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.

Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt - Review 2

Original Tart: Small $2.98 Medium $3.98 Large $4.98
Other flavours: Small $3.28 Medium $4.48 Large $5.48
Toppings: One $0.98 Two $1.48 Three $1.88 Extra $0.38
Parfait $5.98

Restaurant: Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt
Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt/Gelato/Desserts
Last visited: November 10, 09

Area: Multiple
#2110 - 8391 Alexandra Road, Richmond
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4.5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Overall: 4
Additional comments:

• Frozen yogurt franchise originating from San Francisco
• Healthy frozen yogurt, with a tang
• Non-fat (0% fat) yogurt
• Gluten free
• Yogurt cultures exceeds 8X's the National Yogurt Association requirement
• "Tutti" means "all together" in Italian and "Melon" resembles "freshness from fruits."
• Also serves crepes, gelato & smoothies
• Sampling available
• Amazing gelato!

**Recommendation: Green Tea, Taro, the gelato is great as well

The 2 constant flavours are original and green tea. This month they're featuring Rose and Taro! Very unique flavours - they change flavours quite often so you might want to call in first if you're desperate to try a certain flavour. If you can't decide, like me, they allow you to do a combination of flavours - I love that and didn't know they had that option until my recent visit there.

I increased the food rating to a 4.5, whereas the 1st review I wrote I gave it a 3. The reason is because I'm a regular there now and see how often they change their flavours. The have unique flavours that other places don't offer, so I think they deserve a 4.5. They still don't recognize me or anything, so the review is still as neutral as I can make it.

To see my review #1

On the table:

• Rose 3/6
• It really depends on what you like. The rose doesn't necessarily taste better than the other flavours, but it's something different.
  
• It's very aromatic and tastes like rose flavoured tea, without the bitterness tea naturally has. It's a very floral flavour.
• **Green Tea &Taro 4.5/6
  
• Toppings: Coconut
• I did save taro as my last bite, which could mean it tastes better than the green tea. It's sweeter than the green tea so maybe that's why. It tastes like taro ice cream or a taro bubble tea - so it's not real taro - which is fine with me, I like the powdered taro in bubble teas better than real taro anyways.
  
• I wish their coconut flakes were softer, I feel like they've been exposed to air for a while and they're a bit crunchy or just harder.
• Rose & Taro 4/6
• Toppings: Coffee Crisp & Almonds
• Yummy! This was good too. Very girly I admit.
  
• The taro is sweet than the rose so it almost overpowers any flavour it's matched with.
  
• The chocolate was actually good with the taro, but a little off putting (not necessarily in a bad way) with the rose. The coffee and rose flavour did have some sort of match though.
  
• 
• The almonds went great with both flavours. I like it with the rose better. So actually I wish she had put the Coffee Crisp on the taro side and the almonds on the rose side. I'll ask them to do that next time.
  

Tim's Dessert House

Restaurant: Tim's Dessert House - Review on eggballs

Cuisine: Chinese/Dessert
Last visited: Oct. 17, 09
Area: Richmond, BC
Unit 3250 4151 Hazelbridge Way
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 2 (Just on eggballs)

Additional comments:

• Family owned and operated
• Specializes in traditional Chinese egg batter desserts
• Fresh, made upon order homemade desserts
  
• Relatively healthy dessert - very light not as much sugar
• Eat as dessert or snack
• Gift boxes available
• Cash only

** Recommendation: n/a

I'm obsessed with trying to find the best eggballs in town. My next stop - Tim's Dessert House. It's easy to find in the Aberdeen food court, but the location is the only thing it has going. Looks better than it tastes.

On the table:

• Chinese Eggballs 2/6
• This is the Chinese version of a waffle. It's made of flour, eggs, milk and sugar. They put it in a special eggball waffle maker and it comes out like the above.

