Tutti Frutti

Outlet: Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt

Where: I0I Mall New Wing, Puchong

What: Frozen yogurt which comes in a myriad of flavours and tastes, crowned with a variety of your favourite toppings. This US franchise is brought in by the Naza Group.

Firstly, this is yogurt, not ice cream, so forget about a sultry-Baskin Robbins-like moment. Yogurt is supposed to be a healthy supplement to your diet, but you cannot escape its soury, icky and dull taste. Peach yogurt, anyone? No, I don’t think so too.So when you freeze it and give it some wacky flavour, perhaps you’d get a winning formula. That was what Tutti Frutti achieved. We tried a cup of Berrylicious and Chocolate Raspberry, and both was good.

Before I go any further, let me remind you that Tutti Frutti is an almost self-service outlet. So follow these steps when you do get there:

1.Arrive at outlet, don’t get puzzled why the staff greeted you but never try to serve or take your order. Then, slightly embarrased, we realized it was a self-service outlet.

2.Take a paper bowl. They say you can choose sizes, but at that time we only saw one size.

3.Go to the dispensers (like the one you find at 7-11 for Slurpees), choose your flavour, and start dispensing. Now listen, they WEIGH how much you dispense, and you get charged by WEIGHT. So that was a new concept for us, too. Just follow the instructions. Don’t ask the staff to dispense it for you, like I did. They’d refuse (and cakap dalam hati – tak reti baca arahan ke ini orang?).

4.A tip: don’t dispense too much (one reason is that you don’t want to your cup to be too expensive), but the real reason is that the yogurt might look fluffy and soft and the portion small, but once the yogurt settles down, it might be too much for your palate. So dispense wisely! Half a bowl would be fine.

5.Choose your toppings. Again, your final bowl of yogurt + toppings will be weighed, so choose your condiments smartly. There’s a huge variety of toppings to suit everyone, from fruits, nuts, chocolate and syrup, as pictured below.

6.Go to the counter and have it weighed, and pay up.

7.Have a seat, and enjoy!

Our Chocolate Raspberry was the better of the two, as the flavour mix was clever and the taste quite fabulous. The frozen yogurt melts in your mouth, of course, but it leaves a lingering after-taste which you do not want to wash down by drinking water. It is not eating like your favourite Baskin Robbins, but it is better than the over-rated and over-hyped Haagen Dazs.

Verdict:
Staff: They are there to stand around and guide you, in case you can't use the dispenser, but otherwise they're polite enough.

Decor: Decked in bright colours and simple white furnitures, the place practically lights up and sets the mood well for a cool snack on a lazy, hot afternoon.

Order: Well, we tried only two, so maybe you'd want to have something save, and avoid any strange flavours.

Coming back?: A new alternative to eat something healthy, the fun way. Even if you hate yogurt, you’d like this one. Highly recommended.