Frozen Yoghurt : Yogen Früz vs Pinkberry

last weekend we went on a froyo frenzy!

froyo – the cute nick for ‘frozen yoghurt’, is a a frozen dessert made from, or containing yogurt or other dairy products. it is slightly more tart, rich in taste than ice cream, as well as lower in fat (due to the use of milk instead of cream).

see the magic word – LOW fat! hihi.

it was a froyo frenzy time for the family because we went to mirdiff city center and ate frozen yoghurt at one kiosk, went jalan-jalan, and then stopped by another frozen yoghurt place. ‘yogen fruz’ first, and then to ‘pinkberry’.

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the ‘yogen fruz’ kiosk that we went to was very white, very cute. blue font with the signature smiley ‘ü’ in pink is difficult to ignore!

‘yogen fruz’ was founded by a couple of teenage canadian brothers, who started the company using money loaned from their dad. now it’s an international frozen yoghurt brand with hundreds of branches worldwide.

 

 

here they offer only two frozen yoghurt flavors – original and chocolate. choose from non-fat, low-fat and no-sugar-added.

the staff was very friendly. he explained the types of frozen yoghurt we could choose from, and gave few recommendations. i think he read my mind when he asked whether i wanted something sour – memang pun! hihi.

maybe he had a lot of female customers asking for the sour frozen yoghurt.

 

 

okay in yogen fruz, there’s ‘mix it’, and ‘top it’.

‘mix it’ - mix your frozen yoghurt with a choice of raspberry, blackberries, banana, kiwi, peaches, watermelon, mango – the list goes on! this is their signature frozen yoghurt - mixing it with fresh fruits.

choose a few fruits, and they’ll blend the frozen yoghurt with the fruit – ice blended concept, but with frozen yoghurt.

‘top it’ – toppings like sliced almond, cereal, grated chocolate, shredded coconut, fruity cheerios are all for your choosings. this is the usual fare – a swirl of frozen yoghurt and a sprinkle of toppings right on top.

 

 

we went for ‘mix it’. since we’re trying for the first time, we took the cheapest – which was 18dhs. we got a swirl of frozen yoghurt in a small cup, with a choice of only one fruit.

since i wanted something sour, the staff recommended mixing the frozen yoghurt with raspberry. so, white original-flavor yoghurt mixed with red raspberry – pink, sour, raspberry-flavoured frozen yoghurt!

 

the taste? let’s just say that if you want something low-fat, deliciously SOUR and cold – this is the super-perfect dessert. sedap sangat! mr. khairul and i were already talking about a second visit, and maybe next time we’ll mix it with kiwi jadi hijau or mango jadi kuning!

my only complain was that the portion is too little for something so delicious…

 

* * *

after a round of walk around mirdiff city center, we found another frozen yoghurt place called ‘pinkberry’. we went crazy and decided to stop again for a cup!

‘pinkberry’ is another cute hang-out. the walls are transparent except for green polka-dots along the eye-level. the chairs were also green and white, and the place decorated with green plants. really funky yet greeny – i like it!

 

 

 

did i tell you that i LOVE the chairs? i would love to have these at my home! and look at the huge white vase-thingy in the middle of the cafe? total cuteness! if you notice, the flooring is also gorgeous. little beads of batu sungai – memang lawa sangat.

the whole look of the place gives the illusion and feel of enjoying your cup of frozen yoghurt at a very fancy green garden!

 

 

‘pinkberry’ is another international brand, and offers 3-4 flavor of frozen yoghurt. pick a cup-size, pick your toppings – and you’re good to go!

you can also get 'fruit parfait’ and smoothies from pinkberry.

 

 

well, the standard toppings of any frozen yoghurt stand i guess – choices of colorful fruits, or others like nuts, cookies and cereal. gummibears too!

one topping caught my eye – pomogrenate seeds. wah. but too exotic to put in my yoghurt on the first try! maybe next time lah! hihi.

