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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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?

food court: BREEZE at TAIPEI MAIN STATION

Indian Fans
Yokohama Station
Sababa
Sweetberry &
Little South Gate at

BREEZE at TAIPEI MAIN STATION
3, BeiPing W Rd, 2F
(02) 6632-8999

website: breezecenter.com Chinese only

hours: 10 AM - 10 PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: lots of options, relatively new and clean.

Visit reviewed: 2/22/2008

If you're looking for a casual place with something for everyone, or you don't have a lot of time but want to have a tasting menu of Taipei eateries, you should head to Breeze at Taipei Main Station. And with all the MRT lines going through the Main Station, you could stop by before you head home or off to your destination.

Essentially, it's a GIANT, full circle food court, with four main sections filled with lots of familiar eateries- Taiwan "Night Market" Chinese food; desserts/bakeries; Curries, and even a whole food court of eight different beef noodle soups shops to choose from. I guess you could have your own Iron Chef tasting if you wanted to. I'll have to give that a try next time.

When we went, we walked around the whole thing to see what our options were, and then settled on trying out the section that seemed to be where all the non-Chinese/foreign options were- curry from Indian Fans, Sababa chicken pitas and Yokohama Station's fried pork tonkatsu and omelette rice.



The Plata Sababa was reliably tasty (with hummus and roasted eggplant) and I introduced Sababa to my friend who enjoyed it. (Although I think the prices at Main Station are slightly higher than their other locations (maybe because of rent) or maybe they raised prices overall?)




The bite of omelette rice and tonkatsu I had were forgettable.




For some reason, my friend got some food from Indian Fans.The flatbread from Indian Fans didn't even look like naan, and the curry was watered down. I usually love Indian food, but the offerings on menu were not appealing to me- it seemed more adjusted to Taiwan flavors. I didn't see any tikka masala or saffron rice. This old Taipei Times article reinforces my gut reaction about the place. I'd rather eat at the other mall court staple, Indian Palace.



There is a lot of seating for each section with wooden benches and you can even take your food from one section to the next if you really want to eat something different from your family/friends.



Of course, you have to save room for dessert.




The desserts section is a white, brightly lit mod area with options like Xiao Nan Men (Little South Gate) do-hwa, Meet Fresh, Pinkberry knock off Sweetberry, Beard Papa or Oishii cream puffs, Movenpick, Mr. Donut, or various bakeries. There's also Starbucks or Mr. Brown coffee if you need a caffeine burst.




The pink and green branding of Sweetberry was just TOO similar to Pinkberry to not be a shameless knockoff. See the same shades of pink and green and similar font in exhibit number 1 from dessertbuzz.com! It's laughable that they even made the logo pretty much the same (but it's a heart). I guess since no one has heard of Pinkberry here, they thought they could get away with it. But I have!


exhibit number 1


exhibit number 2

The expensive price for the extremely small portion (NT$80) and even smaller portion of fruit was a big disappointment. The flavor was appropriately tart (like Pinkberry) and yogurt-like, but I was shocked at the lack of strawberries. I'd stick to the Xiao Nan Men do-hwa or soy tofu custard. If you want frozen yogurt in Taipei, then you'll have to head over to Yogurt Me.



Next time, I'd like to try Minder Vegetarian restaurant and some of the other desserts as well as the Beef Noodle Soup (Niao Rou Mien) section.


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dessert/bakery: i strongly recommend cake donuts at COSTCO

COSTCO
No. 268 Jiu Zong, Sec 1
Nei-Hu, Taipei
(02) 8791-0110

website: costco.com

hours: 10:00 am - 9:30 pm

$

Visit reviewed: 3/13/2008

Who would have thought the perfect American style cake donut would be at Costco? I spotted it on my trip today and couldn't resist- after all- you get 8 for NT$119 which is basically the price of 4 Mr. Donut donuts.

