Ryne D.
Yelp
I had my first mochi doughnut back during my honeymoon in Hawaii, a trip full of great and amazing food I just couldn't easily find in the mainland. Aloha Eats covers much of my cravings, I still can't find an authentic poke bowl, I assume shaved ice wouldn't do too well in Chicago, and I couldn't find a good mochi doughnut. I had one from an independent baker and discovered just how easy it is to mess them up - done wrong and they're just too chewy and flavorless.
They're getting popular in many places now. It's just fun to separate them into little sweet balls, and their flavors are often Asian inspired which definitely calls out to me.
Enter Mochinut, a California based franchise with a few spots that have opened up here in Chicago - this one is the newest. We didn't get to try the Korean hot dogs since we came from lunch, but we had to try some doughnuts. Apparently their flavors rotate weekly, but we got to try cookies & creme, chocolate churro, and matcha (at my wife's insistence).
I was surprised with the depth of the flavors here, I was expecting just sweet sweet sweet (or in the case of matcha, too much of that grassy note). Instead it was just the right amount of cinnamon on the churro, and nice chocolatey bits in the cookies & creme. Texture-wise they didn't disappoint, definitely not having the toughness I found in the doughnut from that other baker. They had a good bite to them and satisfyingly poppable.
Will definitely need to come back to try out their Korean hot dogs and other flavors. Very cool addition to the area!