Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Frozen Spoon- Lowell's Latest Craze

This post is long overdue as I've been dying to try the new froyo shop in Lowell  before it even opened about a month ago.  With being on vacation for a huge fraction of that time, I finally got the chance to check it out after  many Facebook Check-ins and Facebook photo updates from my friends about the Frozen Spoon.
Photo Credit: The Frozen Spoon

The location is a bit awkward lying on the outskirts of downtown Lowell on Dutton street.  I have no problem  going in that area as I frequent the seafood store and the Vietnamese sandwich shop, Hong Cuc that shares the same building, but newcomers may be a bit apprehensive at first.

The decor of the shop is cute and quirky with small table setups for two and a counter with seating.  Hopefully in the future, there will be larger tables that can seat crowds or can accommodate someone taking advantage of the free WIFI using a laptop and other reading materials, think Panera.

A friend recommended that I try the Taro froyo, but that wasn't on today's special. I had three options, the original tart, this week's special "strawberry" and twist, a swirl combining the two.  I went with the twist but I had such a hard time choosing my toppings from the black board with almost 40 toppings to choose from.  There was a large range starting from the standard ice cream toppings like brownies and oreo cookies to the exotic tropical fruits and unique items like  "Bursting Boba Bites" and Mochi.  and the I went with the Lychee, Strawberries and green tea Mochi's.  I know, how random huh?

The kids chose shaved coconut and original mochi on strawberry for one and rainbow sour belts candy on original tart for the other.  All the combinations tasted delicious! The original tart frozen yogurt was perfect, it had the right blend of sweet and sourness.  I thought the consistency of the yogurt could have been a tad bit thicker but I'm already planning my trip back to try new combinations and yogurt flavors.

Pricing was inline with the Lowell market and target demographics of teens and young adults.  I thought it was set at a fair price level starting at $2.50 for a small frozen yogurt and $1.50 for 3 toppings, and only 25 cents for each additional topping.

While we enjoyed our tasty treats in the shop, we saw a steady amount of customers coming and going.  I didn't realized that they offer small morsels of their yogurt to sample, so that is something to keep in mind the next time there is a new yogurt flavor to try.

Another customer ordered 2 Asian shaved ice.  At first I thought, what's so special about shaved ice? After all, most of the other Asian supermarkets and fast food joints offer the same shaved ice with grass jelly, jack fruits, etc.  To my surprise, what the girl behind the counter handed to the customer was nothing I've ever seen before.  I then realized that all the toppings that were offered for the frozen yogurt was also available for the shaved ice as well.  The girl got shaved iced topped with mochi's and fresh fruit. I almost wanted to be a fatty and order one to try after I finished my froyo.  I resisted the urge, but next time, I will get an Asian shaved ice.

A definitely plus is the frequent customer card that earns you a free medium size treat after 10 purchases!