 

 

as usual, we picked the cheapest at 22dhs (well, 12dhs is the cheapest actually but that’s JUST the yoghurt without any toppings). this one comes with a tall swirl of white, original frozen yoghurt, with a choice of 4 toppings.

mr. khairul picked strawberry, kiwi and 2 portions of mango. lovely!

 

 

the taste? what’s not to love – frozen yoghurt, nice. fresh fruits, nice. i like that it’s NOT that sweet, just fresh taste combined with sweetness of mango, sour strawberry and delicious kiwi.

sedap lah! and i don’t need to tell you how my boys LOVE frozen yoghurt…

 

 

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back in malaysia, i’ve tried froyo at tutti frutti, also an international brandname. i went to the ttdi branch. a very frun experience because you get to MAKE your own combo of froyo-toppings. click here for my review.

let’s compare and contrast, shall we? between tutti fruti, yogen fruz and pinkberry!

 

  

yogen fruz :

• only 2 flavors of froyo – original and chocolate
• cheapest is 16dhs
• small portion
• can only choose one topping (more toppings, more expensive)
• signature froyo is ‘MIX IT’ – blend froyo with your choice of fruit
• delicious!

 

pinkberry :

• 4 flavors of froyo – original, chocolate, promagrenate and something i can’t remember
• cheapest is 22dhs with toppings (w/o is 12dhs)
• big portion
• can choose 4 toppings
• delicious!

 

tutti frutti :

• TONS of flavors, and they change every now and then – original, vanilla, chocolate, honey dew, lychee – the list is endless!
• self-service – you press for your own froyo, you take the spoon and pick your own toppings and even chocolate syrup
• cheapest is… take less, pay less – because you only pay for what you take. after you take, you weigh and pay according to the weight
• so portion is up to you!
• delicious, because it’s YOUR own froyo + toppings creation!

 

if you ask me, my fav between the three is tutti frutti – because it has so many different flavors of frozen yoghurt, and you can take as many flavors as you want. just take a little bit of everything so that it won’t be too heavy (since you pay for its weight).

but the point is – frozen yoghurt memang sangat sedap! and bak kata my adik bongsu – tak muak!

 

* * *

all i can say is, if you LOVE ice-cream and had never tried frozen yoghurt, you better do so! you’ll love this one, and probably would change to froyo entirely! frozen yoghurt is after all, said to be a healthier choice than ice-cream!

there’s one more froyo spot that we noticed in mirdiff city center with a funny name - ‘snog’! definitely trying that one next!

Fatburgers : Not So Fat

fatburger.

the name itself seductively beckons a burger junkie like me. is there anything more worth chomping down then a good juicy burger that is ALSO fat in size? hailed from california, it proudly claims to be 'the last great hamburger stand'.

oh, great. first, it's 'the world's greatest hamburger' at fuddruckers. then just few days later, 'the last great hamburger stand' at fatburger. i think i can flush down that 'i'll lose some weight when i hit 31' resolution!


for some reason, fatburgers are also known to be a very expensive burger. the burger patties are 'fat' and you can choose from 1/3 pound to a monstrous size one!

a standard burger comes with mustard, relish, onions, tomato, lettuce, and mayo - and the waitress will ask you which one you'd like to hold, or otherwise - custome made the way you like it. when you buy a burger, you have to pay for all the 'add ons' like cheese and some other stuff. and that does not include what you pay to get some fries and a coke as well!

it's still my birthday week, so i ordered the signature fatburger, quarter pound, with EVERYTHING.

the fatburger counter @ mirdiff city center food court

again, as a burger junkie i had always wanted to try the fatburgers since noticing the branch in dubai, after years of loyalty to the 'golden arch' and the 'king'. there's an actual restaurant in dubai mall, but we went to the fatburger counter in the food court of mirdiff city center instead.