The tray comes with half chocolate donuts and half plain (4 each)- they are a good size with vanilla frosting.

I practically inhaled mine- it was moist, sweet and dangerous! It's so simple, yet so satisfying especially in contrast to the dry bricks of cake-style donuts that I've had at Mr. Donut or Dunkin Donuts. It was dense, but not heavy.



I don't know if it's a staple like their muffins, croissants, cheesecakes, or seasonal like their pumpkin pies, but I was happy to find it! I totally love their cheesecake and birthday cakes too. They also have freshly made cream puffs and cookies, which I haven't tried here, not to mention their churros and frozen yogurt in the food court.

Oh, and good beef hotdogs (not like the nasty hot dogs at Ikea).

I also spotted some ice cream sandwiches today there, I guess, an organic brand called Julie's. I didn't feel like paying a premium NT$300 plus for 12 ice cream sandwiches so I bought the blackberry sorbet bars which I haven't tried yet.

If only they made lemon meringue pies, then Costco would be even more awesome.

What's your favorite thing from Costco or what do you wish Costco Taipei would import in?

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

not Taipei part ONE: BIG TOMY's, SOUPLANTATION, RED ROCK CASINO and SIN BALA

hi everyone!

Sorry for the long blogging vacation. Actually my three plus year old Powerbook G4 decided to crash over the holidays.

Luckily, it was before the Applecare insurance expires mid January.

Unluckily, Apple Stores/Genius Bars don't do data recovery.

So luckily, the nice people at Computech SOS were able to recover pretty much all my data from my failing hard drive, replace it and move all the old stuff to the new drive. There are still some kinks I'm working out (they didn't restore my address book, so I have to do an "add email" to all my emails) and I had to do a software update to fix the iTunes and Quicktime before I could open it.

But I was definitely very SAD for a few weeks before I knew for sure whether or not they could recover all my photos and videos (apparently 35 gigs worth!)- so this is my warning to you- back up your data!!! Whether it's to an external hard drive or to CD/DVD or somewhere else online, it's totally better than the last resort of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars of having an expert do it for you!

Anyways, as always, I have been eating lots of great food over here. Some highlights:

Gyros and chili cheese fries from BIG TOMY's- YUM! Although I like the gyros from The Great Greek better (on Olympic and Bundy), you can't beat the chili cheese fries here. It's open 24 hours and there is Orange Bang to wash it down with. Three things that pretty much don't exist in Taipei.



SOUPLANTATION offers an all you can eat variety of soups, salads, pasta and breads/muffins, as well as a frozen yogurt machine and fruit. It's not the most gourmet thing in the world, but it's comfort food and the price is right, seeing that most salads these days are $6-$15 and soups are at least $3-6 a bowl. Personally, my favorites are the chinese chicken salad, the chili, the clam chowder and the chicken noodle soup. Plus gotta get the blueberry muffins, cornbread and a bit of froyo, but avoid the pastas- always seem very bland.



After overloading on food in Vegas, we had a simple brunch before we headed back to LA. An off the strip hotel, the cafe at RED ROCK CASINO offered a variety of breakfast and lunch options. My strawberry waffle didn't disappoint (at about $8) with a light crispy texture, lots of sliced strawberries, and sauce or maple syrup to drizzle on it. I also thought their Griddle breakfast (at about $10) was a great deal with 3 eggs, hashbrowns, sausages and ham steak. BTW- pretty packed for an off the strip casino (about a 20-30 minute wait for Sunday brunch) and looks like a glitzy strip hotel, but off on its own with an in-house bowling alley and movie theater.