• For a further description of the Chinese eggball dessert
  

• At Tim's they use too much flour in the egg batter so their eggballs come out too dense and kind of hard. The ones at Your Dessert are better.
• 
• The trick is to pour the perfect amount of batter into the waffle maker. They pour too much batter so they're unable to create that crispy exterior that makes eggballs so good. It's not airy and light.
• The flavour of the batter is ok, but the dense texture was distracting for me.
• Yes it is made fresh and upon order, but it doesn't matter when the batter/cooking technique isn't right.
  

  

  • They also sell the eggrolls, but I haven't tried them or seen them making it fresh. They could though, I just haven't seen it.

Your Dessert

Restaurant: Your Dessert

Cuisine: Chinese/Dessert
Last visited: Oct. 14, 09
Area: Richmond, BC
Unit 2103 - 8700 McKim Way (In the Admiralty Mall food court)
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 6
Service: 3
Ambiance: n/a in a food court

Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Family owned and operated
• Specializes in Traditional Chinese egg batter desserts
• Fresh, made upon order homemade desserts
  
• Relatively healthy dessert - very light not as much sugar
• Eat as dessert or snack
  
• Gift boxes available
• Cash only

** Recommendation: Chinese Eggballs, Seaweed Phoenix Roll with Pork

This is the only dessert place in the food court. They specialize in Chinese desserts that are egg batter based like eggballs and egg rolls. They also make waffles and crepes, but I've never ordered it or seen anyone order it. I'd stick to the traditional Asian desserts - which are more like snacks than desserts. Not really sweet at all, very light.

Everything is homemade and made fresh daily. They don't have much business considering how small the food court is. But I think they make the best Chinese eggballs in town!

It's a husband and wife operation - he usually makes the eggballs (looks easy to make when you watch them, but it does take skill to make them really good) and she makes the Phoenix Rolls (takes skill and technique).

I order the Phoenix Rolls when I actually see her making them, she does it randomly throughout the day.

On the table:

The perfect ratio of soft chewy middle and crispy exterior. Airy and light.

• **Chinese Eggballs 6/6
• This is the Chinese version of a waffle. It's made of flour, eggs, milk and sugar. They put it in a special eggball waffle maker and it comes out like the above.
• It's better than a waffle to me. Not as bread like, but more soft and chewy.
  
• They make it upon order and it's the perfect texture - they use more egg and and less flour. Perfect amount of sweetness too.
• Besides the flavour of the batter, the trick is to pour the perfect amount into the waffle maker. It's excellent here because they pour just enough batter to keep the perfect balance between crispy outer shell and chewy soft middle. It's light and airy and the inside kind of springs back.
• 
• 
  
• **Phoenix Roll with Pork Floss 4.5/6
  
• This is a Chinese egg roll with dried pork floss wrapped inside.
  
• They make them daily so they're really fresh.
• It's really light. Very flaky and crispy paper thin layers of fresh egg roll pastry that are very slightly sweet. It's crispy and crumbly and very delicate. Then you get a salty bite with the fluffy pork floss. Amazing texture and unique flavours!
  
• 
• Pork floss is dried pork - it's almost like jerky but shredded and made really fluffy - almost like a rougher cotton candy. It's marinated in soy sauce and then dried, so it's savoury but has a slight sweetness (like soy sauce naturally does). Asian kids grow up with it.
• It works really well in this dessert because of the slight sweetness. I know it sounds really weird to put meat into a dessert. I guess it's more of a snack than a dessert, although Chinese people would call it a dessert. If you know what to expect I think you'll like it. I love them! I just wish they put more pork floss in these Phoenix rolls.
  

• The Cooking Process:

• 

Adding the pork floss

• 
• 
• Folding the Phoenix roll, must be done quickly before it hardens and becomes crispy.
• 

Set aside to cool.

• 

• They also offer Seaweed Phoenix Roll with pork where they wrap the Phoenix rolls in a thin sheet of seaweed.
• Seaweed and pork floss go hand in hand. It's a great combination that's commonly seen in Chinese cuisine. They both have that salty taste and kind of sweet taste at the same time. I like these ones, but that's because I'm already acquired to the taste.
• Work up to these ones, try the ones without seaweed first if you're not as adventurous. You might want to try each ingredient separately and then try it altogether.
  

