Mikawaya

I love this place.
Their mochi ice creams are so fresh. If you get «in season» fruit ones, taste & smell of the fruit literally burst in your mouth!
We dont live in this area and the ones you find in freezer section or other Japanes restaurants dont even come close.
When we go, we eat at least 6 each. My mom hates anything sweet, but she always eats 5+.
I strongly recommend this place.

My mom, aunt, and I enjoyed their mochi icecream. I had their chocolate and black sesame which were delicious. Before you pick your flavor (s) make sure you look in both glass containers as they separated the mochi flavors in two fridges so I didn’t see that they even had the other flavors until I was paying. But that gives me another reason to visit!

Wow, I love Mochis and this is Mochi heaven!
I first tried Mochis at trader joes and thought they were An amazing ball of ice cream and goodness.
While on a day trip to Little Tokyo I stopped by this quaint spot and was amazed at all the amazing flavors. I couldn’t believe what was before my eyes. I mean they had coconut, pistachio, coffee, choco hazelnut, Guate and my favorites crème brule and plum wine:).
I believe I tried six of them and loved them all. I have always liked drinking plum wine, so when I saw they had it in Mochi form, I died and went to heaven.
You can’t go wrong with any flavors they offer:)

They’re closed? I don’t see the shop inside the mall.
The phone # is also disconnected.

I love their mochi ice cream not so much the machilato. The green tea is the best (: & I guess crème brûlée, but for some reason it’s doesn’t taste that good nowaday… Too sweet & the green tea machilato does not taste like green tea at all.

Mochis! Yum yum yum.
Slow but nice service. Mochis ranged from about one dollar to $ 2.40.
I picked mochis for my parents, my dad said they were good but nothing really special. My mom said a few of them were too sweet which I agreed with even though I picked the traditional flavors (red bean and etc).

Nom nom nom x 10.
We stopped in Little Tokyo to try to go to the Geffen Contemporary art exhibit. only to find it was closed! Nonetheless, let’s go get dessert, we said.
All I wanted was an asian dessert. Luckily, Little Tokyo is great for this! And off we walked into Mikawaya.
Not only do they have mochi, but they have mochi ice cream. And not only do they have mochi ice cream, they have mochilatos!
What’s a mochilato, you might ask? It’s…wait for it… mochi + gelato! WHATTTTT I said? I live across from a Little Italy, there’s no way that can be good.
I got the toasted almond mochilato and my sister in law got the green tea mochilato. Given, I don’t even like mochi– it’s so thick and all, but in ice cream form, I can do it. In gelato form– oh so delicious!
We had powdered sugar all over our faces by the end, but hey, for $ 1.25, that’s definitely worth the treat. And they had so many flavors! I want to go back.
Great place to stop for some mochi/​mochi ice cream/​mochilato. MMmmmmm.

My experience:
I went here after I went to Woori market, it’s owned by two old-​cute Japanese ladies. They don’t seem to be getting too much business at this time of the day, but the lady was extremely kind. I ordered a cup of red bean ice cream, and it was HUGE! ($ 2.39) My boyfriend got the mango mochi and guava mochilato, and loved them. ($ 1 – 1.25 a piece) I would definitely recommend this as a place to grab treats if you’re shopping or grabbing a bite in the galleria.
TIP: Get validation, you get 2 hours of free parking (which is extremely hard to find in Little Tokyo).

I haven’t been to Little Tokyo since May, although I did spend June-​July in Tokyo interning with a USC alum (fight on!). The place was empty except for a group of four older friends, and it instantly brought me back to my days in Japan.
Today this location mostly has the ‘plain’ flavors of the mochi: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, ume, coffee, mango.
They also had guava, crème brûlée, and pistachio mochilatos (mochi with gelato as opposed to ice cream).
We ended up getting mango, coffee, and pistachio. What a nice treat after shlepping our stuff from the storage unit. :)
If you want mochilato I would recommend going to the one in the village plaza since they have zillions. If trying to find parking on 2^nd infuriates you and you are just snacking I would definitely recommend swinging by this location. Itadakimasu!

NOT FRESH! Stopped by yesterday and grabbed a pistachio and cream brûlée mochilato ($ 1.25) each. The mochi skin was HARD, which usually only happens when it has been sitting out for a long time. There was only a small handful (about 6 or so) of each of these flavors so I don’t know how old they are. I was expecting much better quality, especially considering they manufacture mochi ice cream. Even the mikawaya mochi ice cream that I’ve bought from Trader Joes/​Costco that sat in my fridge for a month are softer than the ones I got here today!!!

Personally I have figured out I am more of a fugetsu do girl: X Sorry, mikawaya. Very nice ladies helping me figure out the flavors, The mochi was soft, but a bit too sweet for my liking. The taro mochi didn’t have any taro flavor that I could make out, and the regular daifuku/​yomogi mochi had a very thick skin (I prefer thinner skin, more filling). The mochis with soft mochi on the inside were almost gooey… not my style. My favorite was probably the pink mochi with smooth white bean inside. Overall, it wasn’t the OMGUH PARTAYYYYY in my mouth experience I thought I’d get. I guess I’d still come here, but maybe just for one or two mochi if I’m really craving it instead of trying every one of them…

While at the Little Tokyo Mall, I had to make a stop at Mikawaya to get a small pastry for my lunch. I chose one of their sesame buns with red bean paste.
It was quite good and I’m glad I made the stop. If it were closer to where I stay in Little Tokyo, I’d be a customer more often. However, I can walk to several bakeries in the Japanese Village Mall that have the same things.
This was a treat, however!

