CLOSED! dessert/frozen yogurt: SHERRY's FROZEN YOGURT

edit 10/12/09- CLOSED!

SHERRY's FROZEN YOGURT
No. 23, Lane 187, Dun Hua S. Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2775-4610

website: sherrysyogurt.com

$-$$

Kid friendliness: some seating, mostly to-go

Visit reviewed: 9/8/2009



We've come a long way from the meager days of drooling over Pinkberry and Yogurtland in the states. Now there seems to be new pink frozen yogurt places popping up everywhere I turn.

I was meeting up with a new friend and we wanted to get the waffle from Room From Dessert. The last time I was there, I wasn't able to get any good pictures and they had one of the best waffles I've had in Taipei, plus it came with a small side of frozen yogurt!

But when we went there, we realized it had closed down!!!! And was now a second hand luxury goods shop. ARGH! So we wandered down the alley and saw the sign for Sherry's Frozen yogurt and decided to give it a try.



Inside, it's pretty tiny, but has a few bar stools to sit on, or a table outside. Their frozen yogurts come in S, M or L (NT$85-130) or you could get a shake (NT$135). With four flavors to choose from- Original, Strawberry, Mango and Blackberry- they gave us samples to try all four, which were surprisingly all tart. Also, they had a special promotion since they had just opened a few weeks ago for 20% off all orders.

I ended up getting a Mango Shake (NT$135) which was blended mango yogurt and fresh mangos. It was a bit thick and there were no bits of mango, so kind of like drinking a melting frozen yogurt.



My friend got small strawberry frozen yogurt with mango and oreos (NT$90). The oreo cookie was placed whole and not pre-crumbled, so she just ate it like a regular cookie.



They also had some other fruit, berry, candy and cereal toppings, but it was hard to see in their covered trays. The selection isn't as huge as Yogurtland or YoFroyo and price is more expensive, maybe to account for rent in the area?



The week after I spotted this place, I spotted Hielo and gave it a try (review coming soon!). Overall, Sherry's Frozen Yogurt and the new wave of yogurt places are an improvement on the city's first attempts at frozen yogurt last year- >Yogurt Me and Sweetberry.

I do wish that Room for Dessert was still around. Anyone know where to get good waffles now?

CLOSED! dessert/frozen yogurt: i strongly recommend YOFROYO

CLOSED!

YOFROYO
at Shida Night Market
No.9, Ln.59, Shida Rd.
Jhongjeng District

(02))2365-0188

MRT: Kuting

website: yofroyo.com

$

Kid friendliness: lots of free samples and kid pleasing marshmallows, mochi and sprinkles!

Visit reviewed: 5/18/2009



Everyone in LA has heard of Pinkberry. Maybe even heard of Red Mango, Yogurtland and the Frozen Yogurt Wars.

But in Taipei, the frozen yogurt wave is just beginning... there were some attempts here and there, but none that really seemed that they would take off until now. A few years ago, I even daydreamed to open a Yogurtland-berry-ish froyo place here and eat free frozen yogurt whenever I wanted, the way I wanted, but luckily for us, the founders of YoFroyo actually went ahead and did it.

YoFroyo is located in an alley off of the busy Shida Night Market, across from Subway. I would have never ventured there but for an email invitation letting me know about their Grand Opening. I couldn't make it then, but the call of tarty frozen yogurt (or fro yo, for short, hence the name YoFroYo) was too strong to let me wait too long to check it out.



And I'm glad I did. First off, next time I'd come with an empty stomach to the Shida Night Market since there are so many alleys full of street eats to sample, such as "gua bao", pan fried dumplings, crispy fried chicken cutlets or "G-pai" and sausages, just to name a few.

But if you are headed just for the frozen yogurt, you have a lot to choose from. There's an array of toppings, flavors and combinations. Most importantly, there were berries, or at least strawberries, and mango. They also have other confections- gummy bears, marshmallows, crumbled cookies, diced fruits, chocolate chips and even baby cream puffs to decorate your dessert. They also have freshly made baby mochi balls to choose from and quite a number of flavors (original, guava, taro, black sugar, blueberry, mango and lychee) to match whatever yogurt flavor you choose. The combinations ar endless. It's probably easier for locals to get the concept, since it's quite similar to picking and choosing your sweet toppings on shaved ice, which also comes in a plethora of colorful shapes and sizes.