Qoola

Restaurant: Qoola

Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt/Desserts
Last visited: October 14, 09

Area: Multiple locations
1116 Denman Street, Vancouver BC
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 4
Overall: 4
Additional comments:

• Healthy frozen yogurt, with a tang
• Non-fat (0% fat) yogurt
• $.89 per topping
  
• Gluten free
  
• Kosher-Dairy Certified
• Qoolala Original and Green Tea contains more than 300 million cultures per gram
• Chocolate contains approx. 100 million cultures per gram
• Frozen yogurt franchise
• Sampling available
• Smoothies, crepes & waffles available
• Biodegradable spoons
• One of the first big yogurt chains to open in Vancouver
  

**Recommendation: Original, green tea

The original is not as tart as Tuttimelon Frozen Yogurt, I liked it better. It's a smooth almost creamy yogurt and not too watery like some places are. The chocolate is really nice and the mixed berry is a bit sweet. I always like green tea so I'm a bit bias.

They have all the standard toppings. Other toppings other places don't offer but Qoola offers are: yogurt chips and hemp seeds. They also offer flavoured mochi, which is new. They have coconut, strawberry and melon mochi...they're not good at all though. They're hard and dry, the regular mochi are way better.

On the table:

• Green Tea 4/6
• Toppings: Almonds
• 

• Green Tea 4.5/6
  
• Toppings: Mochi
  
• I've said it before, but the combo of mochi and green tea just go hand in hand. The sweet and chewy mochi, with that tart and pungent Matcha powder...it's great!
  

Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt

Original Tart: Small $2.98 Medium $3.98 Large $4.98
Other flavours: Small $3.28 Medium $4.48 Large $5.48
Toppings: One $0.98 Two $1.48 Three $1.88 Extra $0.38
Parfait $5.98

Restaurant: Tuttimelon - Premium Frozen Yogurt
Cuisine: Frozen Yogurt/Gelato/Desserts
Last visited: August 19, 09

Area: Multiple
#2110 - 8391 Alexandra Road, Richmond
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 3
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Frozen yogurt franchise originating from San Francisco
• Healthy frozen yogurt, with a tang
• Non-fat (0% fat) yogurt
• Gluten free
• Generally more tart than Qoola
  
• Yogurt cultures exceeds 8X's the National Yogurt Association requirement
• "Tutti" means "all together" in Italian and "Melon" resembles "freshness from fruits."
• Also serves crepes, gelato & smoothies
• Sampling available
• Amazing gelato!
  

**Recommendation: I like the green tea or blueberry frozen yogurt and the gelato is pretty amazing. Really strong flavours that you can taste just from the sample. The no sugar added coconut is great (I didn't even know it was no sugar added), the Mandorla Tostata (almond gelato with almond slivers) is fabulous, and the maple walnut is the best I've tried!

The original is way too sour and tart. Blueberry is most popular, it's the sweetest (least tangy). I also really enjoyed the green tea. The mango is okay, but the mango flavour is a bit too subtle. I would go back only for the green tea, blueberry, or gelato. It really depends on what you like though. Overall the yogurt here is not bad, it's the tangy yogurt, not the TCBY kind. There are better places, like Pinkberry, it's comparable to Qoola, but 21 Choices is still the best. Qoola has better tasting frozen yogurt, but Tuttimelon does a better job with toppings (if you get the right person) - you do get quite a bit. The inside is trendy/cutsie - just like all the other frozen yogurt places that have popped up in the last little while. They also offer crepes, smoothies, gelato, and sorbet on the menu. Don't miss out on the gelato, it really is gourmet.

