The first time I had a mochi donut was back in 2017 when I stopped by Katagiri grocery in New York City. Now I was back to check out Mochi Mochi Donuts in Koreatown!
Location
ADR: 33 W 32nd St suite C, New York, NY 10001 [Gmaps]
They don’t have a website but check out their SNS:
Cost
Each donut cost $2.99USD.
It’s a bit expensive considering how small the donuts are compared to regular donuts but it had been years since I had a mochi donut and I just had to buy some.
What are mochi donuts?
By now many people recognize the word mochi. Mochi is a chewy confectionery similar to a marshmallow. It’s made of glutinous rice flour, water and sugar. It’s chewy, moist, squishy and come in a variety of different flavors and types. Traditionally in Japan, mochi is made by pounding gains of rice but you can also make it by using glutinous rice flour.
Now a mochi donut is like half donut half mochi. It’s made of glutinous rice flour, wheat flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, etc.
It’s also important to note that “mochi donuts” aren’t an authentic Japanese recipe and are only popular in the U.S. What is sold in Japan is called Pon De Ring (ポンデリング), first introduced by Mister Donut, a very popular donut chain in Japan. According to JOC (Just One Cookbook) a recipe website I frequent for Japanese cooking, Pon De Ring uses tapioca flour instead of glutinous rice flour.
Mochi Mochi Donuts Menu
This is my first time trying different flavors of mochi donuts. If I remember correctly the first one I ever tried was a simple glazed mochi donut. It tasted great even though it was plain so I was very excited to try some with exciting flavors!
The shop had a pretty wide variety of flavors:
- Matcha (Green Tea)
- Fruity Cereal
- Black Sesame
- Strawberry Lemonade
- Mocha Coffee
- Churros
- Ube (Purple Sweet Potato)
- Dalgona (Sugar+Baking Soda)
- Passion Fruit
- Smore’s
- Milk Tea
- Soy Bean Powder
- Oreo
- Dark Chocolate
Taste
I wanted to get one of each donut but with how many there were and the price, I settled for just 3:
- Matcha
- Ube
- Strawberry Lemonade
Matcha
I felt the matcha flavor was mild. Maybe because the donuts are dipped in flavored icing and the dough itself isn’t flavored is what made the flavor weak.
The donut was still delicious and chewy. I could taste the bitterness of the matcha flavor but to me it was faint.
Ube
I love ube flavored sweets so naturally I needed to get this donut. The donut was sweet and fluffy. One of the things that makes mochi donuts so great is how moist and chewy they are.
The ube flavor, to me, was faint. It’s hard to describe ube’s flavor but imagine the flavor of an orange sweet potato (yam) that’s mild but still sweet with a nutty smooth flavor.
I like to describe orange sweet potato as overbearingly sweet while ube is just right.
Strawberry Lemonade
I was skeptical about this donut but it turned out to be my favorite. I imagine lemon is an easier flavor to add since it’s so strong. The donut had a very strong and obvious lemon flavor with a hint of strawberry.
I wish I had bought another by the time I was done eating it!
Dalgona Candy + Squid Game
As you can see in the previous photos, they also sold dalgona candy in pretty tins. I wanted to buy one but they were overpriced. As someone who’s been to South Korea, the price made me gasp. In South Korea dalgona candy is cheap and come in a variety of designs (depending on the seller) including popular cartoons. It would cost $1USD or less for a simple design and for something more complicated it was still under $2USD.
Mochi Mochi Donuts was selling their Squid Game dalgona candy for $13.95USD. For something that’s made of sugar and baking soda, even if it comes in a nice tin, it was pretty expensive.
I really wanted one, not even to eat, just as a keepsake. Of course I didn’t get one. I can make it at home!
Did I enjoy this? Yes.
I definitely enjoyed the donuts, even if it was just for the chewy texture and moist dough. Being in New York City’s Koreatown again after 4 years really made me miss South Korea. Not being able to buy that dalgona candy made me miss all the street food stands and how cheap the food was.
I recommend you at least try a mochi donut once; I can almost 100% guarantee you’ll love them!
RATING INDEX
Mochi Mochi Donuts
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