If you've never had Pinkberry, the whole phenomenon came from the frozen yogurt being tart and sweet, rather than just overly sweet. Being a "healthy" dessert with fresh fruits, Pinkberry was even nicknamed "Crackberry" for its addictiveness. From that sprung entrepreneurial copycats with a twist, such as Yogurtland, which provided "pay as you weigh" and self service with 8-12 flavors of froyo to choose from. YoFroYo borrows a few elements from each and makes it own hopes of an Asian franchise- a shiny and hip plastic white and silver decor, a range of six tart to sweet yogurt flavors that can appeal to all ages and tastebuds, and putting an Asian influenced spin to it.

And it works. I really liked the green tea frozen yogurt with a dash of azuki red beans sample that I had. I liked the soft and squishy bite sized mochis that I tried.

All the choices can be a bit overwhelming and with all the signs to read (thankfully in both English and Chinese), I was a little overwhelmed at what to order.



But they try to make it easy for the newbies by giving you large samples and providing a list of wryly named Froyo creations like Tokyo Reverie, My Blueberry Night, Barbie Doll or Cookie Monster if you can't decide (which maybe would be easier to drool over if there were pictures to look at like Coldstones?)



But maybe most importantly, the portions are sizeable and the prices are great (perhaps a happy result of needing to be competitive with other night market eats and being near a university). A regular at NT$55 is totally shareable with 2 or 3 people, or large at NT$75 if you're really hungry.

And if you're not a fan of the tart or fruit flavored frozen yogurt (they currently have original tart, mango, blueberry, lychee), then you can get chocolate.



They even have a suggestion box for future flavors. I'd put a vote for peanut butter or strawberry, and white chocolate chips or yogurt chips toppings and of course, raspberry or blueberry toppings when they are in season. The founders are from UC San Diego and set on making it So-cal authentic.

As the weather gets hotter and word of mouth spreads, I'm sure we'll see more signs of a Taipei Yogurt War. Maybe you can be the "cool" one in your group to help your friends discover tarty frozen yogurt the next time you're tired of shaved ice.

What do you think? Is Taipei ready for tart froyo? Will you be checking it out?


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CLOSED dessert/frozen yogurt: i recommend HIELO

HIELO
No. 124, Zhong Xiao E. Road, Sec. 4
(02) 8772-6632

Editor note: This location spotted closed a/o 9/2014

website: hielo.com.tw Chinese and English

hours: Sun- Thur 11 AM - 10:30PM; Fri/Sat 11 AM - 11:30 PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: lots of space and frozen yogurt

Visit reviewed: 9/18/2009



Wrapping up what seems to have turned into dessert week this week on the blog, here is a look at Hielo, the latest addition to the new frozen yogurt wave in Taipei.

First of all, let's talk about the name.

Hello! Helio? Hielo?

How do you spell the name and what does it have to do with frozen yogurt? From a distance, you might not even know that this store across from the Starbucks near Dun Hua Sogo has anything to do with food, much less desserts. Is it just me, or does it looks sort of like a phone or tech store with the Hello-my-name-is... dialogue box, with Hello misspelled. (After all, we've all seen plenty of things misspelled everywhere around town.)



After some digging, it turns out the "hielo" is the Spanish word for ice. But it's so strange that you're naming a froyo store in Spanish in a country that dubs Dora the Explorer in Chinese or lacks popularity of Mexican or Spanish foods.

But I digress... Don't get me started about (the lack of good) Mexican food in Taipei...

The store is cute and inviting enough for frozen yogurt experts and novices. The cashier helpfully offers little cups of samples and asks if you have any questions.



There's plenty of area to sit down and eat.



The signs make it fairly easy to decipher how to order- pick a flavor, pick a size, pick your toppings. Hielo offers two flavors- original tart and uji matcha AKA green tea. You can also get a shake or coffee, or cushion your yogurt in a waffle bowl.



The toppings range from the typical fruits and berries to the cereal/cookie toppings, including watermelon, pineapple, orange and kiwi. What was slightly annoying was that if I wanted to pick a raspberry or blueberry topping, I had to pay an extra NT$40 per topping.



So we decided against that and got a small original flavor with strawberry and mango (NT$115). The small is definitely enough to share between two people. My friend who was with me had never had Pinkberry before and enjoyed the tart and sweet flavor of the yogurt and fresh fruits.



