A tribute to HK's recent craze...

FROZEN YOGURT has recently captured the hearts of many teenagers (and adults) in Hong Kong. I remember a few years back in the US, frozen yogurt stores were still growing, and have heard that many shops in LA have in deed closed because their craze is pretty much over... But here in HK they have just begun! My very first frozen yogurts from HK were Yo Mama (Wanchai), Yogurtime and Berrygood.

The above stores have since expanded, Yo Mama and Yogurtime each having four locations (I think), and other froyo stores have also erected, including Crumbs, Smooch, Yogo, Milky Cow, Misocool, Holly Cow etc etc....

Indeed when it comes to frozen yogurt, everyone's preference is different. I prefer flavours which are true to their name. Let me explain - if it is an original flavour, it must be tart like real yogurt. If it is Chocolate, it must taste like chocolate....and not watered down cocoa powder. Although I have tried most of the frozen yogurt places mentioned above, I will review the recent ones I have tried this past week.

23rd June '10
Yogurtime @ Soho

Large Size ($38); Eurotart and Chocolate froyo; diced strawberries and chocolate wafers

This day's offerings also included a 'mix berry' and 'chocolate-coconut' and 'vanilla' flavour, which the sales person gladly let us test (yes, all of them!). He also enthusiastically informed us we were allowed to have two flavours in a cup and for the large we could pick two toppings. Although I knew this already, I didn't mind listening again because he was just so friendly and polite. We decided on eurotart and chocolate in the end, and I must say the texture of Yogurtime's froyos are not everyone's ideal froyo... Eurotart aside, I have had many friends who seem to think their other flavours lack creaminess and reminds them of shaved ice. I agree, which is why I usually come back for their Eurotart only. As they did not have mochi today, our selection of chocolate wafer with strawberries did not disappoint, though they were clearly running out of fruit so there was only one tablespoon of fruit given..

I want to mention a little on Yogurtime's servings - they are often generous with the froyo despite the increased prices, and I like how they don't 'swirl' the flavours, which I find ruins things for me. I like them to be kept separate like this one here!

25th June '10
Next was Berrygood @ Graham St., Soho

interior of the shop

Large ($40); Chocolate flavour; pound cake, mochi and blueberries as toppings

Berrygood's original is not bad, but not special either compared to its rivals. On this day, they had original and green apple in their machine. We sampled the green apple and I thought it was really strange... in a bad way. I looked in their fridge and found my favourite - chocolate. Berrygood's chocolate flavour reminds me a lot of Dreyer's ice cream, and I love it. We shared a large so we could have the three toppings, and a tablespoon of each variety was given. The toppings here is what I am sure keeps fans coming back for more - they are fresh with a lot of variety to meet everyone's needs =). 

27th June '10

Milky Cow @ Bonham Rd, Midlevels

After lunch nearby on a rainy Sunday afternoon we headed here to kill some time. Both G and T had tried Yo Mama so it was interesting for us to compare. Today's other flavour was raspberry, which I liked a lot when I tried it on Milky Cow's opening day. Being greedy, I chose to purchase a large original in one cup and a large raspberry flavour in the other with gummi bears. 

Large ($30); Original Flavour 

Large ($30); Raspberry flavour; Gummi bears (extra $5)

Milky Cow's original flavour is very similar to Yo Mama's, but slightly more tart, and lose the wooden spoon (which I hated anyway). There are three sizes on offer here, but often none of the cups are filled - usually only 1/2 full, so don't be deceived by the size of their paper cups! On the surface, it seems cheaper than the other froyo stores, but start adding toppings (which by the way are quite limited) and you will probably come to a bill more than you bargained for, as each spoon of topping is heftily priced at $5. Pricing aside, I really liked the original - creamy, right balance of sweet and tartness, lovely!

Their raspberry flavour left a mark on my mind since I last had it. And this time was just as I remembered. More tart than their original flavour, as the real fruit usually is, yet sweet and creamy. And as seen in the picture above, it seems to look the same as the original, probably because no food colouring is used (yayy). The gummy bears were probably a mistake - they were poor quality (i.e. their flavours were quite nasty) and hardened from being on top of the frozen yogurt... ahh no next time!

So there, three frozen yogurt stores visited in the span of one week!