MSE is a tiny shop that serves a range of Asian desserts. There are few seats and tables on the pavement.
Ms W went for the grass jelly. I've only ever had grass jelly once, and that was from a can that you buy from Asian grocers. From memory, it has, well, a slight grassy taste. It's slightly sweet, a dark green colour, served at room temperature... um... there's nothing more I can really say about grass jelly - it is what it is. Personally, I don't know what the appeal about it is.
I started off with the black glutinous rice with coconut milk, which is served hot. It had plenty of chewy black rice, and a good amount of coconut milk. I like swirling the coconut milk into the rice. Although it was quite nice, I had to relinquish eating the rest of the soup (the coconut milk which was irritating my sore throat).
So I then opted for a cup of hot honey ginger and gingseng 'soup'. The honey soothed my scratchy throat. The soup had a mild flavour of honey, ginger and ginseng (and had a strand or two of ginseng). Like the grass jelly, the name of the soup is pretty much an accurate description of what you get.
Verdict
Food - 8
Ambience - 5
Service - 6
Price - 7
Overall
I'd say MSE is a good place if you're hankering for an Asian style dessert and you can't be bothered going to yum cha to get it, or making it yourself. For me, it's good to know that there are hot and/or cold sago soups (my favourite) on offer. There's hot and cold choices, and there are quite a number of interesting sounding desserts. Given the limited amount of seating, it's not a place you'd linger. The thing that slightly ruined the enjoyment was due to some punters who were smoking. If I go back, I'd get the desserts as takeaways.
Address
Monga Sweet Express
85 Kingsway
Glen Waverley 3150
Telephone: (03) 9561 1145
They also have stores in Box Hill and on Russell Street in the city.
ReplyDeleteFil
The Vietnamese enjoy a cool drink made from the grass jelly. The jelly is cut into strands the size of French fries then some homemade sugar syrup (basically water and dissolved sugar) and ice are added.
ReplyDeleteOn its own without the sugar syrup, grass jelly is generally too bitter. Like many Asian cultures, the Vietnamese divide/classify food as either having a "cooling" or "heating" effect on the body. Grass jelly is sought for its high powered "cooling" effect on the body.
CN
Thanks for the info, CN =)
ReplyDelete