I'd probably stop by again as I'm in this area often, but with this pricing, I'd probably revisit the self-serve pay as you weigh Yogurt Art down the Zhong Xiao road, as they have more flavors and rumored fruits and berries now, or wander over YoFroyo, which is nearly half the price. I also wish one day one of these places would have yogurt chips. Yogurt chips, please!

For those of us who are a few years over Pinkberry/Yogurtland/Red Mango, Hielo might be a little late, especially with the weather cooling. But for those who are new to the tart-is-in flavors, Hielo might be a refreshing change from the corner shaved ice or too sweet ice cream choices.

And btw, has anyone been to Yogurt Me lately?


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dessert/froyo: LLAO LLAO

LLAO LLAO

at XinYi Vieshow

No. 20 SongShou Road
松壽路20號

MRT: Taipei 101

Kid friendliness: Yes kids will love to choose their own sugary toppings

Visit reviewed: 

Newly opened Llao Llao frozen yogurt at Xinyi Vieshow sits across from the newly opened Jamba Juice giving us more options for icy snacks during this very cold Taipei winter. Can Llao Llao succeed where other froyo shops in Taipei have not? 

It all looks familiar- the Pinkberry-esque glossy white and green signage, an array of fruit, candy, berries and nut toppings to choose from, as well as fruit and chocolate sauces too. But the taste of the frozen yogurt here tastes quite different than the tarter Pinkberry/Yogurtland flavor that I'm used to- maybe more milky and sweet and less tart? Can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

Because of the grand opening they are handing out bitesized samples as well as coupons with trivia questions on them to win a free topping. Multiple choice questions like how do you pronounce the companies name, Llao Llao, to help initiate customers into familiarity to the Spanish froyo chain. (The answer by the way is that it's pronounced Yao Yao with the double Ll making a Y sound)

Available are mini (NT$69), small (NT$89 +one topping), medium (NT$119 +3 toppings), large (NT$139 +3toppings) and sanum, which has fruit and topping options buried in the center kind of like McDonald's berry parfait, as well as smoothies. I had a free coupon thanks to my friend P so I decided to give it a try with some friends.

Toppings include oreo cookies, white chocolates, muesli, candied pecans, chocolate smarties, dried cranberries and chocolate covered peanuts. 

I was happy to see strawberries and blueberries included in the fruit toppings. There were also cantaloupe, kiwi, grapes, watermelon, pineapple and (ewwww) tomatoes?!!! Hopefully the berries don't disappear after a few months as I've seen that happen at other froyo places here. 

The sanum (NT$139) is the largest of the options with three fruits, two toppings and one sauce. I probably wouldn't order it again, (I'd get a small instead) but it was the only option for my free coupon. I tend to stick to berries for frozen yogurt- so it was blueberries and strawberries for us. I only had a couple bites, but my friends enjoyed it a lot. For those of us used to the tart version of frozen yogurt might have a harder time getting used to the different flavor of Llao Llao. But maybe that is preferable to locals who like their desserts sweet instead of sour. If frozen yogurt and smoothies aren't your thing, you can run across Vieshow to Krispy Kreme and Ireland Potatoes for donuts and french fries. 

dessert/frozen yogurt: YOGURT ME

YOGURT ME
No. 4, Lane 216, Alley 27, Chung Hsiao E. Road, Sec 4
(02) 8771-4210

website: www.yogurtme.com.tw

hours:

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs or boosters, but lots of lounge areas. Yong Kang branch is to-go.

Visit reviewed: 10/29/2007 and 2/4/2008

If you've ever thought, hey, someone should bring Pinkberry (or list copycat franchise name here), Yogurt Me has beat you to it. Although it doesn't quite have the elements that I think make Pinkberry so successful, I think that with a few tweaks it could be the next trend in Taipei.

First (and most importantly), where are the BERRIES and MANGOS? When we visited, it was a stack of non-cut fresh fruit behind a glass- a pineapple, grapes, oranges, kiwis, passionfruit, bananas- not exactly toppings I pictured on top of my tangy yogurt. Yes, it was October when we first went, but I think part of what makes Pinkberry so successful is the array of fresh cut fruits available year round- not frozen, but still sweet. My staple yogurt toppings are strawberries, white yogurt chips and either raspberries or blueberries, so I was out of luck- I chose banana and kiwi. Their "classic" set (NT$135) is a yogurt with three fruit toppings, and it's quite sizeable to share.



