You may have seen it on Tik Tok, whilst you were endlessly scrolling your ‘For You’ page, or you may even have seen a version of it at your local Asian market or shop. ‘Mochi’ has been making its rounds virally, and we’re here to fill you in on all the details about the smooth, squishy, chewy Japanese snack…and where to find it fresh!
@biteswithlily Let’s try fresh fruit mochi 🍡🍓☁️💗 #mochi #fruitmochi #strawberrymochi #dessert #mukbang #carmukbang #tastetest #foodreview #sydneyfood ♬ Up Beat (Married Life) – Kenyi
Let’s clear one thing up first, though! Mochi (Japanese rice cake) is not sweet to begin with. It’s made by pounding glutinous rice into a smooth, sticky dough. Once the dough’s smooth, it can either be used for sweet or savoury snacks.
@paulalutao #japan #nara #mochi #fyp #parati #foryou #foodie #mochipounding #🇯🇵 ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
Commonly, mochi is shaped into round, palm-sized balls and then filled with either sweet, or savoury fillings. The sweet, dessert versions of mochi have been trending online and they’ve got us ready to book a flight straight to Japan:
@purplechives The softest mochi in town 🥰 #mochi #japanesesweets #richmondbc #matcha #desserttiktok #dessert ♬ original sound – Bonk
Okay…but where can we find them fresh locally?
If you’re not about that one way ticket straight to Japan, not to worry! South Africa’s very first mochi store opened in 2018, and has been serving fresh Mochi goodness in Cape Town’s Longmarket St.
View this post on Instagram
Chef and founder at Mochi Mochi, Adri Morel, stays true to the principles of traditional mochi making. Cooked and pounded mochi is wrapped around various fillings, including chocolate and traditional bean paste flavours. If you’re in the neighbourhood and keen to try fresh mochi (or you’re visiting, just because of us), keep an eye out for their salted caramel, margarita and cookies & cream flavoured mochis.
Photographer Claire Gunn
Photographer Claire Gunn
The shop also has a wide variety of other freshly baked Japanese goods like Japanese Cheesecake with miso caramel – a fluffy crustless soufflé-like cheesecake. Or, on a hot day, try a mochi ice cream (ice cream wrapped in a mochi casing), or the more traditional ‘mitarashi dango’ (pan-fried mochi balls on a skewer coated with a soy caramel sauce and kinako).
If you haven’t got a sweet tooth, pick from a variety of savoury milkbread buns and ‘Atsui’ dogs (translates to hot dog) including the okonomiyaki dog, the spicy dog and the kewpie egg dog.
And yes…they do e-preorders if you want to order a batch just for yourself. Now, if you’ll excuse me…
ALSO SEE:
Feature Image: Photographer Claire Gunn