we didn't plan to eat here - a football match was on between korea and one other country (i couldn't care to remember) and mirdiff city center generously used the entire half of the food court to put up a huge screen to show the match.

we noticed a fatburger counter at the foodcourt, so decided to give it a go. one amusing thing about making orders at fatburger was that when i finished my order, the one at the cashier repeated my order in a sing-song manner, while the kitchen crew at the back joined in - together, and aloud!

not exactly singing, but berirama. it was really cute, and new!


usually, at a food court, food are not always sent to you. you order, wait for your food, or pick a seat, and then come back to claim your dish. however, that's another nice thing about fatburger - patrons do not need to wait at the counter for food to be ready, or come back yourself to pick up your food.

they gave me a 'road cone' with numbers, indicating my order. and they sent my burgers right to the food court table.

and the toy car that kahfi was playing? it's a not free toy with a kids' meal. it's simply complimentary, just for making me wait for my burger. nice, huh? hihi.

* * *

...and making its appearance into syigim's tummy is the...FATBURGER!


...that did not look THAT fat to me! it should be called CUTEBURGER, for its petite size (for a burger) and round balled-up shape!


okay, to me, for a burger to be worth eating, and worth eating A LOT, it has to have these criteria :

• the bun used must be sesame seed bun
• the patty must be so juicy that with a bite, a lil oil comes out. NOT healthy, but irresistable!
• now this is the MOST important - the bun to meat to condiment ratio must be in perfect proportion with each other.

paham tak? contohnya kalo burger tu nipis, salad tak bole banyak sangat, nanti rasa salad tu akan menutupi rasa daging. kalo daging tu gemuk pulak, kena la mayo ngan tomato sauce pun banyak baru sedap. cheese walaupun sedap tapi kena berpadanan dengan kandungan mayo. inilah namanya 'undang-undang ratio bun-meat-condiment syigim'.

all size-talk aside, the fatburger DID NOT meet any of my criteria!

masalahnya fatburger yang aku order, burger dia kecik sangat tapi salad, mayo, mustard dan benda-benda lain kat burger tu banyak sangat jadi aku tercari-cari rasa sebenar daging burger dia!


true, i was the one asking for EVERYTHING to go with my burger, but i didn't expect the condiments like mustard and onion would overwhelm the taste of the burger. and this is because, my burger is NOT FAT!

and it's certainly NOT JUICY!

the salad, and other stuff on my burger were super fresh, yes - unlike some burgers yang salad pun dah ade hitam-hitam sikit! and the fries was also crispy on the outside, and sweet soft potatoes on the inside - however, all that doesn't matter if the fatburger you'd expect is NOT FAT, and not juicy too!


fatburger tastes good, don't get me wrong - but when it's boasted with that 'great hamburger stand' tag, and serving expensive burgers - they didn't meet my high expectation.

my verdict - tasty burger, but highly overrated, and definitely overpriced!

i guess i should've taken the 1 pound burger in order to appreciate the 'fat'ness?


oh, just a quick spin on the world cup match we watched. we were supporting korea (being asians) and happy to note that most of the people around us were also with the korean footballers.

sebenarnye seronok tengok bola ramai-ramai walaupun dengan strangers. semangat betul! be it near-hit or misses for the goal post, cheers would erupt. i love the atmosphere. tambah-tambah tengok kat dubai ni, ade pak arab ngan family dia. ada pak arab teens satu gang. ada pakcik-pakcik kerala india. ada satu gang filipino.

bersatu atas nama gila bola!

* * *

ok. time to start eating ONLY 'skinny' food. whatever that is!