Second, it is too slow when you have to wait for them to chop up the fruit. I understand their volume/turnover is not as high for them to have fruit sitting around and then waste it if they don't do good business, but if you have a group in your party, you have to wait for them to bring out each yogurt one by one which is kind of a drag. They need pre-cut fresh fruit and they need strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and mango (though I think their Yong Kang location does have pre-cut fruit).



Third, they should show off their non-fruit, untraditional toppings, like cereal, cookies or chocolate chips in a candy-store style display near the fruit, so people know that they can choose it. We got some in a side dish and I wasn't sure if it was because it was a slo-o-o-w night for them or if they usually did that for everyone. I also think that's one of the big draws for Coldstone's.



Since October, they've added waffles (NT$180) and other set menu items to their menu. The waffle set comes with a small yogurt, side of fruit and coffee/tea. The waffles were too doughy/cakey and a disappointment although they looked very nice. My friend finished it though, though he agreed it was a bit dense.



Kind of cute, but kind of funny, their menu is presented in a scrapbook like cover, but in Chinese only. You have to look at their to-go menu for English.

As for flavors, they have the original (tart), green tea as well as chocolate and strawberry. They misunderstood me the second time I went asking for a small with strawberries and oreos. Instead I got a small strawberry yogurt w/ oreo (NT$105).



It's kind of weird that you get 1 oreo, rather than oreo bits broken up already as a topping for your yogurt, but I guess you have to use some elbow grease.

They also have huge smoothies (NT$105) available in about nine various flavors. I didn't have any though it again, looked good... Maybe similar to Froot, which is the Jamba Juice-ish smoothie place around town.



Could be a fun place for afternoon tea with various coffee/tea options available, or to grab some yogurt after eating nearby. We walked over from Chili House with some visiting friends who were excited about the yogurt trend in Taipei as HUGE fans of Yogurtland (in Irvine, CA). Overall, it was a disappointment for them because of the lack of selection of toppings and flavors (though it really is hard to compete with Yogurtland which is self serve and has 10 flavors or so and TONS of toppings available to choose from).

Other locations:

Yong Kang branch
No. 2, Lane 14, Wing Hong Street
(02) 2396-0237
M-Th 11:30 AM - 10:30 PM
Fri, Sat 11:30 AM - 11 PM

No. 49, Nanjing W. Road
(02) 2550-7398

CLOSED! new in town/dessert: i strongly recommend YOFROYO- DUN NAN BRANCH

CLOSED! a/o 2013

YOFROYO
No. 39, Lane 187, Dunhua S. Rd. Sec. 1
(02) 2752-0767

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: yofroyo.com

hours: Mon-Thurs 12 PM ~ 11 PM
Fri-Sun. 12 PM ~ 12 AM

kid friendliness: a few tables in back, but easy to take to-go

visit reviewed: 5/4/2010
review of Yofroyo at Shida branch: 5/18/2009




Not to far from where Sherry's Frozen Yogurt came and went is the new Dong Chu East District branch of Yofroyo, tucked a couple alleys away from the corner of Dun Hua and Zhong Xiao (and the stinky tofu vendor).

Once you get in the right alley, it's not too hard to spot with its colorful logo beckoning you to see what it is.



The space is not huge, but there's a good amount of seating and tables on the side as well as tucked in the back. While stylish and kind of mod, the low backed chairs got a little uncomfortable for me while we were lounging and eating.



I was pleasantly surprised to see that prices were not too much more than its original Shida location and a small size wasn't skimped on. I think this is definitely important for picky customers who have a lot of options to beat the heat. It's almost half the price of the nearby Hielo and Yogurt Art.

After browsing the choices, I still stuck to my usual small Tokyo Reverie (NT$65) with green tea frozen yogurt, red bean, green tea mochi and chewy clear konjac.



Other frozen yogurt flavors include Mango, Chocolate, Berry, Lychee and the new Acai Berry.

I was planning to share one with my friends, but we were too tempted by the "Buy one, get one free" grand opening promo to resist (which runs until 5/16). Two of my friends chose to make their own combos with the original tart flavor and two toppings, which is easy to do at an additional NT$10 per topping.

