First Bite: Meet Fresh ~ Simple Delicious Food Recipes

My heart always skip a beat whenever I hear the manly "tahoooooo" echo in the morning. I'd hurriedly look for small bills, get out of my PJs and run as fast as I could to the gate and eagerly wait for my favorite morning treat. But more often than not, I miss the manong magtataho or he skips our street. Thankfully, a new store opened that sells something better than taho.

Hello, Meet Fresh!

Meet Fresh is the newest dessert shop in town and it opened its first store in Podium Mall.

This Taiwanese brand, which started in Taichung City, became popular for its taro balls, icy treats, herbal jelly and tofu pudding. Aside from it using the freshest ingredients and traditional Taiwanese prepping methods, it promises to offer the best and healthiest desserts to the market.

I was lucky to be one of the first to try its offerings in Manila last Thursday. And of course, I have to get its Tofu Pudding (PHP220, available hot and cold).

Similar to the classic taho, this dessert comes with syrup. But instead of small tapioca, Meet Fresh's tofu pudding can be topped with any of the following combinations:

(1) Mung Bean and Barley
(2) Sweet Potato and Barley
(3) Red Bean and Peanuts
(4) Red Bean and Taro
(5) Kidney Bean and Rice Balls

I went with Red Bean and Taro but added Sesame Rice Balls (PHP40, 2 pieces), Boba (PHP30) and Grass Jelly (PHP30) as those three were the ones I really wanted as toppings. I wish that they could come up with more topping combinations included in the dessert set.

I requested for the syrup to be served separately so that I could take nicer photos as I noticed that the tofu pudding is usually served with crazy amount of syrup. Don't worry though as the syrup isn't very sweet. (I went with 100% sweetness level as recommended by the staff.)

The tofu pudding itself was nothing mind blowing but quite good if you're craving for taho. What delighted me more were the toppings. As a big fan of mochi, I was so in love with the Sesame Rice Balls. Chewy with an explosion of black sesame filling, it was pure bliss. The grass jelly was good too and beautifully balanced the sweetness of the dessert with its slight bitter taste. The boba was lovely cooked as it had that chewy texture.

I also tried Q Mochi Combo with Caramel Pudding (PHP120). An order comes with two kinds of Q Mochi and you may opt to change caramel pudding to almond pudding.

The mochi, again, were great! I loved the coconut like topping which gave it an extra sweet taste. The pudding though was quite forgettable. I'll stick with mochi next time.

For drinks, I tried Fluffy Herbal Tea with Grass Jelly (PHP170) and Wintermelon Tea with Grass Jelly (PHP110), both top sellers. [Note: the word "fluffy" was used to note that the drink contains cream.]

I wasn't so sure with the herbal tea drink as I found it a bit strong for my liking. But I enjoyed my cup of Wintermelon Tea with Grass Jelly.

I was told that the taro balls and barley were great too! I'll definitely check those on my next visit along with some shaved ice treats. And of course, more mochi!