Fro-yo and Pearl Tea

Fro-yo girl here. Recently, I posed the following question: “You're in the mood for fro-yo but there isn't any around. What do you have instead?”

The options included ice cream and gelato (which are the most similar to fro-yo), baked goods (cake, cupcakes, cookies), Asian desserts (egg puffs, boba tea) and a healthier option (smoothies). Surprisingly, boba tea was the overwhelming favorite substitute for fro-yo, capturing 58% of the votes. Gelato was a distant third with 17% of the votes. The cold desserts/snacks were more popular with readers.

At first I thought that most of my readers are Asian (and that could be true) but then why aren’t egg puffs more popular? Boba/pearl tea isn’t healthy but it is refreshing (like fro-yo). I’ve certainly seen the crowd move from Quickly on Irving St. to Tuttimelon (which prompted Quickly to come up with their own fro-yo). I’m still not sure to what extent the results are based on the Asianness of voters.

I’ve compiled a list of Bay Area shops that offer both fro-yo and boba/pearl tea. Maybe someone should create milk tea flavored fro-yo? I’ve seen (and tried) milk tea gelato.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* HELLO DESSERTS: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* HONEYBERRY: 3488 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95052
* LOVE BERRY: Winston Way (Stonestown Galleria), San Francisco, CA 94132
* POCO CAFÉ: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* ROCK IT SWIRL: 2810 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94014
* TRENDY BEAN CAFÉ: 1054 Kiely Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051
* TUTTIMELON: 601 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
* YUMYGURT: 650 Central Ave Ste G, Alameda, CA 94501
* YOLATEA: 600 Main St #F, Pleasanton, CA 94566

Mochi Update: Invasion of the Rainbow Colored Mochi

Fro-yo girl here. I first blogged about my favorite topping, mochi balls, in October 2008 and it’s time for an update because the Korean brand that is used by most tart fro-yo shops, Dae Doo Food Co., very recently introduced a colored version of mochi (bingsoo rice cake). The new colored mochi balls aren’t flavored. They taste the same as the white version. The mochi balls come in pink, green, yellow and blue. They’ve been spotted at Fro-ggie and Tuttimelon.

Someone in the US should seriously manufacture mochi balls for fro-yo shops (and make some flavored versions too). I worry that Dae Doo Food Co. won’t be able to keep up with mochi demand.

Since my October posting, several other fro-yo shops started offering homemade mochi balls and they deserve to be mentioned here: Hello Desserts, Yogurtastic, and Pink Swirl. I wish I could say more but I haven’t had tried the homemade mochi at Hello Desserts or Yogurtastic. The Pink Swirl variety comes from a Japanese bakery in Los Angeles, Fugetsu-do: http://www.fugetsu-do.com/buymochi.htm

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* HELLO DESSERTS: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA
* YOGURTASTIC: 3924 Washington Blvd, Fremont, CA
* PINK SWIRL: 43423 Mission Blvd, Fremont, CA
* FRO-GGIE: 1554 Washington Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539
* TUTTIMELON SAN MATEO: 165 E. 4th Ave., San Mateo, CA
* TUTTIMELON POLK: 2125 Polk St, San Francisco

Hidden Fro-yo Gems

Fro-yo girl here. Most froyoholics drive around (or walk around) town with their eyes open for signs of a fro-yo shop. I’d like to draw some attention to some fro-yo spots in the Bay Area that are hidden because they don’t have clearly visible (from the street) signs of fro-yo.

Two of these are on college campuses:
* NATURAL SENSATIONS (SF State, 1650 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132): Super cheap! Best fro-yo bargain in the Bay Area ($1.75 for 12 ounces of fro-yo goodness). They have four fro-yo flavors a day. I don’t think they ever carry tart flavors but that could change.
* THE AXE & THE PALM (Stanford University, 520 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305): Decent tart fro-yo, stick with the dry toppings though (skip the fruit ones).

Two are tucked inside Korean food courts:
* CAFE MILAN (3561 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Near Galleria Market and Paris Baguette, tasty tart fro-yo, skimpy toppings
* TIKI SURF (inside Super Kyo-Po Market, 3521 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara, CA 95051): Excellent tart fro-yo but gritty texture, look for the $1.50 fro-yo cone special

The last two are dessert shops where fro-yo is just a line item vs. the main offering:
* HELLO DESSERTS (1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131): aka, Dessert Heaven, they recently added a very good tart fro-yo (a little gritty though) to an awe-inspiring lineup of desserts including pearl tea, build your own cream puffs, imported Parisian macarons, sorbet, gelato, etc.
* SKETCH (1809 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710): It’s a gourmet soft serve ice cream shop that also happens to have some of the best tart fro-yo (one flavor, plain) in the Bay Area.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Hello Desserts Now Serving Tart Fro-Yo

Fro-yo girl here. Hello Desserts in San Jose recently launched its own line of tart fro-yo, adding to its already extensive menu of smoothies, sandwiches, garlic fries, gyoza, fried Mozzarella cheese sticks, gelato, sundaes, milk pudding, tofu pudding, crème brulee, cakes, cream puffs, cheesecake bites, etc. They’re open till 12:30 AM on Fridays and Saturdays for your late night fro-yo cravings.

I’m told their fro-yo was developed in response to customer requests and that they spent several months in the researching and taste testing phase.

Anyone in the Bay Area needing a fro-yo taste tester should contact fro-yo girl.

Here’s a coupon for a small original tart fro-yo for 99 cents that you can print out and redeem (expires on 12/15/08): http://hellodesserts.com/promo/froyo-promo.jpg

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Hello Desserts: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131