Bubble Tea 4/6

• $4.00 + $.50 with tapioca pearls - $4.50
• This was my first time ordering pudding slush. Again it was like ice cream, they do a good job, however the best pudding slush bubble tea is still at Tri-ty.
  

• This was very good, but I wasn’t a fan of the pudding pieces at the bottom. That’s how it’s supposed to be served though, but I just didn’t like them that much. They’re jello like and not that flavourful for me…so I found it more distracting.
  
• The drink part is a sweeter drink and it tastes like vanilla pudding, but in slushy form.
  
• The pearls are great. Nice and chewy and cooked perfectly. They give you lots too!
• The drinks are pretty big and filling, but they’re delicious!

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle

Restaurant: Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle

Cuisine: Taiwanese/Noodle Shop

Last visited: January 30, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 2800-4151 Hazelbridge Way (In Aberdeen Mall)
Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2

Service: 3

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 2

Additional comments:

• Specializes in Taiwanese beef noodle and soup bowls
• Taiwanese/Chinese (China) chefs/cooks
• Fresh, made upon order
• Homemade, everything made from scratch
• Handmade noodles, dough etc.
• Prepared in small batches
• Large selection of drinks (bubble tea, brewed tea etc.)
• Selection of desserts (shaved ice, Frappe Bliss)
• Large selection of tradition Taiwanese snacks
• Very long line ups at peak hours
• Open/display kitchen
• Lots of seating, quick service
• Popular to locals/Chinese
• Lunch and dinner
• Offers snacks and bubble tea
• Private room available
• Open 7 days

**Recommendation: Noodle topped with ground pork sauce, Pan fried ground pork cake

Chef Hung is getting slammed left, right and centre.

Yes, it’s a bit overpriced, but they do give you a lot of meat. Yes, it’s not worth the long line up, but it might be worth checking out if there is no line-up and if you’re still curious. Yes, it’s overrated, but do I regret trying it? No, because I still had to see what the hype was about; and when there’s a 30+ min. line-up for over a month now…they must be doing something good right?!…errr maybe not…nonetheless I tried everything I wanted to try to make sure I wouldn’t have to line-up again to give it another chance.

For me it was a cross of Taiwanese and Shanghainese food, and in this case I could get better of each cuisine elsewhere. The broth just wasn’t as flavourful or rich to match the authenticity of Taiwanese or Shanghai cuisine. They’re charging a couple dollars more than Japanese Ramen Noodle places and a lot more than Wonton Noodle places and the food is surprisingly bland. The portions are really deceiving because it’s a big bowl with not a lot of noodle, yet a significant amount of meat. The noodles are deceiving too because although they don’t give you much, but they really expand and fill you up fast. You have a choice of either flat noodle, thin noodle or vermicelli and most people seem to be getting the flat noodle.

I do appreciate how everything is homemade and fresh, but the flavour just wasn’t there. It is a relatively quick eat – after all the line-up doesn’t die down during dinner. They’re not rude about it and there’s a lot of staff so the food comes fast and they don't hesitate to ask when you need your bill.

On the table:

Champion beef shank with noodle in soup 2.5/6

• Champion beef shank with noodle in soup $10.95 – Flat noodle
• For $10.95 I should be getting either a big portion, or really amazing noodles and soup. I got neither. This is their hot ticket item and it was only ok. That’s kind of embarrassing.
• If I only order this I’d be really disappointed because this itself isn’t worth the wait. The bowl is big, but not the portion too.
• The broth was very basic and light and almost watered down in taste. It wasn’t very flavourful and the beef taste wasn’t as potent as it looks for sure.
• The noodles were great though. They’re cooked in small batches just until al dente. This is a tricky word – al dente is actually more “undercooked” than one may think. So these noodles come across as undercooked but they’re not. They’re chewy, hand made and it absorbed the flavour (as little as it had to offer) of the soup well.
• They do give you a lot of meat though. The beef shank is quite tender, could be tenderer, and the fat is almost interwoven in layers.
• They also have 2 slices of seared beef which is individually hand seared with a torch. This part was good as well.

