Papamingo
2510 Channing Way (near Telegraph Ave.), Berkeley
For those who are savvy with pop culture, from LA, or watch The Hills on a regular basis, you’re familiar with Pinkberry. If not, click on the link and be informed and thus cool! Papamingo is just another reflection of the fact that the Bay is being invaded by the south. SoCal, that is.
Papamingo is part of the be fit/be cool trend, offering tasty yet healthy alternatives to fatty frozen yogurt. (To be fair, frozen yogurt isn’t as bad as ice cream, so it’s like saying you’re making a soda that’s more diet that diet soda. Or at least that’s how it works in my mind.) The frosty treat the shop has to offer is quite different from your typical frozen yogurt. It’s also topped with healthier toppings: mainly fresh fruit and cereal instead of candy and cookies. Mix in brightly painted walls, Ikea style furniture, and pop music and you’ve got the coolest hangout this side of campus.
The place is small and sort of basement-ish. No windows except in the front of the store, hence the lime, neon green painted walls. There are a few tables with chairs and the counter is towards the back. Behind the counter are a couple frozen yogurt machines as well as a display of the toppings! While you wait in line, you get to scope out the selection. There are things like granola and chocolate chips – usual stuff, but there’s some different things like fruity pebbles and rice balls! (Little chewy balls that are supposed to be mochi-ish, sadly they have a bit of a bitter after taste.) I opted for their fresh strawberries (there’s mango, pineapple, blueberry, etc.).
The yogurt itself comes in three different flavors: regular, green tea, and pomagranete. Being my first time, I went with the regular, though I hear green tea is pretty good. Now for the taste. Let’s say you’ve never had frozen yogurt and you take things to be literal. If you’ve had regular yoplait before and someone gave you something called frozen yogurt, Papamingo is what you’d be expecting. The stuff is sweet but tart or tangy, like regular yogurt. It’s in the sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt subcategory of the dairy department. At first it’s strange, but if you reflect on other dairy stuff, it makes sense and becomes pleasant. It’s very refreshing and tasty and provides a nice balance with the natural sweet and tartness of the strawberries. I gobbled my cup up pretty quickly, especially when I stopped thinking of it as regular frozen yogurt.
The bad news is that this stuff comes at a hefty price. A small cup is a staggering $2.50 for something you could probably eat in five large bites (if only the spoons weren’t mini…). Plus toppings! You can get 1 topping for 95 cents or 3 toppings for an extra $1.50. So, unfortunately, you’re getting a taste of LA at LA prices. There’s a student discount, which was nice since I still have my old ID to whip out on such occasions. Still, my treat was just over $3 and thus, not something I’d do very often.
Overall: A trendy little spot with some tasty fare. Unfortunately, it’s a little steep in price to be more than a novel thing. Expect a lot of girls with bug-eye sunglasses and pink Razr phones to crowd the place. Yuck – I won’t be back soon.
Rating: 6/10
choice chow 