On a recent jaunt around the Marais, I stumbled upon an oasis of New York familiarity—Pinkberry! Pinkberry, of the sour frozen (non) yogurt, invented by some Korean chick in LA, and favored by that arbiter of taste, Paris Hilton. Upon closer inspection, however, I saw that it wasn’t a Pinkberry, but a Myberry. Clearly, a Gallic impostor! But beggars can’t be choosers and I stepped in to admire how well Myberry had flattered Pinkberry’s sleekly kitsch (and so Korean) interiors.
Myberry offers smoothies, fruit juices and frozen yogurt and they proudly display this slogan on their walls, “Yaourt glacé 0% matiere grasse. 100% fruit,” which means non-fat frozen yogurt. The pastel pinks and neon greens of the store, not to mention the display case filled with plastic robots and weirdly-cute Asian figurines, brought me back to my favorite K-town dessert place, post Korean chicken wings, of course.
So how was the fro-yo? I ordered a small with raspberries and with that first, much-anticipated spoonful, I was disappointed to discover that it was ordinary yogurt, just frozen. None of the tart flavor of the original “crackberry,” which to me always tasted like whipped Fage greek yogurt (another thing I miss here in Paris.)
I asked the owner/only-person-working-there if she knew about Pinkberry. She seemed a little offended that I asked, saying, “Yes, but when I was in Los Angeles, there were lots of other kinds, too, like Kiwiberri.” I didn’t really understand that logic, like if other people had copied the PB concept, that means she didn’t really copy it herself? Who cares, anyway? She’s apparently the first ‘berry vendor of her kind in Paris. She then explained that she’d only been open for three months and that French people don’t really understand the concept of frozen yogurt yet; it was Americans who came in her store. (I can’t understand how people who can distinguish between 500 different cheeses can’t figure out frozen yogurt…)
Anyway, this bit of Americana (Korean-Americana) has not translated in to French yet. Tant pis.
Address:
Myberry, 25, rue Vielle du Temple
75004 Paris
+33 1 42 74 54 48
2 Comments
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Yeah, I went to myberry, too. It has such a weird consistency though. Like cool whip–eck! It wasn’t bad though. Have you tried Forty Carrots in Bloomingdales? Super yum.
J
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 6:39 am
I haven’t tried Forty Carrots? Is that in the States or in Paris, too??