Whenever there is a new Asian food place opening near us, we do take the time to visit! Mowchi opened a location in Lakeside, so we went on opening day, to try as much of the menu as we possibly could. Mowchi doesn’t have a huge menu, there are two types of fries and a handful of different bao. The bao itself falls under two types; regular bao buns and bao-gers, which are like huge bao buns on large burgers. We tried one of each food, and each got a tea.
They had Tiger Teriyaki buns, which were probably my favorite, as they were two buns with a pulled beef filling, that tasted sweet and tangy! The Katsu Kapow, which came in both the small bao buns and the bao-ger, with a larger bit of chicken fitting in the larger bun, went over well with both Amelia and Robin, who found it very much like Katsu Chicken Curry, but much less messy.
Kai’s favorite was actually the Bao-ger which had two smash burgers inside the bao bun, acting a like like a regular burger with an updated bun! We also had a spicy chicken katsu in both the bao-ger and the regular bao buns, which was very similar to the regular katsu. Though the menu was limited, there was an interesting batch of options, that felt both familiar but also new! The fries we had were crispy and textured, covered in schezwan sauce, along with a bunch of mayo and onions. It was very tasty and flavorful.
We each had a tea as well, with boba. I had asked for ice in all of these, but none of them actually came with ice, and all of the were extremely sweet and almost sickly due to this. When it came to the service, it was opening day, but it was slow. We went after the lunch rush, at 2pm, and waited around 40 minutes for our food (we got one of each boa types, and a fries, which were a total of seven items). As it wasn’t too busy, we easily found seats in the food court at Lakeside and waited.
When I got a bit impatient and went to the area again, there was a few people who claimed to have just ordered tea and have been waiting for over 20 minutes. This was a bit of a shame, as we did expect it to be slow but not this slow! Overall, however, we would go back and try the bao again! We do hope more gets added to the menu in the future, as we’d love to try more baos at Mowchi.
Looks like a fun family outing. We enjoy trying new places and Mowchi sounds like just the restaurant we would like to go to with the kids.
That food and those drinks look so delicious, my daughters and I love bubble tea. Thanks for sharing!
Exploring new Asian food places is always an exciting culinary adventure, and your experience at Mowchi sounds intriguing! The concise yet descriptive post provides a glimpse into the menu with its focus on fries and bao, both in regular and bao-ger forms.
This place sounds amazing! Wow! I’d love to go one day. Thank you for sharing this!
It’s a shame the service was a bit slow, never easy when the kids are hungry!