Updated: 22nd Dec 2014; This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com.
This post is written based on a complementary meal from Qoola.
A week ago, Suanne and I received an invitation to checkout a new frozen yogurt place called Qoola. Since we were going to be in downtown anyway for the Taste BC event on the same night, we decided to pop over. I know it is kind of weird … we were going for yogurt, waffle and crepes immediately after wine and cheese, sushi, burger … all on the same night.
So, Suanne, Angie and I took a short drive to the western end of Denman to where Qoola is. Qoola is actually located at the old location of Cupcakes (1116 Denman).
We were met up front by Warrick who is the man behind the entire idea of Qoola. Warrick came across to us as a bright, energetic young man with great passion in what he does.
Qoola had been opened for just one month so everything is spanking clean. We love the bright greenish interior. Qoola is green … more greener than what we expected and we soon realized how seriously green they are.
We had a crash course, to say the least … much of which went swosh over my head. Too much data and too technical for me after all the wine from Taste BC.
Not really a person who knows what is what, we left the choice to Warrick and his partners. The only thing we asked is that they surprise us. First came their Green Tea Yogurt with blueberry and marionberry sauce. It was good and we like it.
I don’t care much for frozen yogurt. The only time I had frozen yogurt of note is Red Mango which we had in Bellevue,WA. I was told that many frozen yogurt places uses powdered yogurt which contains only about 1 million bacteria. However, Qoola uses only fresh yogurt despite its limited shelf life of a couple of weeks only. Fresh yogurt has 400 times more bacteria than powdered yogurt.
The next surprise is the Original yogurt with apples, cinnamon flakes and caramel sauce. We love this more than the earlier one. I like especially the fresh looking and crunchy apple chunks.
The frozen yogurt is $3.95 and each topping costs 89 cents. So the above is about $7. Qoola now has a promotion of a small frozen yogurt plus 2 toppings for $5 from 11Am to 7PM daily. Qoola has over 40 toppings to choose from. By the way, Qoola is open from 2PM to late night on weekday and from 11AM to late night on weekend.
I hope I got this right … it is called Acai Bowl. This does not look pretty. As a matter of fact, I thought it was gigantic bowl of chocolate mousse. But it was awes0me … the best I had that night. I was told that this is made of acai (pronounced as ar-sai) which is a purple berry from Brazil and is very high in antioxident.
I can’t quite make out what it is like. Firstly I felt like I was drinking soup except that it is cold … nicely cold. You should try this out. I think you will like it despite the looks.
The Waffle was quite alright. It shouts healthy all round. It is made of organic whole grain, rye, millet and oats. Even the eggs are free range eggs. We had a debate whether people could tell free range eggs from normal eggs in terms of looks and taste. Angie swear that she could tell by the color of the yolk and the taste of free range eggs are not so “eggy”. Not so “eggy”? *shrugs* Next time, I’ll pay more attention to my eggs.
The waffle is topped with kiwi fruit, blackberries and raspberry yogurt. OK, this waffle is healthy but personally I prefer the normal fattening waffle with lots of syrup … more oomph. BTW, a waffle with coffee or tea costs $5.
Next was the Qoola Crush. It is slush with yogurt … healthy slush. We had the one with acai and pomegranate blueberry crush. This will be great especially for warm weather and I can see lots of people going for this during summer, especially when there is an event on English Bay.
We also had the Crepe Ala Mode. We had it with Nutella and Raspberry. Qoola’s crepes are made with a blend of organic and unbleached flour. We like their crepes but I think there is nothing really unique taste wise.
Suanne had the Q*Tea. Call me ignorant about environmental matters but I am so blown away by their tea bag which is the ultimate in environment friendliness.
Look, no tags, no strings … just a compostable whole tea bag. The Genmaicha tea is high quality in that the leaves are not ground but whole leaves. This supposedly maintains the antioxidant better.
I was saying that Qoola was serious on making their business as green as they can make it. In order to maintain that level of greenness, they insists on using biodegradable cutleries and plates. I was truly impressed because these guys walk the talk.
They don’t only have a trash bin but they try to encourage their customers to sort their disposals.
They even have separate bins for biodegradable/compostables and recyclable items.
