Mochi Mochi Japanese Café for the young and the instagram

  20 May 2023

 

MOCHI MOCHI

Heritage Square, 71 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town

 

I was back in kindergarten, sitting on a low, hard blonde wood seat at a low, blonde wood table, marvelling at all the pink bubblegum coloured kiddy friendly graphics around me, and wondering how many clay creatures I could create today.

 

No, wait, that’s not it. I was at Mochi Mochi, in the late afternoon of a cold, blustery day, with my wife who’d suggested on a whim that we go on this outing to sample the fine fare of this latest faddish Cape Town eatery apparently focused on the young and hip and not so much our age group. 

 

Mochi Mochi is a long, narrow room, with the aforementioned blonde wood furniture and bare brick walls and the aforementioned fun graphics on the one side and the service counter and open kitchen on the other side  It’s  okay when it’s crowded like it was this late Saturday afternoon but I reckon it won’t be as fun when half empty.

 

 The basic concept for its savoury food is that everything is served on a milk bun and that the dishes are what one could call Japanese tapas (seeing as how “tapas” seems to be the serving portion du jour) except that it’s one item per plate.

 

Apparently, on Saturdays Mochi Mochi follows the pub methodology of ordering at the counter, with your table number, and the food is served.  Fair enough, except that it meant I  had to queue at the counter, and amongst the many things I dislike, queueing for food is right up there, especially when some of the customers in front of me were there only for take aways and some require detailed explanations of the dishes before they could make up their minds. The menu contains, to my mind, perfectly adequate descriptions.  One must simply be able to read.

 

The wife ordered coffee, served in a carafe with a miniscule amount of hot milk, prepared in the drip down manner, yet another excruciatingly hip touch. The coffee was very good, though.

 

Bearing in mind our tendency to over order, the wife and I stuck to 2 choices each, from a possible 11. Hers were the kewpie egg mayo pan (R45) (ramen eggs, kewpie mayo and chives) served in a lightly toasted hot dog bun, and the wagyu nikkoman (R65), a steamed bun filled with the beef (a meatball, basically) and cheddar,  pan-fried in butter and served with cucumber pickle and black vinegar. My selections were the chicken kare pan (R65), a deep-fried panko crusted bun with a mild Japanese chicken curry, served with a carrot chutney, and the ekonomiyaki beef dog (R60), a grilled beef sausage, pink pickled cabbage and sticky soy sauce in a lightly toasted hot dog bun topped with kewpie mayo, spring onion and furikake.

 

The descriptions make each dish sound amazingly yummy but reality ain’t the same as the hype.

 

The chicken curry bun was the best of the bunch, and my immediate impression, with the combination of crunch  and curry, was samosa.  The wagyu beef bun was also excellent and the pickle was zesty and lovely.  From here it was kind of downhill. There was far too much egg mayo on that bun and it made for messy eating, though it was okay. The sausage in the beef dog had the taste and texture of a cheese griller, there wasn’t enough sauce and ultimately the bun was dry. 

 

Our sweets were the Japanese cheese cake (R50) and sticky, sweet rice balls (dango) (R50.) 

The cheese cake was a revelation. It has the light, airy  texture of a baked mousse and yet the full-on New York cheesecake taste. The rice balls were dense and doughy and not unpleasant but odd for someone who’s used to the texture of rice pudding. The wife loved the rice balls.

 

The bill came to R365 before tip and that is a decent price for a light meal for two. We weren’t super stuffed to the gills but we didn’t leave hungry.

 

Mochi Mochi closes at 18h00 on a Saturday and if today is anything to go by, there is a late rush, up to about 17h00 before it settles down, is less frenetic and has a pleasant buzz.

 

It’s a café, so I can’t see anyone bringing a hot date here for a long leisurely supper but if it’s a quick bite you’re after, this is a call. Not to mention all of the Instagram-worthy photo opportunities!