Two words: Coconut mochilato.
I seriously can’t put into words how good these are. You have to try them yourself. It’s like biting into a soft rice cake that has been blessed by some sort of ice cream god. Don’t like coconut? They have many other flavors. Don’t like mochi? They also have ice cream, which is just as tasty.
You’d be retarded not to stop by at this place when you’re in the mall complex… especially in the summer time when the weather is starting to get hot. In fact, you would still enjoy it if there was a blizzard right outside and you were succumbing to hypothermia.
It’s only $ 1.50 for one mochilato, and that is well worth the money. Once you eat one, your mind may literally be driven mad if you don’t have the money to buy another one the next time you walk by. That’s an exaggeration, but they’re so damn good…

best mochi I’ve ever had! the perfect size, not too big and not too small. the mochi skin is super soft and chewy, and the powdered sugar melts on my tongue. and the ice cream is super creamy. i also love the flavors, specifically
— peach
— cookies and cream
— green tea
— chocolate hazelnut
— lycée
mmmmmmmm… can’t wait to go back!

I stopped by to try their mochilatos (gelato wrapped in mochi) for $ 1.25.
I had the chocolate hazelnut, which was okay. But they had many flavors!
I want to try the pistachio and crème brûlée next time!

Three stars for Socal mochi stop #4 (finally posting this because the owner messaged me because he was interested in my thoughts. a couple years ago lol.)
On my quest to find mochi better than San Francisco’s, Unilocal brought me to Mikawaya.
Unfortunately, I didn’t try any of the traditional mochi. What I had was: taro, peanut butter, kiku and white bean manju.
The peanut butter mochi had a very thin mochi layer. I like it thicker and outside to inside ratio is very important. It reminded me of mochi ice cream and how thin the mochi layer is. That was before I found out that this is THE Mikawaya of Mikawaya mochi ice cream. The filling was also way too thick and almost like eating a spoonful of Skippy. Not my thing.
The manju are HUGE and not fit for just one person. If I had to finish one for myself, I definitely would’ve gotten tired of it very quickly. I enjoy my tea time snacks small and not overwhelming. I enjoyed the white bean very much; it was smooth and wasn’t chalky like it can sometimes be.
The taro mochi had a thicker exterior, but still not thick enough. The softness and pillowyness of mochi would be irrelevant if it’s spread out so thin, and the softness is essential to mochi. The filling wasn’t too sweet and had a good flavor.
This was most expensive mochi I had ever had. Prices are a lot higher here than any other mochi shop I’ve been to. But I guess it could be a brand name thing.
Definitely better than Fugetsu-​Do, but SoCal mochi has a lot to learn from NorCal.

I’ve been meaning to try this place for so long! But whenever I go to the plaza, it was at night time & this place closes early…
Fortunately, I was able to try their mochilatos for the very first time on Sunday! Woohoo! I got just one. Crème brûlée flavor. And for sure, the MOCHI WAS AMAZING! Definitely soft & chewy with amazing texture that is perfect! The gelato inside the mochi, however, lacked the flavor and I couldn’t really tell what it tasted like. My bf who had a different flavor also felt that the ice cream was bland & tasted like vanilla.
I am definitely down to try more mochi here next time, but I will pass on the ice-​cream. Oh, and remember! It’s cash only!!!

I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve patronized Mikawaya even though the ladies were not always friendly. I will not be coming here again, however.
I picked up a suama today for my daughter as I like to pick up treats for her, and suama is one of her favorites. I gave it to her after dinner, and I was appalled that it wasn’t fresh. It was at least a day old!

My first Mikawaya mochi is from this place. This is my go-​to place for Mikawaya.
My ritual was simple. go to this place (when it was still Yaohan Plaza), eat the cheap udon/​ramen at the food court then get my ice cream from Mikawaya. My favorite ice cream from this place: ogura, matcha, plum wine and chocolate. They also sell mochi ice cream but I prefer buying mine from the supermarket.
If you’ve been here then you know what they are known for… its mochi. Mikawaya mochi that I like: orange, mochi wrapped in sour leaf, chofu, taro mochi and my last discovery mochi that looks like sweet potato.
4 stars!
Mikawaya is yummylicious!

TARO MOCHI HERE!
I love mochi. It’s sweet and yummy. Taro is juicy. I love Mochi. I love Taro Mochi.
This Mikawaya is readily accessible as the parking structure allows 2 hours free with validation. The mochi is yummy. There is another Mikawaya that I prefer down the street because I have more fun people watching. This location, by the way, is the one to go to for Taro Mochi and some different and unique items.