As summer temperatures keep climbing, Hongkongers of all ages are treating themselves to the sweet, cold relief of soft-serve frozen yogurt cups loaded with their favourite fruit, cereal and confectionery toppings. This American takeaway dessert, first marketed in the 1970s, exploded in popularity in the US in the 1990s. The concept was took off in Hong Kong in the mid-2000s, and now, new frozen yogurt speciality shops can't seem to open fast enough. Dessert shops and cafes are even racing to install their own soft-serve machines to keep up with the craze.
Causeway Bay - the area of Hong Kong Island with the most foot traffic - is a hot spot for this frosty snack; within the area around Percival Street and Hennessy Road, we count at least a dozen different outlets vying for attention with different looks, flavours and toppings. On a relatively quiet block of Leighton Road, Yogo Frozen Yogurt and newcomer Cherry On Top have locations that make them natural competitors; we set off to find out if their frozen yoghurts are also close contenders.
Walking into Cherry On Top, we are immediately drawn to the open bar of toppings to the left of the long rectangular space. We count more than 31 toppings, a quarter of which are brightly (artificially) coloured breakfast cereals including Fruity Pebbles and Fruit Loops - huge hits with the five-to-10-years set. The fresh fruit selection is impressive, with dragon fruit, jackfruit, longan and lychee adding an Asian spectrum of flavours. By far the most unusual toppings are the mango and lychee 'burst balls' - molecular concoctions that pop and release flavoured liquid in the mouth.
We move to the back to check out their yogurt flavours - original tart, chocolate, vanilla, taro, blueberry and, finally, Yakult, made with the Japanese probiotic drink that Hong Kong kids love. We sample the taro yogurt - with lower yogurt content, we are told, but still too sharp for our liking - and go with original tart, as the control, and Yakult, for its novelty.
At the toppings counter, we are given the go-ahead to dress the cup ourselves - at most other shops, customers point at their choices and the server does the garnishing. We take healthy sized scoops of Japanese mochi bits, strawberries and blueberries, and cannot resist throwing a few lychee 'burst balls' into the mix. The yogurt, with toppings included, is priced by weight. Our cup comes to HK$32.40, at HK$4.50 per ounce (or about 28 grams).
At first taste, we already have trouble distinguishing between the two yogurt flavours. Both are milky white in colour, tart and overly sweet; the texture is soft enough, but we can feel tiny ice crystals on the tongue that impart a slight chemical flavour, not unlike the powdered milk used in instant coffee. While the mochi is a bit dry on its own and tart berries did temper the sugariness of the yogurt, the burst of concentrated lychee syrup in the balls took it over the top. It was an instant sugar rush compounded with an ice-cream headache.