La Maison du Mochi

Daifuku made in France

The counter is a wall of small round mochi in changing colours, and every one of them is a daifuku: soft glutinous rice dough wrapped around a filling built on red or white bean paste. La Maison du Mochi has made them this way, as an artisan house, since 2016, when Mathilda Motte came back from Japan and began developing recipes in France.

The mochi are made in an atelier in Touraine and sold through the Paris boutiques, the sixth arrondissement shop on rue du Cherche-Midi among them. Flavours rotate daily and cover both registers of the form: yuzu, pistachio, matcha, sarrasin and black sesame beside the classic bean pastes. The house was named among AD France's 28 best pâtisseries in Paris for 2026.

A small boutique built for choosing

The shops are boutique-sized and retail-first rather than café dining rooms. Mochi can be eaten on the spot if a seat is free, and hot drinks are available, but most orders leave in a box. That is what the range is designed for: composing a custom box, choosing a themed one, or adding teas and infusions to a mochi selection.

Around the mochi sit teas and infusions, gift items and workshop places, so the shop works as much as somewhere to buy a present as somewhere to buy dessert, and a box of eight travels better than a cake would. The atmosphere is bright and colourful, with the mochi themselves doing most of the decorating, and the visit is short by design rather than by accident.

Order ichigo daifuku, then matcha or yuzu

Order around the daifuku and let the season decide the rest. Ichigo daifuku, the strawberry version, is the clearest signature, and there is a kit for making it at home when the fruit is in season. For a first box, the Coffret Découverte of eight pieces covers the most ground in a single purchase.

Then follow the flavours. Matcha and yuzu are the two that show what the house does with Japanese ingredients in France, and the seasonal names carry the personality: Mûre et feuille de figuier as the mochi of the rentrée, daifuku cerise-amande, coco-matcha-choco bars, ube-sobacha crunchy bars and matcha tonic. Smaller gifts include the Petit Daruma and a matcha and chasen set. Start with strawberry, add matcha or yuzu, then take whichever seasonal flavour is running.