Mochi Donuts from MoDo

Donuts.   You know I love them.  You know I eat them at least once a week, if not more.  And yet, I've reviewed very few mochi donuts.  Why?  I think I am less excited about mochi donuts than most people.  I'm not sure why, but I haven't ever really gotten into them.  I think I just really enjoy regular donuts so much?  I do like mochi, and absolutely adored the hybrid mochi tart from Pâte à Choux, but mochi donuts are much like cookies to me ...  they are fine, but not something I get all that excited for.

Of course, I do still like to try new things, so when a co-worker brought in mochi donuts from MoDo, once others got their picks, I did try a few.  I don't know much about MoDo, as their website doesn't have much info, and it is located down in Santa Clara.

Assorted Mochi Donuts, $2.50 each.

Our lineup contained all the MoDo standard donuts: black sesame, cookies & cream, churro, matcha green tea, pandan, lilikoi, and milk chocolate, plus the weekly special tiramisu sugar.

The tiramisu sugar was a very subtle flavor, I didn't taste the coffee element at all, but did detect cocoa powder in the sugar coating.

Pandan.

"Its taste is described as a grassy vanilla with a hint of coconut on top with a mochi donut!"

The first one I went for was the pandan, the darker of the vibrant green glazed donuts (matcha was the other green one).  The flavor of the glaze was fairly subtle, yes a bit sweet as it was a sugary glaze after all, but the pandan flavor wasn't particularly strong.  I would have liked a more pronounced flavor in the glaze, although I know pandan is always a fairly low key flavor.

The donut base was a decent enough mochi donut ... lightly chewy, lightly rice flour flavor.  Fine, but, as I said, just not something I get that excited for.  ***.

Black Sesame, Lilikoi.

I moved on to two others, both of which were considerably more flavorful.

Black Sesame: 

"Slightly savory, deep roasted sesame flavor, similar to peanut butter (without the nuts!)".

The black sesame flavor was exactly what I was looking for.  Another sweet glaze, but savory-nutty in the way black sesame is.  I really enjoyed the flavor of the glaze.  

The base donut was the same, kinda ho-hum for me, but I heated it up a little, and liked it even more that way, it got even stretchier and more mochi-like.  ***+.  My favorite of the trio I tried.

Lilikoi:

"A Hawaiian classic - lilikoi (aka passion fruit) is a juicy, sweet and tart, not-quite-citrusy tropical fruit."

I also tried their signature lilikoi, and was blown away by the sweet fruity flavor.  Yup, that was passionfruit all right! Definitely best for those who like a very fruity tropical flavor.   ***+.