You can soon buy Shibui’s viral mochi donuts all year round
Shmochi by Shibui is coming soon to St Peters and patrons can expect the mochi donuts, soft serves and specialty ice creams at the dessert bar.
Co-owner of Shibui, Thy Nguyen, says her dessert brand – both the brick-and-mortar and food truck – has “two personalities”.
“There’s Shibui main store [on Grote Street], where the roots are those plated desserts… but then we fell into the festival side of things as well and this is where [the] festival, playful Shibui personality came along, and that’s where the doughnuts and things started getting traction,” Thy says.
“It’s been really interesting seeing the two side by side, but it’s still Shibui at the core.
“We have people who drive hours and hours; they message us saying ‘hey, we’re coming from Port Pirie. What time do you close? We want to make sure that we’re not going to miss out’.
“We’re always gobsmacked. The dedication is always so wonderful.”
The Shibui team – which also includes Thy’s best friend Lisa Chao and husband Quang Nguyen – had “no intention of going to festivals” and that “it wasn’t even on [their] radar originally”.
Chef Quang has also opened hospitality ventures Third Time Lucky Coffee, Devour Cafe Patisserie, Ong Vietnamese Kitchen and Noi Vietnamese Eatery.
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“The Gluttony group have always been really good to us… they opened the door for a lot of things for us,” Thy tells CityMag.
“And then suddenly, during our very first stint at Gluttony, Tasting Australia came along.
“And then it just snowballed into the other festivals that Gluttony do, like the Lucky Dumpling Market, and then it just grew from there.”
Look, the mochi donut! Co-owners from L–R: Lisa Chao, Thy and Quang Nguyen. This picture: supplied.
Thy says that opening a second dessert bar was a “no brainer”, given their viral mochi donuts are only available at their food truck as the main store doesn’t have a kitchen equipped to make them.
This is because the Shibui Grote Street store is under an apartment building and that “the space wasn’t meant for a full restaurant per se [and they’ve] adapted the space for plated desserts”.
“People would come to the main store and be like ‘we want your doughnuts’,” Thy says.
“When we originally set up Shibui main store, mochi donuts didn’t exist yet.
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“The recipe [for the mochi donuts] is only known by three people – that is it. Me, my husband and Lisa, and we keep it so close to our hearts because it’s Quang’s brainchild. We know how special it is.
To solve the logistical problem of the public demand for doughnuts at the main store, Shmochi by Shibui is opening this year when Fringe finishes and will be a dessert bar where people can buy the viral mochi doughnuts all year round.
“We’ve built a purpose-built kitchen so that we can make a lot of mochi donuts,” Thy assures CityMag.
They’ll also offer a range of soft serves and specially made ice creams, with a brand new kitchen fit for brand new food ideas.
“We all come from Asian backgrounds, but we’re true-born Aussies at heart, so we’re bringing the best of both cultures into this,” Thy says.
“We grew up eating Allen’s lollies – everyone knows Red Ripperz, back then it was called Red Skin candies – so we are making ice creams and things out of that.
“But we also have the Asian flavours like Ube and taro and pandan and things like that – so we’re just bringing a lot of inspiration from who we are into this, and I think it’s going to pull the heartstrings of a lot of people. It’s kind of like a little fun playground.”
What we’ll be seeing more of at Shmochi. This picture: supplied.
Unlike the current Shibui store set up for dine-in patrons, Shmochi will be a happy medium between a sit-down spot and a takeaway venture.
“We’re leaning a lot into bright colours – even with our branding that I did, it’s bright pink and red,” Thy says.
“The thing we want to do is playful but still us. It’s going to be a big ice cream bar with soft serve machines, and obviously the scooped ice cream and we’re just going to implement colour where we can.
“We’re not outwardly loud people, but we like being loud in some aspects… it’s kind of like a refined, colourful playfulness.”
Shmochi by Shibui is opening after Fringe time and is located at 199 Payneham Road, St Peters.
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