Mikawaya Confectionery

This store closed down some time this past year (2011). The customer service here is great and the mochi is always good.
Contrary to authentic Japanese mochi this variety is on the sweeter side but is amazingly good and always soft!
I preferred the bean and pastry confections more than the actual mochi (if you’ve read any of my other reviews I’m not much of a sweet eater). But when I did it was always good!
If you do get your hands on the mini mochi toss it over your desserts from ice cream to shave ice! It contrasts so well and never failed to impress.
I have to note on those mochiquitos once more (that’s the actual name) they come in a vast amount of favors and you can get it mixed as well which is good too. I’ve even sampled it on my Crepes, and it is if I may say bombastic (wow I didn’t get auto corrected :]).
They still distribute online if I’m not mistaken, and have locations all over the place from California to Las Vegas.
Get some, it’s affordable and well worth it!
Thanks for reading,
Kainoa B.

Their mochi is pretty and yummy, but I think my personal preference is to just get the mochi downstairs in the food court. I feel bad bc it’s just a preference and the mother and daughter team was sweet. But downstairs they have oreo, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate, and just really good soft, yummy mochi in general.

Second floor of Shirokiya in the food court. Serves ice cream mochi as well as mochilato, which is like ice cream mochi but with gelato instead.
Compared to Bubbies, I prefer Bubbies because of its thicker and chewier mochi shell, but some people don’t like that. Also, putting gelato inside makes it soften and melt faster, so it doesn’t hold its shape very long if you’re trying to enjoy your mochi one bite at a time. Ice cream holds its shape much better.
But the flavors here are good, and it’s different enough from Bubbies that I would continue to go to both!
P. S. Mikawaya is the brand of ice cream mochi you see on the mainland in the stores (Ranch 99, Trader Joe’s etc…).

This is a stand inside the downstairs Shirokiya department store in the Ala Moana center.
They are the most recognized mochi icecream. You probably have seen them in the icecream aisle of your local grocery stores.
At $ 1.25 each, they offer more flavors than the standard green tea, strawberry, mango, chocolate, kona, and vanilla they sell at stores. They even have gelato inside instead of icecream. I had the mint chip and pistachio gelato.
The mint chip was really good. The pistachio was not bad, but I would probably try something else next time.
A nice treat after having a big lunch upstairs.

Perfectly sticky, chewy and soft mochi surrounding creamy, sweet gelato/​ice cream. This was the first little place I have ever been that serves mochi ice cream exclusively. Not only that, but to be filled with gelato was mind-​blowingly fancy sounding to me. At $ 1.25 per, it wasn’t too bad as far as deserts for on-​the-​go. For some reason I feel like they should be like $ 1.00 even… haha (so –1 star) but with lots of selection, for fruit and cream lovers or chocoholics — it leaves anyone satisfied. The green tea tasted fresh and the mango like real fruit, instead of the super sweet mangoesque-​flavor. I would definitely come back to try the apricot, peaches and cream, strawberry… Hell, I’d come back to try them all :)

Anyone who shops at Asian supermarkets knows Mochi Ice Cream, especially Mikawaya’s (
). In the popular and revamped Shirokiya department store in the Ala Moana Shopping Center, they started with a small stand in the food court section selling a variety of mochi. This review is for their newer mochi ice cream stand located on the ground level near the Sears’ entrance. There are two long counters filled with a variety of flavors. Unlike the normal ones that you find in markets and even Costco (coffee, mango, green tea, strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla), they have apple pie, blueberry, Tiramisu, and peach (flavor change on a regular basis). On my last afternoon here, I tried the peach and Tiramisu, perfectly refreshing in this tropical climate. If you are a mochi ice cream fan, make sure to stop here.

This place is mochi heaven!
Located inside the Shirokiya department store in Ala Moana Center, Mikawaya has a large selection of mochi with various bean fillings, mochi ice cream, mochilato (= mochi gelato), mochiquito (small mochi balls), and breads.
I came to Shiokiya looking for their mochi cream counter and was sad to find it’s no longer there. Having hyped myself up for mochi creams and knowing I won’t stop obsessing until I get my fix (food is my drug), I was glad to find mochi ice cream at Mikawaya.
I got one mochi ice cream and two mochilato,
(and a mochi, a manju, and chocolate mochiquito to go). The mochi ice cream may have been passable in my BB (before Bubbies) days, but not when I’ve «seen the mochi ice cream light». The wrapping had a mushy texture and was very sticky (read: messy). The flavours of the ice cream/​gelatos were decent, but it’s the mochi wrapping that makes or breaks it. (I mean, without the wrapping they’re just tiny ice cream pucks that cost $ 1.25 each.) Also, both the mochilato were already melted when I got them. It’s probably because gelato is served warmer than ice cream, but biting into melted gelato in a mushy/​sticky mochi wrapping was not the mochi ice cream experience I was expecting.
I was ready to write this place off after the mochi ice cream/​gelato debacle. That was until the next morning when I had the peanut butter mochi and sweet potato manju for breakfast (
). They were awesome! Even after storing it overnight the thin mochi skin was still perfectly soft. The peanut filling was so tasty and the peanut chunks added a nice texture. The manju was a bread with a yummy strongly flavoured sweet potato infused white bean filling (
). The mochiquito (
) was also very good and had a really pleasant soft chewy texture. (Can I just «cute» to describe a texture?) It was like biting into little fluffy clouds :)
After this redemption I *had* to go back to try more of their mochi before I left Hawaii. I went a little crazy and got 8 new kinds this time. After trying them all I have to say that my favourite are the peanut butter mochi, taro mochi, and anything with the sweet potato filling (manju and mochi,
). The white and red bean ones are ok, but not very special (especially the white bean,
).