On the table:

• Green Tea 3/6
• Toppings: Mochi, Digestive cookies
• I like the chewiness of the mochi with the crunch of digestive cookies. Go during downtime and you get big pieces of cookie, when you go during busy times you get the crumbs. For me green tea and mochi go hand in hand.
• Green Tea 2/6
• Toppings: Mochi, Crunchie
• Together, not so great, but separate it was fine.
• Blueberry 4/6
  
• Toppings: Mochi, Dragonfruit
  
• Looks pretty, but dragonfruit doesn't have much flavour so it was more for the texture I added it. Mochi and blueberry is really good though. I'll try it with coconut and mochi next time.
• Green Tea 2.5/6
  
• Toppings: Almonds, Mochi
• I like the crunchy and chewy combination of almonds and mochi. But the person loading the toppings for this one didn't do a good job.
  
  
  
• Crepe w/gelato 2/6 (The gelato itself is 5/6)
  
• This is impossible to eat! They make the crepes upon order and you choose up to 3 toppings to put in it. They fold the toppings into the crepe and roll it up and serve it in a paper cone. Then they put a scoop of gelato (your choice) on top of the crepe. The way it's served it pretty dumb. It means you have to eat the gelato first before you can even get to the crepe and toppings - which defeats the purpose I think. I want to eat them together! It should really be served on a plate. It's so hard to eat.
  The crepe is soft and flimsy so how is it supposed to hold the gelato? It barely does! The gelato just melts and it gets really messy.
• The good: the gelato is really good. We had no sugar added coconut gelato and it was fantastic! You could never tell it was "no sugar added" - I actually didn't even know there was no sugar until the second time I went back and saw the label.
• The crepe is flavourless, but at least it's made upon order. It doesn't stay warm because the gelato makes it cold and crispy.

Frappe Bliss

Matcha Delight

Matcha Delight - on a different day, made my someone not as skilled...


Restaurant: Frappe Bliss
Cuisine: Desserts/Ice Cream/Asian

Last visited: September 4, 09

Area: Richmond, BC
Food Court, Aberdeen Centre - 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 6

Additional comments:

• Similar to the Asian dessert "shaved ice" but way better
• I prefer it to Beard Papa's Cream Puffs located right across
• Creative and delicious ice cream dessert
• Really light tasting ice "cream"(actually milk) - airy, fluffy
• Relatively healthy
  
• Originates from Taiwan
• Variety of fresh fruit/canned fruit/Asian toppings
• Can create your own or order a Frappe Bliss special creation
  
• Also on the menu - sweet and savoury crepes
• Presentation depends on who makes it

**Recommendation: Matcha Delight, Thai Sensation - I like to get one that comes with a scoop of ice cream on top because the combo of shaved ice milk and actual ice cream is really good!

This is one of my favourite dessert places. I crave this place every time I'm in Aberdeen Mall. I'll actually go to the mall just for this - well, there's not much there anyway except for the food court...anyways my point is simply - this is really really good. It's such a unique dessert! It's a similar concept to the popular shaved ice, but it tastes soooo much better!

First off, it's not shaved ice, instead they use ice milk. They take a block of frozen and flavoured ice milk and they shave it with this ice machine. You get this mound of shaved ice milk in a big bowl and you top it with things such as fresh fruit, red beans, mochi, condensed milk, taro, grass jelly, Oreos etc. The ice milk itself is really light tasting - it's still sweet, but not as sweet ice cream, but it tastes like ice cream! It tastes just like shavings of ice cream - light, soft and feathery - I don't know how they do it, but it doesn't melt either.

I really really love this place, you can eat a whole bowl full of ice milk and you feel like you ate nothing because it's so airy and light - yet it's still satisfying to your stomach and sweet tooth. I would bring people here just to try this - so creative...it's just waiting to be discovered and franchised. You can order one of the Frappe Bliss creations and chose your own choice of ice milk - or customize your own completely.

