Benkyodo Co Mochi: One of the original mochi shops in the US, Benkyodo in Japantown, SF opened back in 1906. Today, the storefront is an odd mix of diner counter, Asian 7-11-type snacks, and fresh made mochi. All of their mochi come in cupcake liners and taste very fresh because they are. The texture is softer than I personally prefer, and there is a little too much starch that coats your mouth with each bite. But I did enjoy that they were not overly sweet. The best was certainly a mango mochi that had f... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japantown sanfrancisco japanese sweets dessert benkyodoco mochi 3.0
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
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 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
Minamoto Kitchoan Green tea mochi: Minamoto Kitchoan is a Japanese sweets shop that is one of my favorite places to purchase gifts. This was a box gifted to me, containing a set of green tea mochi with red bean filling. Matcha is both mixed into the glutinous rice “pouch” but also dusted as a coating, giving the dessert a slightly bitter flavor that balances well with the sweet red bean paste. This is not my favorite mochi, but it’s definitely solid. 3.0/5.0
recommended matcha mochi minamotokitchoan green tea 3.0
Nihonbashiya Persimmon Mochi: This is the second flavor mochi I bought from Nihonbashiya, the Japanese confectionary shop in Akihabara station. It features a very cute gelatin leaf. This flavor was a bit more neutral, with a dark brown taste interior that taste sweet and faintly floral but was not particularly reminiscent of persimmon. Texture was decent but not extremely fresh. 3.0/5.0
tokyo akihabara sweets japanese nihonbashiya persimmon mochi 3.0