Lastly, haven't had Chinese food in awhile and ended up at SIN BALA, a shaved ice/Taiwanese food cafe in Arcadia. Their specialty seems to be chinese sausages, but I ended up getting a Squid Potage vermicelli soup and sharing a shaved ice with my family. Personally, I don't love the black sugar syrup on the shaved ice (about $4) (it's got a strong flavor, almost gingery to me) (just pour on the condensed milk please!) but you can request it without it the next time. Five toppings are included and piled underneath the shaved ice- this time we got red bean, rice mochi balls, ai-yu and boba along with the condensed milk. It was not the best shaved ice I've ever had, but passable. They also have other small eats like oyster omelet (also vegetarian style with mushroom), wonton noodle soup, and scallion pancake. I also thought the service was pretty nice and friendly.




BIG TOMY's
11289 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 479-0601

SOUPLANTATION
21309 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90503
(310) 540-4998
and other locations

Grand Cafe at
RED ROCK CASINO
11011 W. Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89135
(702) 797.7777

SIN BALA
651 W Duarte Rd. Ste F
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 446-0886

shabu shabu/japanese: SHABURI

as of October 2007: REMODELING/CLOSED!

SHABURI
at Dun Nan Sogo, B2
No. 246, Dun Hua South Road, Sec 1
(02) 8771-5548

website: shaburi.com.tw Chinese only

hours: Sunday to Thursday 11 AM - 9:30 PM
Friday and Saturday 11 AM - 10 PM

$$-$$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available though, not many booths to accomodate and lackluster service. be careful of hot pot with antsy kids, but have wide menu besides hotpot and frozen yogurt at the end of the meal.

Visit reviewed: 6/12/2007



Shaburi is a nice corner for shabu shabu in the basement of Dun Hua Sogo with a huge menu of choices (in English and Chinese)- you can choose from moderately price set menus of NT$399 or splurge on options like lobster or kobe beef for a lot more. There are also non-hot pot Japanese menus such as sushi, sashimi and noodles, though when I asked about their eel avocado roll, they said they were out of avocado.

The service can be slow, though they have a lot of things to bring to you. First the dual sauces, then your set menu salad and your hotpot items, lastly your drink and dessert.

The set menu salad is a bit sad looking, but they do offer you a shrimp.



The cheapest beef on the menu is still pretty tender and comes with an array of veggies including your choice of noodle.



The thing I like about Shaburi's hotpots is that each one is divided into 2 sections, so you can dine with your friend yet have control of your own pot. In this case, I was eating with a vegetarian, so we could still sit at the same table (unlike many hot pot places that have communal hot pots) and eat from the same pot.

I like the sesame sauce better than the soy chili sauce, which can be quite spicy, but you can ask them to make it more or less spicy.



The vegetarian hotpot comes with cabbage, mushrooms, corn, tofu, vegetarian tempura, tomatoes, taro and noodles. You can also get an upgraded vegetarian Mushroom hotpot which I assume comes with even more mushrooms.



I was pretty hungry, so I ended up ordering an extra plate of sliced beef, which made my lunch more expensive than usual.

The black sesame vanilla frozen yogurt gives extra brownie points to this shabu shabu place over others. You can also choose from tea or coffee and we forgot to ask for it earlier, so got it at the end of dinner.




We walked into Shaburi for lunch without a reservation and it filled up fairly quickly throughout the lunch hour. I would recommend reservations for dinner or weekends especially if you have a large group. It's a bit nicer than the mom and pop hot pot places for business lunches or family dinners, though keep in mind you can have all you can eat for simliar prices at such places like Mo Mo Paradise. However, it seems that Shaburi have sprung up in NY where good shabu shabu is a bit harder to find and made a name for itself there.

also spotted at 101 Mall foodcourt, B2

CLOSED! dessert/american: K2 GELATO & i do not recommend STATES FRIES

as of October 2007: CLOSED! States Fries has been replaced by two different fries places, with serving options like Poutine?

K2 GELATO
STATES FRIES
Warner Village outdoor food court
16 Song Shou Road
Xin Yi district, Taipei 110

$$

EDIT 6/22/2007 walked by States Fries the other day, and now there is a Irish Potatoes in its place. Didn't get too close for a look, but seems like the same thing- maybe new management? or just a new name?

