Mogu Mogu, Surry Hills

Onigiri is the latest thing to take off in Sydney and at Mogu Mogu in Surry Hills they offer a range of pre-made onigiri as well as some special onigiris made to order. So what is a must order here and what else do you need to know before you visit?

Sydney on a Saturday morning is always a but of a battle to get a table at a "hot" place. It was 11am and we had already stopped by another place and were told that they were at capacity only to drive to Mogu Mogu and be greeted by a long line. But thankfully that line is moving. Mogu Mogu has been open since June 2024 and is owned by married couple Janny Sy and Alen Ng who moved from Hong Kong to Sydney four years ago. Mogu Mogu means "chewing or munching on" in Japanese.

As we edge closer to the front of the queue we peer into the shop and it's tiny and pumping. It seats around 10 people inside, maybe 4 on the bench outside and the display of premade onigiri is looking depleted but ebbs and flows as staff furiously create these in-demand onigiri rice balls.

We make it to the front of the counter and there are four special onigiri so we order one each. We also order two other popular pre-made onigiri: salmon teriyaki and yuzu pork along with a matcha latte. And I swear the gods are smiling down on us because as we step aside after paying, a corner seat becomes free and we slide into it and wait for our special order onigiris. These do take some time, around 20 minutes to come to the table. My matcha latte made using Kyoto Uji matcha on skim milk does the trick while waiting. This is unsweetened and made traditionally to order so this too takes some time to arrive.

The one thing about the premade onigiri is that they're all packaged up really cutely in these triangular packaging. But the seaweed is already wrapped around each rice ball so you don't get that lovely crisp nori and soft rice contrast. Also visually, and if this is a thing for you to take pictures of your food, they all literally look alike and you can't really see much apart from the nori and triangular shape so if you're Instagramming you really need to go for the special onigiris. The yuzu pork belly has quite a strong yuzu flavour. I think I'd prefer ginger and pork belly but that's just a personal preference. Out of the two pre-made onigiri I prefer the teriyaki salmon which has a really nice flavour to it and a bit of salmon in every bite. But again I really like it when the nori is crisp against the rice so I can't help but wish they had that packaging that separates the nori from the rice.

Then the special onigiris arrive and I dive right into the grilled unagi or eel onigiri. This also happens to be my favourite onigir of the day. The eel is soft and luscious in texture and I like that the rest of the Hokkaido rice is also lightly torched. My only criticism is that I'd love a bit more eel on this as it disappeared long before I was halfway done with the rice.

Another favourite is aburi salmon with a lightly torched salmon. Aburi salmon nigiri is such a must order but I would have loved a bit more of the rice to be lightly torched too.

Out of the salmon and roe and the aburi salmon onigiri it's hard to choose. You do get a bit more texturally with the pops of roe which is quite generous with this onigiri.

The only onigiri that neither of us went for was the Sukiyaki M9 wagyu. I had read that it was other people's favourite but we only managed one bite of this. There wasn't a lot of sukiyaki flavour to it, just quite a raw wagyu flavour. Perhaps some more tare sauce would be nice to enhance it.

We notice two girls eyeing our spot so we get up to leave. By 1pm the lines have increased exponentially but they still farewell each customer as they leave.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like onigiri? Which filling would you like?

This meal was independently paid for.

Mogu Mogu

454 Cleveland St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Open 7 days 9am-4pm