London’s sunny and warm summer days, gorgeous as they are, are far too rare and fleeting. My optimistic self has packed all the summer dresses and sandals away for this year, and has given up waiting for temperatures of over 20 degrees. It seems a long time ago, but we did have a few days of sun during which I managed to do a frozen yoghurt tasting marathon, trying most frozen yoghurt retailers that I missed out on last year. (Last year I reviewed Yog, Yuforia, Yoo Moo and Snog – with Yog and Yuforia clearly leading the pack.)
It is hardly surprising that frozen yoghurt does not equal frozen yoghurt. Quality differences are astounding and to enjoy this healthy ice cream surrogate your better choose your frozen yoghurt shop wisely.
FRAE (Pop-Up Mall, Shoreditch)
I stumbled across Frae in the Pop Up Mall in Shoreditch when I was in terrible need for dessert. Healthy sweets, I thought, excellent! This was before I actually tasted Frae‘s horrible frozen yoghurt. The strawberry variety was almost inedible and tasted highly artificial. The natural flavoured one was marginally better, but lacked the lovely yoghurt flavour which overall resulted in a highly unsatisfactory experience. I should have just bought a chocolate bar instead.
Apparently Frae’s yoghurt is organic and completely additive free. This laudable notion won’t be enough to bring me back though.
Price for a small pot: £2.50 (88 calories)
Rating: 3/10
MORI (King’s Road, Chelsea)
I ended up at Mori when I was (window) shopping in King’s Road and craving something sweet and chilled. Mori, which is a pseudo Japanese noodle and sushi take away joint, also serves frozen yoghurt. This is just as well, as the only other frozen yoghurt shops in the King’s Road area are Frae (no, certainly never again), Snog (which I don’t rate very highly either) and terribly overpriced and not very nice Yoo-Moo. Don’t let yourself be put off by the smell of fried noodles at Mori (doesn’t mix too well with ice cream in my opinion), as Mori is your best frozen yoghurt option in King’s Road.
The frozen yoghurt was not the best I ever had, but certainly more than acceptable. Creamy and soft and actually tasting of yoghurt, I also liked the fact that Mori is offering mixed flavours, which enabled me to have a mix of my favourites, chocolate and natural, all in one!
Small: £2.85, (133 calories), Toppings £0.7-£0.9
Rating: 6/10
PINKBERRY (Selfridge’s, Marylebone)
I have saved the best for last. The American company Pinkberry is without any doubt the King of Frozen Yoghurt. It might be a little less healthy and a little bit more naughty (but honestly, you might as well enjoy yourself right?) but tell me, can you resist flavours like peanut butter, salty caramel, peach, pumpkin or watermelon? Taste it once and you are hooked, believe me. It’s the creamiest, the sweetest, the most flavourful of all the frozen yoghurts I have ever tasted. The best is the good conscience: while I happily stuffed my face with their new flavour, salty caramel, I could rest assured in the knowledge that I was consuming fewer calories than if I had a small latte from Starbucks. The only downside is that Pinkberry is located in the Selfridge’s Food Hall and I hate department stores, particularly on weekends. Well, it’s a sacrifice worth making in the end.
Small: £? (120 calories)
Rating: 8/10
All I need now is a little bit more summer to put my newly acquired Frozen Yoghurt Expertise into action….
