The desserts on offer at Meet Fresh are a far cry from the Neapolitan ice-cream with hundreds-and-thousands I'd grown up eating as a kid. I'd recently tried a few different Asian desserts and really liked their sweetness and interesting textures - I just had no idea what to order when confronted with the mind-boggling array of items on offer at Meet Fresh. Although I'd be curious about Meet Fresh for months I was now in totally foreign-dessert waters.
The BFF and I stood bamboozled in front of the menu board for about 5 minutes. In the end we settled on the Meet Fresh Signature Herbal Dessert ($5.50) figuring that as it is their "signature dessert" it must be good. As we're both feeling a bit thirsty after our ramen dinner we also order a Meet Fresh Milk Tea with Pearls ($3.80). Pearls, for those of you not 'in the know' Pearls are little chewy balls of tapioca and I LOVE them.
The Herbal Jelly is like nothing I've ever seen...or eaten before. At first I find the black, sludge-like jelly a little visually off-putting, but once I take my first bite I'm hooked.
The white and orange taro balls are fat and chewy. The herbal jelly is chewy and only slightly sweet and has a slight aniseed flavour. Once we break through the slippery jelly - that's impossible to keep on the spoon due to its wibbly wobbliness - we hit a mound of shaved ice that has no real discernible flavour other than being cool and refreshing. Once we figure out we're supposed to empty the little container of cream into the bowl the ice melts and the dessert received the sugar hit that the BFF was seeking.
Verdict for this Aussie chick? It's weird, wonderful, wobbly and wacky. I cannot wait to get back to Meet Fresh to see what other delights are on offer.
Meet Fresh is at 13 Goulburn Street, Chinatown/Haymarket.
