Bhan Kanom Thai Pangchi: Pangchi is a bite-sized sticky rice pancake cooked on the griddle, giving it a crispy crust on both sides and mochi-like interior mixed with corn. While not captured in this photograph, panchi are actually lilac in color. Mochi is my favorite snack, and this take on crispy mochi was eye opening and delicious. A perfect bite. Purchased from the Thai dessert specialty store Bhan Kanom Thai in LA. 4.5/5.0
exceptional dessert thai mochi stickyrice corn bhankanomthai pangchi 4.5
Powder Ube shaved ice with mochi and condensed milk: This is the third flavor I've had from Powder, a Taiwanese shaved ice shop in San Francisco. The first, black sesame, was excellent, with a light texture but creamy flavor. The second, matcha, had a great green tea flavor but was more dense in texture. This last one was, unfortunately, the worst texturally, which is apparent from just the image itself - the starchy potato may have made it harder to achieve the same airy consistency that the black sesame ice had. Ube is a seasonal summer ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream ube sanfrancisco taiwanese shavedice powder shaved ice mochi condensed milk 3.0
Lundberg Mochi Sweet Organic Rice Cakes: Made with whole grain brown rice, these "sweet" rice cakes are actually more savory than sweet since they are lightly salted. I was hoping they would have a different taste than normal plain rice cakes, but they are essentially flavorless (minus the salt). 2.5/5.0
organic berkeleybowl lundberg mochi sweet rice cakes 2.5
Fugetsu-Do Peanut Butter Mochi: Long-standing Japanese confectionary shop Fugetsu-Do, located in Japantown in downtown Los Angeles, sells its mochi at various stores around California (I recently found their products at Berkeley Bowl). This set of Peanut Butter Mochi was purchased from Marukai in Glendale, LA and contained 6 sizable pieces of soft, chewy mochi filled literally with chunky peanut butter (maybe Jiff). It feels almost sacrilegious but simultaneously like a sort of twisted American dream where peanut butter c... (read more) 3.0/5.0
desserts japanese fugetsudo peanut butter mochi 3.0
Powder Black sesame Taiwanese shaved ice with mochi: During my childhood, my family would visit Taiwan every few years, spending several weeks in the scorching heat of the summer months. Once in a while, we would be treated with the best cure for a heatwave: baobing, or Taiwanese shaved ice served alongside a variety of toppings like peanut and red bean, all saturated with a sweet syrup that flavored the ice crystals. In anticipation, we would watch as a machine transformed a large block of ice into a heap of snow, spinning into a sharp rotar... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional sanfrancisco powdershavedice blacksesame powder black sesame taiwanese shaved ice mochi 4.5 dessert frozen
Yoshimi Yakitokibi: Several months ago, I wrote a review of Trader Joe's mochi rice nuggets, a fried savory glutinous rice snack unlike any other mochi I had eaten up to that point. Irregularly shaped, almost like golden nuggets, they were crunchy and dense - the polar opposite of the chewy texture I associate with mochi. Recently, I was gifted a bag of corn-flavored fried mochi crackers, brought back all the way from Japan, where this particular flavor can only be purchased in Hokkaido. The texture and shap... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese corn hokkaido mochi crackers friend asian yoshimi yakitokibi 3.0