**Noodle topped with ground pork sauce 3/5

• Noodle topped with ground pork sauce $6.95 – Flat noodle
• Beef is their specialty, yet this pork noodle bowl was better! I still like it better at other authentic Taiwanese places though – like Lao Shan Dong in Burnaby, or even Zephyr in the Sky in Richmond.
• This noodle bowl is only supposed to come with a little soup, just enough to wet the noodles and then some. The soup again is a bit bland although it looks rich. It’s sweeter, saltier, thicker and richer than the soup in the beef bowls.
• They give you a lot of ground pork which is quite tender and lean. It’s actually quite chunky and not minced like other authentic Taiwanese places would serve it. It’s pretty good though, very marinated, but not saucy and it could have been saucier. I think there were bits of tofu in it, but it wasn’t apparent.
• I do like the al dente chewy and slightly hard noodles. Although I think the thin noodle would have matched the dish better since the meat was ground.

Marinated Beef Crispy Pancake 2/6

• Marinated beef wrapped in crispy pancake $5.95
• This dish is much better at Shanghainese restaurants.
• It was a homemade crispy pancake/crepe rolled with marinated beef slices, green onions, cucumbers, and Hoisin sauce.
• It looks better than it tastes. The pancake part was good and crispy and there was lots of filling, but the dominant taste was raw green onions.
• I could barely taste the meat, and it was very crunchy but there was too much onion and they needed more cucumber. It was slightly spicy from the onion overload.
• Overall it was a bit dry although not oily, but I needed more Hoisin sauce for sweetness and more flavour in general.

Fried Chives Pancake 1.5/6

• Fried chives pancake (2 pcs) $3.95
• This was stuffed with vermicelli, chives, and scrambled eggs.
• The pancake was a very thin crepe and not crispy but soft. It was quite floury and left a powdery layer on my lips.
• The filling was a bit oily and bland with a slight white pepper taste. If anything else it tasted like sautéed onions, with just the natural flavour of the onions and nothing else.

**Pan-Fried Ground Pork Cake 4/6

• Pan fried ground pork cake (2 pcs) $3.50
• I think this is the best thing I ordered and it was worth it. If anything I would come back for these if there was no line-up and it was convenient.
• They dough is homemade and it’s very crispy and thin almost like dumpling skin but more doughy.
• It was the most savoury, but not necessarily flavourful and I wonder if it would be more flavourful than the beef cake. After all the pork noodles were more flavourful than the beef was.
• The pork was really juicy and when you cut into it the juice even leaks out. It reminded me of those Pan-fried Shanghai Pork Buns.
• They’re very crunchy too because they mix the pork with green beans.
• They’re made completely in house and you can watch them doing it. They’re very oily though, but I would order them again.

Pan Fried Sliced Radish Cake 1/6

• Pan-fried sliced radish cake (2 pcs) $3.50
• Ok, no. I like the sliced radish in pastry they serve for Shanghai dim sum better than this.
• I really like radish too, but this was just really bland and fishy tasting. It was fishy tasting because they put some dried shrimp in it as well as Chinese mushrooms although it was way too little and you couldn’t taste them.
• It was packed with filling and really juicy and crunchy, but the dominant flavour was just fishy.
• This was also very oily and I preferred the pork version hands down.
  

Dessert

Mango Shaved Ice 4/6

• $3.50
• This dessert is from Frappe Bliss - a franchise, so they just bought the machine that makes it.
• There is an actual store front for Frappe Bliss in the Aberdeen food court upstairs and it’s better there because you get more variety for toppings. Toppings here are limited and +$1 each.
• This dessert is still amazing and it’s a pretty decent bowl for the price.

