Direct delivery via : @teatimerocks / 0777720594

Tried on : 01 Sep, 2021

Mochi is back with a bang at t-Lounge by Dilmah, and this time they’ve got six varieties of the increasingly popular hand-made Japanese glutinous rice cakes. The best thing about these squishy cakes is that they are only mildly sweet, but highly satisfying!

t-Lounge has rather smartly mixed traditional with contemporary in terms of flavour, as well as made them in six rather attractive colours. The taste and feel of the rice cake shell by itself is rather enjoyable – squishy to touch, but not too sticky once bitten into and munched on. Texture on point. The variety in flavour comes from the fillings.

The first flavour I tried was Pani Pol – a filling of grated coconut sweetened with treacle, enjoyed by Sri Lankans in local sweet meats of all sorts. This innovative Sri Lankan-meets-Japanese fusion was probably my favourite of the lot. The marriage of textures was charming and fun.

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Next up was the (crunchy) Peanut Butter. Yet another novel choice of filling, which I also enjoyed very much. The slightly salty butter with crunchy peanut chunks, although contrasting, somehow made a great match with the rice cake.

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The Mango mochi was a delightful one, with the pulpy fruit core coming through like a refreshingly pleasant surprise with every bite.

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Something that might be seen as a more conventional flavour was the Red Bean Paste mochi. t-Lounge had managed to keep the paste moist and balanced with just the right amount of sweetness. I actually liked this more than I anticipated.

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The Matcha mochi was probably the most subtle in flavour and, for this reason, was smooth on the palate. Despite being not too fond of matcha, I enjoyed this mochi and was quite pleased to find that the matcha flavour in the core was not at all overwhelming.

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The final flavour was Coconut, which was texturally similar to the Pani Pol one, but quite different in taste. If one might consider pani pol to be one for the kids, then this would be its adult counterpart. Again, t-Lounge had managed not to over-sweeten the coconut filling, giving it a pleasing yet subtly robust feel.

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t-Lounge’s eye-catching, palate-pleasing mochis can be ordered in a customisable box of twelve, priced at LKR 2,100. Definitely something for the entire family to enjoy – or even to send to someone to pep up their (lockdown) day!