World of Water @ Aquaplay, Mirdiff City Center

last weekend we braved ourselves for a great adventure - FIRST DAY OUT at a mall with all our three boys. did we manage?

well, we're still alive, for one! hihi.

the mall interior

we went to dubai's latest mall, the mirdiff city center - a big, fancy mall kind off like the mall of emirates. the most interesting thing about the mall is probably its claim that it has diaper-changing room even in the men's toilet! coolness.

now dads have no excuse not to be doing it!

it also has the first branch of 'pottery barn' in the middle east! (thanks fairus for reminding me!) it's a popular brand of home furnishing from the usa, and i heard it first in 'friends' - now i can see what's all the fuss about, or why phoebe hates pottery barn!

we headed on to the foodcourt and had chinese food. as usual, foodcourts in dubai would be adorned with fake palm trees in an outdoor-feel environment.

the foodcourt

kazim was asleep the whole time while we were eating. so no unwanted incidents there hihi.

after we're done eating, we bought krispy kreme after constant pestering by mr. doughnut-freak khaleef. yes, without adult supervision, he can eat 4 doughnuts in one seating!


before starting our jalan-jalan, we stopped by the movie cinestar just to get some caramel popcorn. big, huge one for us, and a small box for khaleef.

wish we could actually go watch a movie. 'clash of the titans' was playing. ouchy!

* * *

aquaplay
then we headed on to 'aquaplay'. a place where i wanted to go ever since i read about this mall's new opening. even before kazim was born.

it's an indoor waterpark, the first of its kind in the middle east - and you don't need swimsuits, you don't need sunblocks and you don't exactly need to get wet.

it's a water-based theme park with rides, a space where kids can learn the mechanism of the water in the rides, and a play-area which is also water-based.

as you can see it has the usual mid-east touch as its interior - palm trees all around! complete with mock beach houses, and white seagulls.

inside aquaplay

each game will cost you from 10aed to 30aed. you need to get a card, and simply swipe it at the particular station you're interested in joining or activities you wanna do.

currently they're running a promotion - buy 'credit' worth 100aed, and get 40aed bonus added into your card. however, the catch was, you need to use this within a month.

we got that one for the boys, and figured we're definitely coming again within this month.


the one i've been eye-ing was this kayak-like boat ride that goes around the aquaplay area through narrow corners and even a small 'ridge' that the kids love the most. the kayak goes slowly up - and then down with a splash!

it looks completely safe, and the kayak moved over knee-high water.

lining up for kayak ride

after a reasonably long queue, the boys finally get their own 'kayak'. mr. khairul helped them into it, and expressedly reminded khaleef to hold on to his younger brother.

he happily obliged.

the boys we ecstatic. frowns of concerns and curiosity at first, but turned into giggly laughter as soon as the kayak moved!


happy happy happy!

woah!

as expected, they both enjoyed the part with the ridge - the kayak went up and down with a hard splash that sent kahfi laughing loudly!

* * *

we tried the bumper boats next!

don't judge me - but i have NEVER even been on a bumper car before. really. i have an unexplained fear for bumper cars. the concept just creeps me up. bump cars. stir your way into another stranger's car just to 'hit' them!

if they feel that x-box games like 'grand theft auto' might have bad influence of kids because it's a game about stealing cars, then why hasn't anyone question the influence that bumper cars have on potential road rage-rs? haha.


anyways, since khaleef badly want to, and kesian kahfi if we don't let him join in too - so i had to 'sacrifice' and overlook my 'fear' by going into the bumper boat with him.

adoi! bole terbalik ke boat ni?

but this too, looked positively safe - it doesn't feel like it would topple easily, and the water level was also - just knee-high.

i was impressed at how khaleef handled his boat, with such ease! i spent the entire period trying to chase after khaleef and 'bump' into his boat, as i really don't feel comfortable at 'bumping' on other people!

kahfi gelak je the entire time!

nak join abang!

kazim? kazim so sedih because he wanted to go on the bumper boat too! waaaa! hihi.

the aquaplay area was smaller than i expected, since i read somewhere that a portion of aquaplay was actually currently closed for maintainance. i hope it re-opens by the time we go there for a second experience.

and yes, i think i'd go on the bumper boat again!