On the table:

• **Matcha Delight 6/6
• Matcha ice cream, mochi and red beans. Then they drizzle condensed milk over the whole thing $5
  

• This one is one of my favourites and I don't even like red bean. You can tell them to ease up on it, or not to put it on if you want. It's not particularly bad red bean so I don't mind a little. It gives it some texture and a hint of sweetness. Makes it more unique.
• I love the mochi they use in this. I think they're Taiwanese style mochis - not really Japanese ones. They're better than the mochi they use at frozen yogurt places. The ones at Frappe Bliss are perfectly round ones, soft and chewy ones, not dry ones...they're obviously bought and not homemade, but they're still good. They're great for this dessert because they slightly freeze, but still remain chewy and not hard. Almost like eating pearls in a bub ble tea. I love the texture of the ice cream and shaved ice too, the combination of eating them together is divine!
• I like to order this one with their regular ice milk. Don't want too many flavours going on. It's about $5 and I think it's totally worth it!

• 

• I ordered this one on a different day - Nov. 29, 09
• I got the Matcha delight with matcha frappe. It was very match-y. I still prefer the regular ice milk for the base.
  
• **Thai Sensation 5/6
  
• Condensed milk, mango, black gluntinous rice $4.26

• I ordered this one with the mango flavoured ice milk - that seemed like an obvious choice. I like this one it's different and they use fresh mangoes. I would like it with some coocnut milk too to make it extra Thai...but they don't offer any.
• Chocolate Earthquake 5/6
  
• Oreo, chocolate sauce $3.80

• 6/6 if you order this with banana or peanut ice milk. YUM! It's topped with chocolate sauce, Oreo cookie crumbs, peanut crumbs, and brownie bits (more like crumbs). This one is quite crumbly, the Oreo cookies are the only thing that you really need to bite. It's like eating a banana split if you get it with banana ice milk.
• The peanut ice milk is amazing. I think it's the best one hands down for me. It's made with real peanut butter and fresh milk. The re's finely ground peanuts in it too. A strong, smooth, and sweet peanut taste - really flavourful, you can taste the quality of peanut butter they use - it's really good. The whole thing tastes like a really wicked Reese's Pieces - but better.
• This isn't as big as the other ones and has no ice cream or gourmet toppings so it's only $3.80.
• Strawberry Romance 3/6
  
• Strawberry, condesnsed milk and strawberry ice cream $4.52

• Again I'm not a big fan of strawberry flavoured dessert like this, so it was just ok for me. This isn't an adventurous one either, more for kids I think. Strawberry ice milk, with strawberries on top, and strawberry syrup and condensed milk. No surprise here, tastes like what it sounds.
• A Dream in Eden 5/6
  
• Strawberry, kiwi, mango and mango ice cream $5.95
  

• This one is another regular one - not really exotic in any of the toppings. Just a combination of fresh fruit on top of shaved ice milk. We got it with mango ice milk. I would get creative with the ice milk for this one - try it with peanut or matcha. You get a big scoop of mango ice cream on top and it's all drizzled with condensed milk.
• The strawberry and kiwi taste a little frozen and they're a bit stingy on the fruit.
  
• I suggest getting creative with the ice mil k for this one, if they have the Matcha ice available that day - get this. Or try it with the peanut one - you can't go wrong with the peanut one!

  

• Formosa Treasures 1.5/6
  
• Fresh taro, black glutinous rice, red beans & mochi. I think they drizzle condensed milk on it too. $5

• We ordered this one with the regular ice milk frappe. This is from Nov. 28, 2009 as well.
• It was ok, but that's because I'm not a fan of red bean or fresh taro that's sweet. I like powdered taro bubble teas and savoury taro foods, but I'm not a fan of real taro bubble teas. The toppings were just too starchy and quite sweet. I think the combo of red bean and taro was just too sweet in general. The black gluntinous rice was ok, kind of chewy and sweet. Even though everything was real, it tasted a bit fake and pasty tasting. Probably wouldn't get this one again. The frappe and mochi part is always good though.