afternoon desserts @ Meet Fresh
A global Taiwanese dessert franchise now exists in Edmonton!
Actually, it has been around (again, like Misoya) since spring-summer but I haven’t had the time to go check it out.
So far, there’s only 1 in Edmonton, & it’s here, 114st & Jasper Ave.
So.. . what is it? Like I aforementioned, it’s a Taiwan-based dessert chain that has locations across the globe. My sister-in-law said their menu is very similar to the ones they have in China. There’s always slight differences, but they have the basics here. For myself, I don’t really know/not familiar. I’ve only seen one other Meet Fresh in my life, & that was on Robson Street of downtown Vancouver. Diana & I almost went there for dessert back in Feb, but didn’t end up going.
Their Chinese name can be translated to “fresh taro immortal”, as such, one can extrapolate that their main thing is “taro”. Taro is a highly popular item in Asian countries, & it’s almost a staple flavour in Asian desserts. For a while when I was in junior high, I was super obsessed with taro-flavoured bbt. Now, not so much.. .
The inside of the dessert place was very clean & looks very modern. It’s comparable to its other locations in other cities.
For a Saturday afternoon, there wasn’t much business but during my time there, which was for ~1.25hrs, there was a steady stream of ppl ordering take-out.
The place was larger than I had expected from the outside. I appreciated the area they had from the entrance to the till- there was abundant space for line-ups, during times of their occurrence.
Their “bar”. Gave off strong Japanese vibes.
They have a little return counter, which is something I have really appreciated in cafes in recent yrs. (If only everyone did it.. .)
My milk tea pudding drink. You can’t see the pudding but at the bottom of the cup, there’s like an inch of pudding. I stirred it & it seemed to break apart but as I got to the bottom, I realized there was still a large chunk that was just sitting at the bottom & I couldn’t do anything about it with the straw -.-” I hope that they would pre-break it up as I had to throw the rest away without finishing the pudding. The milk tea part was average. For me, it was too sweet. .. however, the tea flavour was also evident so *shrugs*. I guess it was good enough since I could still taste the tea.
The desserts~ For most of their desserts, they have hot/cold options. I knew I would not be a fan of the purple rice base-dessert soups... so I didn’t get any of that.I got one of their top 5 desserts, which was the tofu dessert #1 - regular tofu pudding with mung bean & barley (I added the taro balls as an extra topping bcos my “date” likes them). I got the hot version just bcos. I ended up liking it a lot, but beware, it is filling! I recommend it for sharing purposes.
The other 2 belonged to their small bites menu: sesame mochi & egg pudding with boba topped with brown sugar sauce. The sesame mochi was covered with black sesame powder. While I appreciated the chewy consistency of the mochi & the not-too-sweet sesame filling, the coating was a bit much. It made the mochi feel very dry, if that makes any sense. I could definitely do with a little less of that stuff. My fav was the egg pudding with boba! Good combo of textures: soft pudding & chewy boba, both flavourless but with the brown sugar sauce, it was great! I highly recommend!
My date <3 this is Kylie, my 4-yr old niece. It’s her first time eating tofu dessert & she loves those chewy mochi (& mochi-like texture things). Her bubbletea was the regular milk tea with sago (hot version). Here, you don’t have the option to customize ice & sugar levels, & you certainly get the bare minimum boba with your drink (no extra fee, considering how much they charge for the drink already).
Altogether, it was an enjoyable experience, but price was steeeeeeeeep! The overall amount (incl tip) for the 2 drinks, 1 main dessert, & 2 small bites = $33! It’s not my style/preferred type of dessert so for me to spend >$30 on this first & likely annual visit was ok/justifiable. But I can’t imagine coming here as a regular even if it’s next door to my work or home. I just can’t. I don’t like this type of dessert that much, & certainly will not grow an interest in it.
