Cravingz 

Pics: Nikhil Ghorpade

A bright, colourful decor and a smorgasbord of mouth-watering flavours, toppings and syrups to choose from — Cravingz, with its simple, casual ambience, was the first place to come up with this customised dessert format in the city.
 
You pick a flavour and add-ons, and pay a price calculated on the basis of weight. Diet freaks can even choose a fat-free, non-condensed yoghurt version! I made myself a Chocolate-Butterscotch combo and topped it off with coffee crystals and two spoonfuls of crushed almonds, not to forget some slender vanilla rolls to dip into the divine mixture.

I loved how the strong coffee flavour perfectly blended with chocolatey bitter-sweetness and occasional hints of almond bits. Kudos for the dizzying variety of toppings, and the joy that comes from creating your own, personalised dessert.

Location: Next to St Mira’s College, Koregaon Park
Price: 60 ps per gram

  Yoforia 

With a friendly owner and a formidable location in a mall, Yoforia might help frozen yoghurt gain some popularity among Puneites, who are still more comfortable hanging out at ice-cream parlours.

Yoforia only serves water-based froyos, so if you’re looking for a healthier substitute for an ice-cream, this is the place. I tried their Vanilla Bean and Ferrero Rocher flavours, adding some yummy hazelnuts, Oreo cookies and choco-chips to the sinful mix.

The toppings intermingled beautifully with the yoghurt’s original essence and made for a very satisfying dessert — for the tummy, as well as for the soul. 

Location:  S 4, Phoenix Market City, Nagar Road
Price: 79 ps per gram 

  Froguru 

A passable ambience, practical seating layout, four standard flavours to choose from and a plain-speaking staff — basically, it’s all about the dessert here and the number of customers they manage to attract is impressive, considering there’s a famous ice-cream shop right next door.

I decided to order my favourite Blueberry froyo and threw in a few white chocolate balls. The small portion made for an ideal dessert and the fruity tang of blueberry perfectly complemented the sour yoghurt flavour. Also try their yummy froothies — a mellow smoothie trickling gently through swirls of froyo.

Location: Lane 7, Koregaon Park
Price: Rs 35 (small cup), Rs 50 (large cup);
Toppings: Rs 8 per spoon

  Yo Yogee 

This is a humble stall run by an extremely friendly lady, and dishes out some of the best froyo I’ve ever tasted. I went for the pale pink Strawberry flavour with peach pieces, and some crunchy honey loops and rice crispies.
 
It was lovely and notably fresh. Being milk-based, the yoghurts here have a home-made essence to them. Their focus seems to be on fruit, as they mostly offer fruity flavours with fresh chunks as toppings.

For instance, they have a brilliant dish called the Fruit Bed, a wicked combination of pineapple yoghurt, fresh banana and kiwi pieces and a vanilla sponge cake — irresistible and tastes every bit as good as it sounds! They also plan to start offering froyos in cones shortly.

Location: East Block, Amanora Town Centre, Hadapsar
Price: Rs 70 (Small cup), Rs 120 (Large cup),
Topping: Rs 10, Exotic topping: Rs 15