EDIT 10/27/2006: about a month ago, K2 gelato has been replaced by a donut place, which is a bit strange considering Mr. Donut is just down the block. Has anyone seen it relocated somewhere else, or is it the end of K2?

date visited: 7/25/2006

When I first heard about States Fries, I thought that the owners were a bit insane. Charging $80-$120 NT for just french fries? That's the equivalent of US$2.75-$4. Every time, I passed by- the oily aroma of freshly fried french fries would waft towards me. The menu included chili fries. I was tempted. Then they renovated the food court indoors, and somehow States Fries ended up outside, next door to K2 Gelato. Sometimes I would see a short line. I ended up nicknaming them "devil fries" because they were so bad for you, but so tempting!


So I caved recently, while walking around on a hot afternoon near Warner Village. I blame the gelato. You know how sometimes when you have something sweet, then you crave something salty, or vice versa. It was hot, so I had some gelato. Then I had the fries.

So which do you want to hear about first?

K2 is a tiny gelato nook with about 10-14 flavors. The guy who scooped my flavors said that they make it there every few days. I sampled few flavors, which are labeled in Chinese and what I assume is Italian. I ended up getting 2 flavor cup (NT$80) the caramel which is a sweet, sugary flavor, which tastes like caramel (well, duh) and banana (which I did not sample because I felt bad because I already had three samples).



Now, I always make this mistake. I feel bad asking for samples, although I should not because ultimately I spend money there at Fill-in-the-blank ice cream/frozen yogurt/gelato place. Often times, after I've had three or so samples, I will decide on a flavor I like, and then sometimes pair it with another flavor that I think I will like, but not actually sampled, but think will be okay because all the other flavors I sampled were okay, and how bad could it be.

Caramel and banana. Sounds good right? Well, for whatever reason, I didn't like the banana gelato. And I like banana! Something was off about it... I don't know if there was additional flavor that was added, or it was from a syrup rather than fresh? But I ended up eating all of the caramel and none of the banana. If I had known this advance, I would have just gotten the 1 flavor cup (NT$60). I like the gelato at K2... It's not as dense and heavy as the ice cream at Haagen Daaz, and it's not watery like some of those mall places where they make ice cream from ice and chocolate syrup. I will have to try their fruit flavors one day.

So back to States Fries... it's hard to find chili cheese fries here. And yes, it's not good for you. But sometimes, you just want to eat them! States Fries offers fries plain (NT$80) or with various toppings such as honey mustard, cheese, chili, chili cheese or even sweet toppings that you can see on their menu wall. They also have combos where you can pair the cup of fries with a sandwich and drink.



But sadly, the chili fries (NT$95) are another thing that are just not as good here. The chili is watery, bland and made the fries soggy and watery and not very tasty. I go back to the counter and request that they add the cheese, hoping it will save it. After telling them that the chili is too watery, the fries guy says something along the lines of that the chili didn't sell well earlier, so it was in the freezer or fridge, and when it was reheated became more watery. Basically admitting that they gave me bad chili. And they also take my extra NT$20 for the cheese, instead of apologizing or offering up the cheese for free.


Unfortunately, the cheese, which is melted from an oven and then put onto the fries (not a cheese sauce, for those of you that are curious), does not save this chili fry mess. The cheese becomes cold fairly quickly and of course, can't change how watery or bland the chili is. I end up being unable to finish it.

Long story short, if you are desparately craving, you can make better chili cheese fries yourself at Chili's. Their chili soup is actually not bad, at least relative to this, thick with meat, beans and tomatoes the way it should be; their fries are also crispy and hot. A better choice would also be to enjoy the fries with your combo at McDonalds or Doner Kebab nearby- and get a whole meal for the price you would pay at States Fries.

PS.. It's too bad they don't have garlic fries. Now if made properly, that would be pretty delicious. I wonder if you could find garlic fries in Taipei