fatburger: too many options!

another day, another groupon and this time a meal for 4 at fatburger including 4 original fat cheddars and 4 orders of skinny fries. 

at only $26.00 our cheeseburgers were customized to our liking including different veggies, sauces and even onion rings! 

fat cheddar burger with onion rings: the burger was indeed delicious with a nice juicy patty and with so many options, you can have it almost any way you like! 

 3.75/5 

skinny fries: average (and small) portion

3/5

overall: i would return with a groupon but without it, a burger with fries would cost about 10 dollars and there are better 10 dollar burgers out there. 

sushi star: hidden "not quite a gem" sushi

a warm summer day in 2013, me and two friends decided to have downtown adventures visiting soirette and the harbour but before that, we needed energy in the form of SUSHI and found sushi star in a hidden street. 

 gyoza ($3.95) - the gyoza were not great. it was quite hard and seemed over fried but did come the table piping hot which is a plus! i can be a bit biased though since i strong prefer pan fried over deep fried and am a bit upset they didnt clarify it on the menu ): 

2.85/5

tuna tataki ($7.95) - 8 bucks for tuna tataki is a pretty good price but as you can tell from the picture, its not the most beautiful or delicious around. the sauce had a nice acidity but the slices were very thin and hardly seared.

3.25/5

yam tempura roll ($3.95), dynamite roll ($3.95), salmon avocado roll ($3.75)

all the rolls were pretty average with a blander tasting rice. the filling in the dynamite wasnt bad since i actually enjoy when there is crab meat included but the salmon avocado was quite packed with rice and had little salmon in it. 

3.25/5

lion king roll ($8.95) - deep fried california roll topped with spicy crab mix. this was not a bad roll but looking back, we should have picked something that had different fillings on the top and inside. nonetheless, its a bit pricy for what you get but the spicy topping was quite good. 

3.5/5

overall: sushi star has a very high rating on urbanspoon but i didnt find any of it amazing. the prices are decent especially for downtown and the place is really small and cozy but there's a lot of other sushi waiting for me in vancouver. 

qoola/qoola plus: three part groupon story

frozen yogurt...my absolute favourite sweet treat not only because it makes me feel less guilty (not true from the sugar content by the way) but because i can experience brownies, cheesecake and oreos all at once. groupons get me every single time with their frozen yogurt deals and here at qoola plus in richmond center, was my first visit of 3. 

for frozen yogurt, qoola is actually my least favourite because it melts the quickest and their toppings are the least diverse BUT it is the most convenient being in 3 nearby shopping malls.

i came here with my mom and each groupon is worth 10 dollars of fro yo while i only paid 5 bucks. such a good deal...could not pass it up! 

visit 1

our two frozen yogurts! (guess which one is mine...)

ps. waffle bowls are NOT extra charged, just weighed

some fruity fro yo flavours - mango tango? 

toppings: popping boba, pineapples and waffle bowl

i stole some waffle and sprinkled it on mine :P

but flavours were probably: cheesecake, greek original and chocolate.

toppings: mochi, oreo crumbs, cheesecake bites, brownie bits 

visit 2

came with the brother AND mom this time where my mom and i shared a bowl at qoola in oakridge. 

flavours: peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla

toppings: brownie bites, chocolate rocks, chocolate shavings, cookie dough bits

flavours: cheesecake, greek original, pomegranate berry? 

toppings: mochi, pineapples, oreos, popping boba, mangoes, chocolate shavings

visit 3

back at richmond centre 

not gonna type the toppings/ flavours...its about the same! 

3.5/5 for all (generalized score?) 

price: $0.55/oz

overall: the richmond center location is my favourite because its new and pretty but also cause i feel they have the most toppings and the people working there are really nice! the problem for both locations is the flavours hardly change BUT for fro-yo i really dont care cause it hits the spot! 

black dragon sushi: simple rolls and...fries?

summer of 2013 (almost a year ago...whoops) my friends and i decided to try black dragon sushi on kingsway since we love our sushi rolls and their menu seemed to be filled with them!

we started off with some staples that we always order:

salmon roll ($2.50) - not bad, the salmon inside wasnt extremely chopped up but rice was bland. 

2.75/5

california roll ($3.50) - haphazardly put together and bland..not very good.

2.5/5

salmon avocado roll ($3.95) - pretty full but again, rice was not good. texture and taste were poor. 

2.75/5

agadashi tofu ($3.95) - fried nice and crispy, served hot but not enough sauce. 

3.25/5

chicken kaarage ($4.95) - this was the strangest chicken kaarage i ever got at a japanese restaurant...it was like chinese deep fried chicken skin with french fries...i dont even know what to say...

1/5

maple roll ($7.25) - crab meat, cucumber and avocado topped with salmon and some mayo: this was not bad for a special roll with the price of only 8 bucks.

3/5

yam tempura roll ($3.50)

spicy salmon roll ($3.50)

for both of them, same comments as above. the filling is not bad since they dont skimp out but the rice is not very tasty. 

3/5 for both 

salmon tataki ($10.95) - this was alright as well but again, not enough sauce and didnt have too much flavour other than just the salmon.

3/5

overall, the food is fine but bland with hard/tasteless rice and there is nothing special about but the prices are quite decent. i would return to try more special rolls but would not make a special trip out of it. definition of mediocre 

2.75/5