It had been a long week and it was still only Thursday, I needed a workout and a donut and probably not in that order. I'd heard a grad student mention mochi donut and bubble tea, saying they were new, so I decided today would be the day. I tend to eat my money not drink it, so this review will ignore the bubble tea options entirely. I've been to Japan once, for spring break, for a week but we stayed in the savory range of foods when we were there, so I had little experience with mochi donuts. According to Wikipedia it's a cake donut infused with rice gluten.
In terms of ambiance the store is nice, and if you live on campus or are close to UNL campus or downtown it's very walkable, being right next door to the UPS store. You could definitely go on a mini date as they're open into the night, or you could take a group of preteens there for a snack after school or on a Saturday. There are plushies on one wall donuts and donut boxes and bubble tea options on the other and the back room where presumably they make the donuts.
I was greeted by a friendly woman who took my order, she said strawberry was the most popular flavor as well as mango. So I ordered one strawberry, one mango, and one pistachio hoping it would be similar to a pistachio cannoli experience I had had recently in Boston.
I ate the pistachio donut immediately. The frosting was still fresh and drippy and the donut was a bit chewy which you would expect because of the rice gluten. Not chewy like a chewy piece of steak, more like substantive sweet-chewy that would fill you up after two of them (instead of personally being able to eat four or five cake donuts before having the same feeling). I brought the other two home so my wife could try them. I took our 10-month-old baby to the library for an hour and a half in between, so the donuts were in a cold vehicle for 90 minutes.
We both really like the strawberry mochi donut, it had good strawberry flavor and dried strawberry bits on top of it. Also being in the car for 90 minutes seem to make the donuts somewhat less chewy but no less feeling. The reason for four stars instead of five is because the mango donut didn't really taste like mango. All the donuts had vividly bright colored frosting.
I didn't ask to use the restroom but I didn't see any sign or door for a restroom. I would definitely go back especially when my nephews come to town. read more