Frozen Yogurt in Nürnberg!

I was soooo excited to see that a frozen yogurt shop had opened up in downtown Nürnberg! I had never seen frozen yogurt outside the United States and due to the decline of the quality of the ice cream offered in the numerous ice cream shops downtown I was glad that there seemed to be at least some hope to find a yummy cool and creamy refreshment. 

The new shop is called Yogär (a play on the word "yogurt" with the "ä" being slightly reminiscent of the "ä" found in Häagen-Dazs; little side note: contrary to common (American) belief, the brand name "Häagen-Dazs" is NOT a German word and actually means absolutely nothing). When I first saw the shop there weren't any customers in it so I thought I better not check it out. Funny thing is, this place is located right next to a small Italian ice cream shop and right across from a huge ice cream shop. These people have guts to open up a shop in the vicinity of these other two places which have been there for quite a while!

Last night I was downtown with some friends and we walked by Yogär and I saw a couple of customers in line so I thought "why not?" Yogär offers three sizes of original (no extra flavor) frozen yogurt: small, medium and large. The small size only costs €1,60 including toppings. I decided to go for a small frozen yogurt topped with blueberry-banana sauce. I would have preferred the raspberry sauce, but they were out. Other toppings they had included pineapple, cookie bits and m&m-type chocolate candies.

While the person behind the counter (possibly one of the two young owners) served up my yogurt I playfully asked whether the yogurt tasted like it does in the US. He replied that he had never been to the US but that a friend from Chicago who was staying in Nürnberg came to the shop every day to eat frozen yogurt. I wasn't sure whether that meant anything or not. I would just have to try it myself! 

So I paid for the yogurt and then dug in my spoon to get the first taste. It had a smooth mouthfeel and a slight tangy bite and tasted just like, guess what?...FROZEN YOGURT, like actual yogurt that was frozen and not some artifical conglomeration of chemicals and flavorings. Yogär's frozen yogurt only contains low fat milk and low fat yogurt. And there must be a sweetener of some kind, but I'm not sure what they use. Compare those few ingredients to the ingredient list of Pinkberry frozen yogurt, which apparently is all the rage in the US right now. There are 23 (!!!!!) ingredients in the "original" yogurt. Can you believe it??? My favorite part about the yogurt's ingredient list is the last ingredient: it says: "tocopherol (to maintain freshness)". Why would the yogurt need to be maintained "fresh"? It should be fresh to start out with! This is like cosmetic surgery for food. Ugh. It makes me sick. 

Anways, the verdict is: I will definitely go back! And I hope they become more popular because it would be a shame to see this shop not make it.