I like these guys … Suanne and Angie too. On the way back we were saying how we want Qoola to succeed in a very competitive business. Warrick and his team has the passion to make Qoola different from others. We can see that in all the thoughts and planning they had put in from the ground up. They could perhaps as easily gotten a Red Mango or Pinkberry franchise here to Vancouver but they choose to go down the path they believe is the right path.
I have a few Buy One Get One Free coupons from Qoola. I am hardly in downtown and so may not use them as much as we want to. So if any of you wants one, just send me an email with your name and address and I would gladly mail them to you.
Hi Ben,
I have walked pass this place a couple of times around lunch time but had to turn around. No, not that they kicked me out or something like that, rather, there is a note about their winter, weekday store hours: 2:00 p.m. onwards. Ouch. Now, as for the food, it looks quite good. Can you tell me, when you were eating the frozen yoghurt, did you notice certain milk-tasting like tanginess? Just curious about it…
Tell you what, Kim Ho. Email me an address and I will send you the BOGO coupons. You can then try it for yourself!
Ben
Hi! do you have a buy 1 get 1 free coupon for quoola?^^ can i have one? thx!
This frozen yogurt place sounds pretty interesting. Here in California, frozen yogurt is quite popular, especially with the younger crowd. Most places that I have been to only serve yogurt and nothing else, however. I find it pretty neat that Qoola serves food other than frozen yogurt. Their complete dedication to being green is also quite commendable. With their combination of crepes, yogurt, green-ness and healthy food, I think Qoola may do pretty well here in California 🙂
Why would you give the coupons away? THey were obviously for you! I don’t understand your stomaches either. On one post you write that you shared a burger because its too much food, yet on this night you already ate soooo much food at a different restauranta and you came to qoola and ate enough food for africa!
Hi W: You see, what I was trying to say was that … oh, forget it. I can’t sweat the small things in life. Hope you can let it go too. 🙂
The desserts look delicious!
I am a little confused by your proclamation that Qoola offers a yogurt with two toppings for $5 from “11am to 7am” though…although if you mail me a coupon it wouldn’t really matter then! 🙂
hey ben, I have lurking on this site for quite a while and love it!
I am interested in ur bogo coupons for Qoola but have no idea what your email is. cheerss
Hi Canido: Our email addresses are on the “Contact” page … link at the top of the page. We have given away the last of the BOGO coupons two days ago. Was rather surprised how many frozen yogurt fans there are. Anyway, I was told that Qoola will be doing their grand launch on Valentine’s Day. I’m trying to find out what’s up their sleeves and will let post it if there are something substantial for you all.
Ben
thanks for your response. I went to denman yesterday and could not find Qoola. I went again today and found it, heheh! Their sign does not really stand out enough for me to notice it. I like their simplistic clean design and their yummy yogurt. =)
Great review. They’ve recently modified their Acai Engery Bowl. Might be worth checking out the new and improved version. I myself have not tried it yet though.
Hi I Love Food Blog: I had just recently visited Qoola and tried the new Qool-Acai Energy Bowl. As a matter of fact, if you go to Qoola anytime in April (2009) and mention “Chowtimes Loves Qool-Acai” you will get a free topping. I blogged about this just last week here: http://chowtimes.com/2009/04/03/free-topping-at-qool/.
Ben
Not sure what’s up with this store, there seems to be a weird amount of buzz about it. will have to try for myself and see what the deal is next trip out to the coast.
Just a note. The Açaí(ah-sah-EE)berry looses it’s potency within hours of being picked and the fact it’s being added to everything from juice to booze is just trend following (amazing is the power of Oprah). you get the taste and not much else in most offerings. There are a few juices that are the real deal, I hope they use one of them or the only energy is from the sugar.
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I am really shocked to have heard from my friends that work at this place, on how the owners treat their employees. Apparently they never get paid for overtime, and never get their cheques ON time!
Its crazy how these people come across as nice,reliable owners and yet show the complete opposite, the yogurt is “okay” it tastes like any other out there….not impressed
Like seriously….if they want their employees to give out their 100% to Qoola during their work shifts…..the owners need TO LEARN HOW TO DO THEIR JOB!!!
GOD!