I love the new colorful sporks too, though they are quite Yogurtland-ish. I usually save and reuse my Yogurtland spoons and might quickly collect a set of Yofroyo ones soon.



Opening this branch almost a year after opening the original in the Shida night market, Yofroyo is a welcome addition to this neighborhood. Especially when you're looking for relief from this crazy Taipei humidity and heat!

OTHER LOCATIONS

Shida Night Market
No. 9, Lane 59, Shida Rd.
(02)2365-0188

Gongguan
No. 2, Lane 316, Roosevelt Rd., Sec. 3
(02)2368-9808

snapshot: Tai Yi shaved ice

Who else is eating shaved ice this weekend? Tai Yi is SO good! Though I much prefer their red bean and fresh mochi balls with condensed milk over the mango/strawberry here.

For mango ice, you're better sticking to Ice Monster.

But there seems to be a new crop of frozen yogurt places coming to Taipei. I'll hopefully get to check them all out and let you know! Anyone try Yogurt Art or Yofroyo yet? What would you rather have to beat the heat? Shaved ice vs good frozen yogurt?

western/chinese: SUGAR CAFE

SUGAR CAFE
No. 4, Alley 27, Lane 216, Zhong Xiao E. Road, Sec. 4  (moved a/o 10/2011)
No. 406-1, Ren Ai Rd, Sec. 4
(02) 8771-4210

hours:11:30 am - 9:30

$-$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 5/4/2010



When my friend picked Sugar Cafe as the lunch spot for our girls' lunch, I thought she chose it because she had been before and wanted us to try it- after all that was the regular M.O. for our lunch dates. But when we got there at 11:15AM to a closed location, we questioned her choice- 'Is this place open? Haven't you been before?' We then found out not only that it doesn't open until 11:30AM (as many places in Taipei can't seem to open before noon), but that she chose the place because she thought the pictures of the food looked good from its Facebook page. Good one, VC.



Once the door lifted, I had a slight sense of dejavu and it wasn't until I got inside and checked out the menu that I realized that this was formerly the location of Yogurt Me. It turns out the owners totally revamped from the inside out- basically reinventing and reutilizing the space and using the Yogurt Me yogurt as a dessert or side for afternoon tea. I think it was a smart move- no one wants to go to a froyo place for sandwiches and breakfast, but people will go to a cafe for froyo. Plus it was just a better designed space, post revamp, moving around the previous "kitchen/yogurt counter" to the back and making way for more seats.



Anyways, if you had never been to the previous incarnation, you'd just see it as a cozy space with warm colored walls and seating areas.

But unfortunately, Sugar Cafe didn't serve any of the desserts or waffles my friend had spotted- instead during lunch hours (before 1:30PM), only the lunch menu is served. Back in May, it was only in Chinese, but it looks like a new English/Chinese menu was introduced over the summer as well as a menu change. The old menu had pastas and rice dishes, but the new menu includes burgers, sandwiches and fried rice.

So I left it up to my friends to order- the menu has both Western and Chinese offerings- so we got a sampling of both.



Complimentary shredded cabbage while we wait for our mains.



When Spaghetti with tomato meat sauce (NT$160) arrived to the table, a few of my friends complained about the pungent smell that accompanied it. When we inquired, they said it was the cheese, but I must admit, it was quite strong smelling for parmesan. I tried a few bites and there was nothing wrong with it- it had the familiar slightly sweet tomato sauce, but one of my friends was so turned off by the smell, she didn't dare take one bite.



The other dishes we ordered were the fried pork chop with rice and the fried chicken with rice which looked the same, with the crispy slices of meat, neat side of rice and trio of vegetables, egg and sprouts. While I enjoyed the bites of pork chop, it was weird for me to eat this along with the spaghetti and it felt sort of like bian dang food served up on a nice plate.



Some fresh oranges to complete the meal- but just makes me wish I had some frozen yogurt!



I would have liked to try the dessert/afternoon tea menu, as the lunch menu wasn't unique enough to call me back, but it could probably be a decent place to eat for people who work or live nearby and want a quick bite to eat. It's too bad that Sugar Cafe doesn't serve breakfast and desserts all day long (that are featured on the sign outside)- it might bring it a wider audience if it did.


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