Hole Foods at Demochi Donuts, Banksia

Sydney has a sweet tooth and there is much buzz for these Japanese style mochi donuts at Demochi Donuts at Banksia in Sydney's south. Mochi donuts have a chewy texture and are sold only on Friday and Saturday nights with a choice of glaze whether it be original glazed, strawberry, matcha or black sesame.

The line for Demochi Donut Bar is long this Friday evening. Demochi donuts' owner Dennis Chan presses the dough into the hot oil and turns them with a pair of tempura chopsticks.

He first tried these donuts 5 or 6 years ago, "When me and my wife travelled to Japan and were recommend to try a bakery which specialized in mochi donuts. It was love at first bite."

Shaped in flower patterns and iced, they sell like literal hot cakes. Mochi donuts are a mix of glutinous rice flour and regular flour giving it an unique stretchy, chewy texture. What makes the perfect mochi donut? "The perfect ratio between the two flours gives it that light crisp on the outside yet a subtle perfect chew centre" explains Dennis.

There was also a lot of experimentation, "I'm sure I lost count by the 10th batch. It was an on and off R&D process since that first encounter we had in Japan 5-6 years ago," says Dennis.

The unavailable sign goes up on each-first at a the multiboxes then customers are limited to one donut each. One man earlier had come in placed an order for over 50 donuts pretty much taking up much of the inventory.

As we're here around dinner time we order a combo pack to share at Dennis's other venture Dirty Bird food truck parked right next to the donut stand. This Dirty Bird Trifecta pack is the most popular with 2 hot wings, a chicken burger, umami fries and we order an extra truffle aioli sauce.

The chicken in the burger has a rice bubble coating which makes it light and crunchy. There is a creamy, tangy sauce on it as well as onion and salad all on a soft milk bun. "Dirty Bird was to fill in the gap we had within Sydney’s food truck scene as there weren’t any operators making good quality Nashville fried chicken. Once we had perfected the Nashville fried chicken wings we wanted to add an Asian spin to the concept so we incorporated Asian herbs such as garlic, ginger and seaweed into our seasoning and marinade." The rice bubble coating on the chicken fillet came by accident-someone suggested using cornflakes but they only had rice bubbles.

You know me and fried chicken Dear Reader. I am a fiend for it. And this one is super crunchy and dusted with a umami paprika salt with a slight sweetness to it that makes it very moreish albeit not really spicy as the "hot" option would suggest. When Mr NQN can't finish his, I polish his chicken off. The crinkle cut fries are also nice and crisp, the prize ones sitting underneath the fried chicken so that they are dotted with chicken fat and paprika.

Then it comes to dessert - the mochi donuts. When they're sold cold they have a slight chewiness to them although subtle. Like most deep fried foods I actually find these are at their best when they are hot off the fryer.

If you can't get them hot, if you zap them in the microwave for 10 seconds (although this crinkles up the icing a bit) then the chewiness really comes to the fore and they become completely addictive. I ate two whole ones after my friend chicken after trying them warm. My favourite flavours were the black sesame and then the strawberry especially for the extra crunch from the sesame seeds and sprinkles.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried mochi donuts? Do you like that stretchy, chewy texture?

Demochi Donut Bar & Dirty Bird Food Truck

Friday: 286 Princes Hwy, Banksia NSW 2216 6-9pm
Saturday: Paddy's Night Food markets, entry via Austin Avenue, Flemington 6-9pm