ayomo, south melbourne

Banella waffle from Ayomo, with lots of banana and Nutella, served with a dollop of frozen yogurt.

I know, I know. We're in the middle of a chilly Melbourne winter right now. But I don't care. I'm still eating fro-yo (soft serve frozen yoghurt) when the cravings strike.

One of the things I will miss about working in South Melbourne is being in close proximity to Ayomo (226 Clarendon St, South Melbourne). Their cute name is derived from the phrase "A Yoghurt Moment". The people there are always nice and friendly, and they make some tempting fro-yo.

I've been there a few times since I first discovered it last year. They have both their standard natural and signature macadamia yoghurt all-year-round, with other flavours filling in the roster as they see fit. If you're not sure what to get, you can try samples first. And what I really like is that even when I get the small serving (which in my opinion is still quite generously sized), I can opt for more than one flavour in the cup. Awesome!

I've tried the lychee, which was graceful and floral, the young coconut, which was beautifully light with a taste that is more like coconut water than coconut cream. I've also tried the dairy-free mango, and the more indulgent salted caramel. So far, though, their signature macadamia fro-yo trumps all others, for me at least - it's gentle, tangy, just faintly sweet, and wins me over with the subtle, but distinctive nutty taste of macadamia.

The frozen yoghurt here is good enough to enjoy plain by themselves, but Ayomo offers an array of toppings, too, and my favourite is the halva.

There are other items on the menu as well, like the waffles in the picture above. They certainly don't skimp on the ingredients, as you can see from the plentiful slices of banana and lashings of Nutella on mine. Served with a frozen yoghurt of your choice, it makes for a very filling dessert.

Due to my big move, I don't know when I'll next visit Ayomo again. But hey, who knows? I may be back in Melbourne one day, and perhaps I'll even ask them if they have any job openings - it would be pretty cool to work in their Flavour Lab...

Frozen yoghurt from Ayomo with various toppings.