Fro-yo girl here. 99 Ranch recently started carrying small cups of Hokkaido Gelato, made with Hokkaido milk. A cup is 2.99 oz. Manufactured by Naganuma Ice Cream in Hokkaido, Japan, the product is imported from Japan. One cup was $2.99. The cups are sold individually.
Available Flavors:- Apple
- Caramel
- Akaniku Melon
- Cream Cheese
- Milk
The cup has cute black and white illustrations and says Icenoie on it. The gelato was firm, dense, creamy, and tasted like a good milk ice cream. It was chewier. One cup is 170 calories, 12g total fat, 14g total carbs, 14 total sugars, and 2g protein. It’s made with milk, palm oil, sugar, locust bean gum, guar gum, and artificial flavoring.
The cup does not come with a spoon. The size was perfect for a small treat or dessert.
4 out of 5 stars.
* 99 RANCH MARKET, 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Thick yogurt — the strained, spoonable kind that’s become a popular snack across Asia — is still surprisingly hard to find in the United States. Let Eat Yogurt in Buena Park, Orange County, was the first thick yogurt shop to open in Southern California back in 2020, and since then several thick yogurt spots have opened in the San Gabriel Valley. Lunara is the newest place to join the scene.
Lunara operates inside Kara Bento in Rosemead, CA, and specializes in Asian style dry/thick yogurt bowls, chia yogurt cups, and protein bowls. The menu isn’t very descriptive, so you’re mostly relying on the photos and the names of the bowls to figure out the contents of each bowl. It looks like they offer different yogurt flavors, though there’s no build your own option listed. They did accommodate my request to leave out the bananas, which I appreciated.
Ordering is done by scanning the QR code at your table or using the self-serve kiosk. The bowls are made to order.
Ocean Yogurt Bowl ($15.99): I wasn’t sure what would be in it, but I ended up liking the combination of fresh blueberries and blackberries with crunchy chocolatey cereal (similar to Cocoa Pebbles), coconut pieces, and chewy oat pearls. The big scoop of yogurt was thick, creamy, and plain, but a pretty shade of blue — likely from butterfly pea flower. Because it’s strained, the yogurt wasn’t sour; it had a mild natural sweetness. I’ve had thicker, drier versions elsewhere, but I liked that Lunara’s wasn’t quite as dry. The mix of textures and flavors worked well.
It did feel a bit pricey at $16 plus tax and tip, especially since it’s something you could easily recreate at home. Still, it’s nice to have another thick yogurt option in the SGV.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl
* LUNARA. 3365 Walnut Grove Ave, Suite B, Rosemead, CA 91770
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Frozen yogurt is back at the Shops at Santa Anita! It was last spotted inside Kirin Buffet which closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I noticed the Matcha Ren shop changed names. It’s the same business but they rebranded as United Matcha and changed the menu. The new menu has matcha mochi crepes, kakigori shaved ice, parfaits, and shiratama ice cream.
Plain Greek frozen yogurt replaced Hokkaido milk soft serve on the menu. The only toppings listed on the menu were three drizzles (strawberry, mango, Kuromitsu), and mochi (these are big Japanese rice balls, not the packaged Korean mochi).
Prices:
- Cup or cone, $6.90
- Drizzles, $0.50 each
- Mochi, 3 pieces for $1
The cup was small – what I would consider to be a mini. The yogurt was better than I expected – creamy, smooth, with a milky flavor, mild tang, and sweet finish. Personally, I would prefer a stronger yogurt flavor and more tang. It wasn’t crazy sweet. The rice balls were nice and chewy.
The parfaits come with other toppings like tea jelly, toasted rice cereal, red bean paste, and matcha castella. I wonder why these aren’t available as soft serve toppings. Or are they?
Westfield Santa Anita, rebranded as the Shops at Santa Anita, was once the home of Nubi Yogurt, Tutti Frutti, Cefiore, and Sweet XO.
Matcha Ren in San Jose and Costa Mesa are now known as United Matcha (and serve Greek froyo).
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* UNITED MATCHA: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. National Spoon Day is October 7 and Yogurtland will be offering a free Cappuccino giant spoon with every minimum $15 in store purchase. There’s a maximum of two spoons per transaction.
The Cappuccino spoon is the newest addition to the giant spoon lineup — the color feels cozy and fall appropriate. It’s exactly 12 inches long, with Yogurtland printed on the handle. The design commemorates Yogurtland’s 20th anniversary.
In case you’re wondering, the previous National Spoon Day giant Yogurtland spoons were: pink and green (2020), raspberry (2021), turquoise (2022), dark blue (2023), apricot (2024), and midnight plum (2025).
Will you be collecting the Cappuccino giant spoon?
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Menchie’s just dropped a new fall, back to school spoon. The yellow spoon features Menchie holding a book that says Froyo 101. The back of the spoon shows the back of Menchie. The spoon says yummtastic! on the handle.
The spoon is available for a limited time, while supplies last. This is the fourth new Menchie’s spoon of this year.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Esso Caffe in Beverly Hills just started offering froyo. During my visit, they had two flavors: peach mango and plain tart Greek yogurt. The menu mentioned several toppings, but I was told that they only had sprinkles.
The employees were struggling with the soft serve machine and having difficulty dispensing any yogurt. The texture of the frozen yogurt was terrible – icy and gritty. The peach mango yogurt color was so unnatural. The plain tart was mildly tangy and bland. The peach mango yogurt was very sweet.
I rarely throw my froyo away, but I did because I just didn’t want to finish it. I was shocked by how bad the froyo was.
Esso Caffe does have another location in Glendale. I hope they don’t decide to serve froyo there unless they figure out how to do it well.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* ESSO CAFFE, 9646 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. Today was the launch of Yogurtland’s exclusive Too Faced Sweet Peach tart froyo flavor, inspired by the Too Faced Peach collection, which includes the Sweet Peach eyeshadow palette, Peach Perfector loose setting powder, Peach Mist hydrating setting spray, and Primed & Peachy hydrating face primer. The collection is available at Sephora and toofaced.com
They had special cups with the name of the new flavor, Yogurtland x Too Faced I Love Peaches stickers, and sweet peach gummy rings to pair with the froyo.
I don’t think the froyo flavor is new, but they might have tweaked the existing Peach Tart flavor. I enjoyed the tang, but found the peach flavor to taste canned and/or not like fresh, real peaches. The flavor is made with peaches though.
I was hoping they’d do more with the collab, like have mini Too Faced Peach samples or a giveaway/contest. I think it's the first time Yogurtland has collaborated with a beauty brand.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
