604 Foodtography

I know what you’re thinking. Another review of Qoola? There’s already so many!

• Hummingbird604
• Chow Times
• Miss 604
• Deelish
• Tasting Vancouver
• TBDFBTI
• I’m Only Here For The Food
• Modern Mix Vancouver
• Eat n’ About
• I Love Food Blog

You know the kid that was always the last to be picked in PE class? While I never was that kid, my review of Qoola certainly feels like it, and I hope that I’m arriving fashionably late.  I was finally able to setup a time for a one on one with the owners Jesse and Warrick.

I did make it out to the Grand Opening back on Feb 14th, but it was so busy that I just quickly said hi, took some pictures and left.

I’ll go over the food first. They offered to make samples of whatever I wanted to try. I love green apples, so I really wanted to try the original creation they have, Caramel Apple. It’s soooo good…like a caramel apple with frozen yogurt!

Green Apple, Chocolate Cinnamon Flakes and Caramel Sauce.

They also made one with one of each fruit topping they offer (Apples, Bananas, Blackberries, Blueberries, Kiwis, Mangoes, Oranges, Pineapples, Raspberries, Strawberries and Watermelons). Reason why was so I could get a understanding of how the slightly tart frozen fresh yogurt would taste with each fruit.  Sorry, no picture but you can imagine it. Did you?

Next was the Q*Waffles, I couldn’t think of any good combinations for toppings so I said surprise me.

Kiwi, Green Tea Qoolala, Blueberries and Marionberry Jam.

This is half a serving. I told Jesse that if I tried everything they had, I wouldn’t be able to finish it all. Good for sharing though.
The waffles by themselves would be very filling, and are made with organic whole grains mixed with barley, rye, flax, millet and oats.

Something I’ve been looking forward to trying was the Qool-açaí, after I read Ben rave about it.

To really enjoy this you’ll have to stir the granola into the acai blend. Mine didn’t have banana like the site says or like the other reviewers, but it’s okay cause I’m not a big fan of bananas.

So this bowl is supposed to provide an energy boost with the added guarana, in addition to being very nutritious due to the many benefits of Acai. Did I feel energized? I can’t say. Caffeine just doesn’t seem to work for me, haha. It was delicious though, I liked the different textures, crunchy granola and slushy acai blend.

In case you didn’t know, Acai is one of the most searched terms on Google recently, and local nutrition stores/specialty markets like Capers and Choices are having trouble keeping their product on the shelves. I’ll keep my eye out for studies on this fruit, does it live up to its hype?

The last thing I tried was Qrush. A blend of any flavour yogurt and the featured flavor slush, you can have it blended or layered.

What I really liked about this is the layering and that it’s the easiest thing to take on the go. It beats 7-11 slurpies for deliciousness, but not for price. Oh and I got tea. The teabag filter is cool, no strings or anything so it’s completely biodegradable. I would have asked to try a Qrepe, but I was getting full…

All the food came interspersed during the Q&A, so I left feeling very satisfied and full.

Just talking with Jesse, you can hear the passion for his store. They care about the customers, and that’s evident through their presence in the store everyday, helping out however they can.  For example, one of their employees was sick and so Warrick was behind the counter manning things. They really do care about being environmentally friendly, and they back it up by sourcing out biodegradable utensils and containers.

Only a couple months old, they are also giving back to the community. At the grand opening, they offered a free small qoolala with one topping to anyone who brought donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. The weekend after my visit, they were involved with the Projecting Change Film Festival.

Freshness is emphasized GREATLY, and they try to stay local as much as they can. You have to understand how hard it is to provide fresh fruits year round though, as they all differ in season and availability. Prices per topping are relatively cheap (compared to other similar places like Froyo, Blueberry), but depending on the month and fruit, they may take a hit in price.

I spent more than two hours at Qoola, talking and eating!

Overall, if I were downtown, I would not hesistate to drop by for a Qrush or a Qoolala. I’ve already visited a couple times since.