Foodie Friday: Mochinut

Sometimes there are food combinations that in your mind just shouldn’t work. But then they do and your taste buds welcome a new delicious flavor.

Mochinut offers these combinations with its doughnuts and hot dogs — both made with rice flour. 

Mochinut is hidden in the San Marcos Center — located at the corner of North LBJ Dr. and East Sessom Dr. where several popular eateries are located. 

There are currently 20 Mochinut shops across the U.S. The menu is simplistic with two food items offered: Mochi Donuts and Korean Rice Flour hot dogs.

What to get

My dining partner and I sampled both the mochi donut and the Korean rice flour hot dogs during our visit to Mochinut.

On the morning of taste testing, the eatery offered several different donut options, including an original powdered donut, Heath bar donut, blueberry donut, churro donut, mango donut and red velvet donut. 

We chose to buy three donuts ($9), selecting the churro, blueberry and red velvet options. 

These donuts were much different than those that I’m used to, and that’s thanks to the rice flour used. It was nice and fluffy but the dough was also spongy. 

The donuts come uniquely designed, shaped in eight small round dough balls connected in a circle.

“Mochinut is made with rice flour which attributes to its chewy and stretchy texture,” the restaurant says on its website. “There is an alluring sticky addictiveness to each bite; a textural element that is completely different from yeast or cake donuts.”

Each flavor we sampled was tasty. The donuts were a great start to our meal. 

Above, Mochinut's mochi donuts — churro, blueberry and red velvet donuts.

Next came the hot dogs, which were fascinating options. These Korean delicacies are hot dogs coated in rice flour batter that come with several different options to fill the inside then batter-dipped, fried and covered with toppings such as diced potatoes, sugar or and breadcrumbs. 

I chose to sample the half & half, which was half mozzarella and half hot dog. This deep fried combination came rolled in sugar. Now, I know what you’re thinking … this shouldn’t work. But strangely enough it does work well. This was a welcomed combination. The savory tastes from the mozzarella and hot dog paired surprisingly well with the sugar-coated, deep-fried rice flour batter. 

My dining companion chose the potato mozzarella, which was similar to mine but was topped with diced potatoes and also rolled in sugar. After sampling this selection, he was impressed with unusual dish.

Mochinut offers an original hot dog, which is just a hot dog. The restaurant also offers a whole mozzarella — all cheese, a potato hot dog, which comes with a whole hot dog topped with diced potatoes, and a cheddar cheese hot dog. Mochinut also has a crispy ramen hot dog, which comes topped with ramen. There’s also the hot Cheetos and hot Cheetos mozzarella — a full hot dog topped and coated with hot Cheetos and a half mozzarella and half hot dog topped with hot Cheetos. 

Mochinut has several drink options, including a Boba tea, brown sugar tea, matcha tea, Thai tea, ube tea, milk tea and coffee. 

If you go:

Mochinut is located 700 North LBJ Dr. Suite 102B.

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. seven days a week.

For more information on Mochinut visit https://www.mochinut.com.

Phone: 512-392-1717