“I love hot cinnamon doughnuts, the real shitty carnie doughnuts,” says Quang Nguyen.
So much so, they were the inspiration behind his hot mochi doughnuts – the star-shaped, deep-fried festival favourite with a crunchy outer shell and fluffy, chewy inside that’s amassed a loyal following at his Adelaide Fringe and Lucky Dumpling Market pop ups. The doughnuts – similar to Japan’s pon de ring – are made with glutinous rice flour, which gives them the chewy, slightly stretchy texture of mochi.
“I’m Vietnamese and there’s a Vietnamese version [chè trôi nước] made with glutinous rice flour but they’re not light and fluffy like a cinnamon doughnut,” he continues. “I wanted something chewy, fluffy and crispy, so I developed the dough over the years and it worked out.”
It worked out so well there’s been demand all year round from Quang’s Shibui customers, but he hasn’t been able to serve them at his Grote Street dessert shop due to strata restrictions preventing him from installing a necessary exhaust flue. Come April, Quang and his Shibui partners, wife Thy Nguyen and friend Lisa Chao, will open a whole new store – Shmochi by Shibui – dedicated to the doughnuts.
“With all our other shops you have to please a bigger crowd because the market is smaller,” says Quang, who also owns Third Time Lucky Coffee, Devour Cafe Patisserie, Ong Vietnamese Kitchen and Noi Vietnamese Eatery. “But with the mochi, we’ve been doing it for so long, people know us for that, so we can focus on that and do more of it and more flavours – with pop-ups, you’re limited in space and time.”
The shop, opening just off Payneham Road in St Peters, will also offer soft serve (including Shibui’s signature Red Ripperz flavour) and the taro and matcha floats currently served at Gluttony, as well as a new range of gelato flavours partly inspired by Melbourne’s phenomenally popular Filipino ice-creamery Kariton Sorbetes.
Shmochi will have a cabinet of Asian-inspired scoops like ube cookies and cream (made with ube cookies and vanilla gelato) and Viet coffee tiramisu with condensed milk. “It’s the first time we can be playful with stuff,” says Quang. “There’s a decent amount of ice-cream shops now, but we can lean a bit on our Asian culture and focus on what we would like to eat.”
There’ll also be a fairy floss machine and a chocolate fountain to really amp up your order, along with strawberry and mango matcha drinks.
Shmochi will open in April at 199 Payneham Road, St Peters.
