Customers sit inside and outside Mochi, Mosul’s first café offering Japanese desserts and drinks. Located near the Fourth Bridge on the city’s eastern side, the café features minimalist design and serves items like mochi and matcha. Photo by: 964media.
Mochi
Japanese dessert café opens in Mosul, introducing new culinary concept to city
MOSUL — A Mosul-based dentist has launched the city’s first café dedicated to Japanese desserts and drinks, bringing an unfamiliar culinary experience to a growing local market.
The café, named Mochi, opened near the Fourth Bridge on Mosul’s left bank. It offers eight dessert varieties, including Japanese mochi and sponge cake, as well as drinks such as matcha.
Ali Ubaid, who founded the café while continuing his dental practice, said the idea was born during a trip abroad.
“During my trip to Qatar at the beginning of 2024 to watch the national team in the Asian Cup, I tried Japanese ice cream at a café called Mochi. That’s where the idea came from,” he told 964media.
Ubaid said he and three young collaborators trained under an Iraqi chef based in China to prepare for the launch.
“We contacted an Iraqi chef working in China. He came to Iraq and trained us for 15 days on how to make Japanese desserts and drinks. After he left, we continued intensive training to perfect each item,” he said.
Many of the café’s ingredients are imported and rare in local markets, including glutinous rice flour brought from Jordan and authentic Japanese matcha powder.
Mochi was the most difficult item to master, according to Ubaid.
“It’s a type of ice cream wrapped in a special dough,” he said. “Originally, it’s a Japanese dish made of peas or beans and wrapped in dough, but in the Arab world, it’s become an ice cream dessert.”
He said it took about two months to perfect the texture. “The dough and the ice cream have to match in texture, and the taste has to be close to chewing gum. One of the challenges was finding the right type of ice cream in Mosul.”
Prices for desserts at Mochi range from 3,000 to 6,500 Iraqi dinars ($2.16 to $4.68), and drinks are priced between 2,500 and 8,000 dinars ($1.80 to $5.75).
Ubaid said he has been practicing dentistry since 2020 and continues to manage both careers. “I’ve had a private clinic since 2020. My day is split between morning work, afternoon clinic hours, and the café at night,” he said.
