Mochido or Mochidon’t. There is no Mochitri.
Earlier this year, we stumbled upon a pair of donuts sold by convenience store chain Lawson that completely redefined the genre of convenience store donuts. They were called Mochibee (Mo-chee-bay), and came in powdered sugar and roasted soybean (kinako) flavors. Though they tasted delectably sweet, the whole experience was a bittersweet one because this was just a limited trial run, and Mochibee weren’t sold nationwide.
But our writer Natsuno Futon was delighted to hear that Lawson have finally gotten their act together and re-released these treats all over Japan, starting on 20 October. However, the name has changed to Mochido, perhaps because the “beh” part of the name led people to think they were bagels instead of the similarly shaped donuts.
Hoping only the name was different, she hurried to her nearest Lawson on the evening of the 20th, only to find they were already sold out.
Unsure if they were really that popular already or if her timing was just unlucky, she decided to give up for the night but was able to find them the next morning. The same flavors of sugar and kinako were there, and Futon picked up one of each. The price was just the same as before: 171 yen (US$1.10) each.
At a glance, they looked exactly the same as she remembered them, with their slightly irregular shape a testament to their chewy fluffiness and a gracious coating of sweet powders.
Futon decided to start with the plain sugar, and after cutting off a piece, it seemed to have that same layered texture as before. She reminisced about that delightfully crisp surface, enhanced with cracker flour and poppy seeds.
Unable to hold out any longer, she popped a piece into her mouth and was immediately transported back to that blissful afternoon snack last March. It was every bit as good as it was back then, possibly even better somehow.
Next, she tried out the kinako flavor. Obviously, the texture was just as good here, but what really knocked it out of the park for this one was the perfect balance of kinako that made its presence known but didn’t overpower the innate deliciousness of the donut itself.
Both donuts had incredible attention to detail and seemed more like the kind you’d buy from a bakery rather than a convenience store. Futon was overjoyed after thinking she’d lost these treats forever after the last time.
However, she also crunched the numbers, and the calorie intake from these two decadent donuts far outweighed the calories burned during her 30-minute walk to and from the store. This imbalance would not bode well for her waistline, but thus is the life of a donut lover.
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[ Read in Japanese ]