Tri-ty Café – Bubble Tea

Restaurant: Tri-ty Café – Bubble Tea

Cuisine: Taiwanese/Chinese/Bubble Tea

Last visited: January 24, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 130-8100 Ackroyd Road
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Drinks: 5 (haven't tried food)

Service: 2

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• Specializes in bubble tea
• Hot food available
• Mainly Taiwanese food, some Cantonese
• Extensive menu for food and drinks
• Great for snacks/late night
• Brightly lit
• All ages
• Open late
• Great slushy drinks, but undercooked pearls
• Large glasses
• Self order sheet
• Popular for shaved ice, variety for toppings
• Cash only
• Minimum $3.95 per person
• $.50 for additional pearl, small pearl, coconut jelly, lemon jelly, grass jelly
• Lunch/Dinner/Snacks

**Recommendation: Pudding Smoothie with Milk

Tri-Ty Café is a brightly lit bubble tea house that attracts people of all ages, similar to Pearl Castle. It’s comfortable and they have a lot of options for snacks, drinks and meals. People go for lunch or dinner and everything on the menu is served all day including, fried rice, hot pot, noodles and desserts. Only their light meals are like toast, sandwiches and waffles are served at 2:30pm-5:30pm or after 8:30pm. The all day meals are $8.50-$9.50 and they look pretty good although I haven’t tried them. The Taiwanese Style Popcorn Chicken actually looked really good! A lot of people order their shaved ice as well because they have a lot of topping options and you can choose any 5 for $6.50.

I’ve ordered one thing only, but I always keep going back for this one drink! It’s also my recommendation. Overall their other drinks are pretty good too. The only problem I have is that the pearls are a bit hard because they don’t cook them long enough. As a result they’re a bit smaller than they should be and they’re not as chewy. The drink part is great though, and it’s been consistent all the times I have gone. I always get a smoothie and they do a good job here. It’s really thick and they pile them high and some of them include a scoop of ice cream!

On the table:

**Pudding Smoothie with Milk 5.5/6

• $5.25 Additional $0.50 for pearls etc.
• I bet all the smoothies are great here! They taste like milk shakes and it kind of is because they do use ice cream.
• This one tastes like vanilla ice cream, mixed with actual vanilla pudding and some milk tea. It does have a really subtle tea taste to it. It’s pretty sweet, but not overly sweet for me. Let’s put it this way, I discovered it over a year ago and have introduced people to it and this time we went 4/7 of us ordered it!
• Unlike the typical pudding drinks, there are no actual pudding pieces in this drink.
• There's ice cream in the smoothie already but I love how they put another scoop on top. It's just vanilla ice cream and then the pudding flavour comes from the vanilla pudding powder.
• The only thing wrong is the pearls. They’re undercooked and therefore they’re a bit hard and smaller in size. Hence my .5 deduction.

Strawberry Blueberry Slush 5/6

• They use real frozen blueberries and strawberries and they don’t sweeten it too much so it’s very natural.
• Again nice and thick and piled high. I’m pretty sure it’s dairy free and they sweeten it up with some simple sugar syrup. It was sweet and tart from the strawberries.
• Same thing with all their drinks – undercooked pearls.

Mango Peach Smoothie 4/6

• This one isn’t very sweet at all. It’s maybe because I had it after my pudding smoothie which is quite sweet.
• Again it’s made with real frozen fruit. Well at least the peaches are. It’s a great balance of both fruits because I could taste both. However I think the mangos they use could be canned. They garnish it with some mango syrup on top, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was mango syrup or canned mangos.
• Again, I love the scoop of ice cream! If you order “smoothie” it will come with ice cream, but if you order “slush” it might not.
• Undercooked pearls.

Lychee Calpis

• I didn’t try this one, but it’s not as exciting as their slushy series. It looks cool though! The blue thing is actually just a fake ice cube with a light.

Lychee Slush 4.5/6

• This was canned lychee which is expected, but it was good. It was what you expect, not too sweet or anything but just canned lychee with the syrup and some ice blended up. This one was most refreshing.