If there is one thing Edmontonians will line up for — it’s dessert. Really, we’ll wait an hour in line for a small cake or tart or doughnut that takes about a minute to eat. We’ll show up at the door of a new bakery or dessert spot a half-hour before it opens, just to make sure we don’t miss out.
Being located in the maze of shops off of Currents Drive (I had to use Google Maps to find the place, even though I was about 100 yards away), Hello Mochi didn’t have a long line outside, but, I got there a half-hour after opening and there were already some varieties that were out for the day. The shop was running dangerously low on others. The hours of operation are posted as 10 a.m. to whenever the shop runs out, so that pretty well tells you what you need to know.
Mochi dougnuts are made with flour (often rice flours) that makes the doughnuts crusty on the outside and soft and chewy within. The texture is far more dense than you’d find with your good old-fashioned doughnut shop offering. Hello Mochi has a number of rotating flavours on offer; so what we’re reviewing here today might not be there as you read this. When I got there, it was the morning of Game 2 of the Oilers’ Western Conference Semifinal against the Flames, so Hello Mochi had pulled out all the blue and orange stops. I ordered the coconut buttercream, with blue and orange sprinkles, the mango (with blue drizzle) and the blueberry lemon. White doughnuts. Orange and blue accents. Orange and blue doughnuts.
While the doughnuts aren’t massive, they are dense, and they will fill you up pretty quickly. The icings really make things pop, though. The blueberry lemon packed a heck of a big sour punch, a super smack of flavour. The coconut and mango offerings were more subtle, but the texture was so light, that they really contrasted the thick doughnut really well. And yes, they were very artfully done, though nothing is ever too pretty to eat in my book.
If you want to try Hello Mochi, my advice is to call ahead or show up at 10 a.m.
Hello Mochi
Windermere | 6191 Currents Dr, Edmonton | 780.566.1888 | hellomochi.ca
