mel in the milkyway: Food Tour Party - Yogg

currently: it's really warm. I could use something cold right now.

My first Yogg!

Yogg (or stylised as YÖGG) is one of the newer self-serve yoghurt places that have been popping up around Auckland for the past year or so. Opened in July last year, it has had to compete with the likes of the original and well-established Mission Bay KiwiYo (which I have yet made a trip to). Compare the Facebook likes between KiwiYo and Yogg, and you can clearly see who's the stronger store.

It was a whim decision (and influenced by 'Two for One' Yogg vouchers) that my two best mates and I took a long drive to Mission Bay. Probably not the smartest move to go at 1pm on the first Saturday of 2013 because it was crazy busy. Half an hour of driving, and 10 minutes of circling Mission Bay shops before we settled for one 10-minute parking spot outside of the Pharmacy.

It was hot. We wanted our Yogg.

So while the impromptu Food Tour Party was brief, we attempted to get as much out of the experience as possible.

My friend Kelly and I were complete newbies to the "self-serve froyo" experience (unless you count the ice cream self serve at Valentines Restaurant. We're very experienced with that). So it was nice that there was actually a person to briefly guide us through the process. She pointed to the cups, told us about pricing, pointed out the different eight flavours and showed us what we needed to do. It probably would have been nice to get tasters of each flavour - but then again, we only had ten minutes.

Yogg as chosen by my friends Roxy and Kelly.

Yogg has simple, classic yoghurt flavours like vanilla, chocolate and various berry mixes. But we kinda cheated by actually choosing the two-flavoured 'Twist' soft serve ice cream and the gluten free mango sorbet instead of the expected frozen yoghurt. But to be honest, ice cream and sorbet is WAY more appealing to me than yoghurt. My friend Kelly chose the mango sorbet option, while my other friend Roxy and I chose the 'Mango Twist' with mango sorbet.

Yogg offer a range of toppings and sauces to compliment your dessert. There's no limit to how much you scoop, which makes you want put everything you can on top of your Yogg. But I resisted from doing so, limiting myself to sprinkles, pineapple, sliced grapes, some gummies and chocolate fish. Cause you know, mango and chocolate fish.

Pineapple, grapes, gummy lollies and chocolate fish. Cause I can.

The mango sorbet was so delicious that it would have been great just on its own. It was cool, sweet, creamy, and a real tasting mango flavour all in one. The 'Mango Twist' was pretty good too and having the fresh fruit toppings just really suited. Gummy lollies get tough to eat when it gets cold, but then again, that's expected. I think the fact that you have control over what you put on it just makes eating it a lot more satisfying as you can choose what you love and experiment with as many or as few options as you'd like.

My friends too agreed how enjoyable Yogg was, and as we were going back to save the car from potential fines, we already started discussing when we could have our next froyo treat. If only Mission Bay was a bit closer...

Till next time Yogg.

Food Party review:
Money friendliness - pretty okay if you can control how much you get. I wouldn't suggest getting big cups unless you want to pay big bucks. My serving cost just over $7.
Purchase fun - Definitely fun when you are able to make your own.
Deliciousness factor - in the words of my friend Kelly: "SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. I give it 26 out of 10." Numbers that high must be taken seriously.