In the 80s frozen yogurt, or froyo, was the food craze in the US. It was marketed as a healthier alternative to ice cream, as it’s made using milk instead of cream. The sad reality was this form of frozen yogurt was not always actually healthier. Because of yogurt’s tart taste, manufacturers sweetened it up with sugar, making it far from healthy.
As supermarkets and petrol stations started offering their own versions in take-home tubs, the craze of stand-alone froyo outlets soon fizzled out. The product became just another dessert. But over the last few years we have seen a froyo revival.
The difference between many of the new offerings and those from the 80s and 90s is that today’s offerings are considerably more tart, less sweet and often organic, making for a healthier snack. In London I had come across (and tried) Snog, Frae, Yog, and the aptly named Milk-init — all of them pretty good and each with their own secret recipe that make for a unique froyo experience. In general the froyos I had were tart, like Greek yogurt, and often only sweetened with natural sweeteners like agave nectar.
What all of these froyo places had in common though was the toppings, the idea being that you have some freshly served frozen yogurt covered in the toppings of your choice, sweetening the deal with fresh fruits like blueberries raspberries or mango, along with more dangerous temptations like dark chocolate, crumbled oreo cookies or other sweets. However at this time these brands are all confined to their home market.
Pinkberry on the other hand is now going global. After opening in 2005, the chain now has over 70 stores in the US and has gained great publicity from froyo-crazed celebrities. Pinkberry have now partnered with M.H. Alshaya Co. to open a branch in Kuwait and Dubai. Bahrain is planning a store opening in January 2010. We can only hope Jeddah is next!
As I happened to be in Dubai recently and had already acquired a taste for frozen yogurt abroad, I decided to give Pinkberry a go while passing through the Mall of the Emirates. The brightly lit store is worth visiting for the décor alone, where the eye-catching knick-knacks lining their shelves seemed to attract more attention than the yogurt itself.
The menu has three main varieties of frozen yogurt to try: Original, Green Tea and Pomegranate. If you are unsure which flavor to chose, you can taste a sample of each before you commit, I would thoroughly recommend this! I tried all three, and found the green tea verging on revolting, a lucky escape! The Original was considerably better, and the Pomegranate surprisingly sweet.
In the end I opted for a twisted mix of pomegranate and original, the original providing a nice balance to the sweetness of the pomegranate. I topped this off with fresh strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, pistachios, and dark chocolate.
As for the taste, Pinkberry is surprisingly sweeter than the froyo I had tried in London; I recalled the yogurt there had a much more natural and yogurt like taste. Here at Pinkberry the iridescent white frozen yogurt tasted more sorbet than yogurt, its makers no doubt taking into account the sugar-craving American palate!
However accompanied by the fruit — freshly cut on site — the result on the whole was a good one, and if you’re calorie counting, a small cup of small original contains just 98 calories, which in my book is still pretty good! And with six toppings this set me back AED23 (roughly SR23). This is pricier than your average ice cream, but for a premium product the price is not surprising.
If you don’t fancy eating your Pinkberry, you can also drink it, smoothies are made fresh right in front of you (with the option to add sugar), or visitors can chose to try their (relatively) new fruit parfait — made from layers of fruit topped with a small amount of frozen yogurt.
All in all, Pinkberry definitely has something to offer to the health-conscious crowd of the Middle East, and it’s a welcome reprieve from the perils of ice cream. We imagine it won’t be long before the froyo craze takes off here in Saudi, but until then… we’ll be waiting!
Location: Mall of the Emirates, Dubai
