Flower-shaped donuts with strawberry pink, matcha green and various colors of chocolate line the racks of newly opened Bobadochi. The new desserts and drinks shop is introducing mochi donuts to Salem at Willamette Town Center and also offers Korean corndogs and elevated boba drinks.
The self-serve shop is the dream of co-owner Sunny Burden. The shop was inspired by her personal experience in Los Angeles. She said she was dissatisfied by other snack shops' inability to make all the items on their menu well. She just wanted a one-stop shop. And now she's made it happen with her longtime business partner Ramsey Zawideh.
The shop's name is a combination of "boba," "mochi" and "donut" rolled into one catchy name, Burden said.
The two met 15 years ago through the Baja Fresh franchisee network, and have opened various restaurants across the state together. Sunny's Diner is the first restaurant concept the two launched in 2016. Zawideh said the creativity behind the menu is Burden's specialty.
What is a mochi donut?
Mochi donuts are a newer, trendy dessert item that combines the texture of Japanese mochi with American donuts. The result is a donut comprised of a ring of tearable donut balls that are easy to share or eat a bite at a time. The Asian American fusion sweet has roots in Hawaii, but has gained widespread mainland popularity in shops from Los Angeles to Seattle.
Most of the mochi donut flavors you'll find include classic flavors like chocolate and glazed, but many are Asian, like matcha, black sesame and even ube or taro. Inside Bobadochi, you can find these and more, plus some inspired by American donut flavors.
Flavors of the standard glazed donuts include glazed sugar, strawberry, chocolate, cinnamon sugar and black sesame and matcha. The specialty flavors include candied maple bacon, cookies and cream, smores and dalgona "k-candy." Dalgona is a South Korean street food candy made from sugar and baking soda.
Bobadochi is unique as it is a self-service mochi donut shop. When you walk into the shop, you can grab a pair of tongs and a tray with wax paper to grab your own donuts.
Snack foods galore
All the food and drinks offered at Bobadochi are made in-house, from the tapioca pearls to the donut toppings. The chocolate stamp, dalgona candy and marshmallows on top of donuts take extra time to make, but the end product tastes better, Burden said.
Having unique boba drink options was a priority to Burden because she and her kids are Taiwanese and love the drink. Boba can be added to any of the drink options, but there are also other toppings as well.
The tapioca pearls are made with a machine that rolls out the balls and is available in four flavors: brown sugar (original), strawberry, ube taro and matcha. All matcha drinks and items offered in the store are made with ceremonial grade matcha powder, which is expensive but worth using, Burden said. The ube-taro pearls also have real ube and taro added into them, making them a pale purple color once cooked.
Drinks include a selection of milk tea, fresh milk drinks, lava milk, blended drinks and fruit teas. The lava milk is a "kicked up version of American chocolate milk," Burden said. It is made with evaporated and condensed milk, combined with the additional ingredients of chocolate, matcha or taro. It's not an overly sweet drink, but has deep flavors of each combined with the milk. Lava milk is not to be confused with fresh milk drinks, which are drinks with just milk added in them.
The not-so hidden stars of the shop are the selection of Korean corndogs. Despite being called corndogs, the batter used on these dogs do not contain any cornmeal. Bobadochi instead uses a yeast-leavened dough made of glutinous rice flour and all purpose flour, resulting in a chewier and fluffier corndog coating.
Bobadochi offers eight different Korean-style corndogs, with choice of either hot dog, mozzarella cheese or half and half inside. The classic Korean-style corndog is a potato and sweet potato dog, which is coated in diced potato/sweet potato and the batter. The end result is a bite with varying degrees of crunchiness.
The most popular so far have been the flaming hot Cheeto dog, which is exactly how it sounds: a corndog coated and fried in flaming hot Cheetos. If you're looking for a unique corndog, try the cheeseburger dog, which has its center wrapped in a cheeseburger, then batter and fried.
"I wanted to create something uniquely different than other Kdog places," Burden said. "I wanted it to be memorable because when you spend money at a restaurant, you want it to be good, something to talk about."
At the shop, corndogs and drinks cost between $5.50 and $8.50, while donuts range from $3.50 to $5.50.
Sweet dreams achieved
Zawideh and Burden had discussed opening a desserts and drinks spot for years, but it wasn't until the space next to the Baja Fresh (that Zawideh also owns) was open did it seem like the right time. They secured the space last summer and spent several months renovating the former T-Mobile.
The shop soft opened at the end of March without any advertising, but a post about the shop went viral on the Salem Eats 2.0 Facebook group, Burden said. People then swarmed the shop, and they ran out of boxes just three days after opening.
Burden said she is immensely grateful for the positive reception. The dream has been years in the making but people only see the end result, she said. She's worked hard ever since she became a widow 12 years ago, raising her kids on her own and now her kids work in the shop sometimes too.
"It makes me want to cry when I think about it," Burden said. "I just feel so blessed on a daily basis that I have the opportunity to do what I can and provide this amazing thing for the community and celebrate our culture, while bringing diversity to the neighborhood."
For updates, check out the Instagram page, @bobadochi.
Hours: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., Sunday to Thursday; 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday
Address: 945 Lancaster Drive NE, Suite 150
Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her atechan@gannett.com and follow her on X @catchuptoemily.
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