These are the step-by-step observations as you bite into one of these beautiful treats by Mimi Daifuku: the “QQ” texture of the mochi, the savoury-sweet adzuki filling, the strawberry topping and a sliver of gold leaf to finish. “Treat” is the right word, for you will feel spoiled.
Mimi Daifuku is founded by Ryan Chan and Adeline Lee, both 29. The young couple had been in the workforce for a few years after graduating (Chan from accounting and finance, Lee from graphic design and advertising) before becoming entrepreneurs together.
Chan shares, “We started our first business in online travel media; it’s our passion to travel and share with others. However, the lockdown affected our industry a lot so we looked for other sources of income.”
Lee had been to Japan twice and attended some culinary classes while there. These included daifuku making, which sparked the couple’s idea of introducing Japanese desserts or wagashi back home, in a more accessible fashion.
With Lee’s newfound wagashi crafting skills, the duo began testing various recipes and coming up with one that is uniquely their own. Chan says, “We had our friends and relatives try our daifuku. Thanks to their feedback, we finally came out with a recipe that retained the traditional Japanese flavour while matching our local taste buds.”
The couple launched Mimi Daifuku (the name refers to their toy poodle Mimi) in January 2021, just in time for Chinese New Year. Chan recalls, “We only set a target of 50 sets but ended up selling over 1,000 sets during the festive period!”
With such an auspicious beginning, they wanted to keep the ball rolling. One key concern was to differentiate their daifuku from others in the market (something that has become increasingly common in recent years with more home-based food businesses).
To address this concern, they insist on preserving traditional techniques by only using adzuki or Japanese red beans to make the paste or anko for the filing. No shortcuts here.
Quality control is especially important when there are so few ingredients present, something typical of Japanese style minimalism. The strawberries, in particular, are crucial given Mimi Daifuku’s version is known as ichigo daifuku – ichigo being the Japanese word for strawberries.
Chan says, “For strawberries, we use affordable yet good quality imported fruits; seasonal strawberries from Korea or Australia. We also introduced matcha daifuku, as we are matcha lovers too.”
In order to grow their business, albeit slowly and carefully with a sharp eye on market response, Mimi Daifuku had been expanding their product range to include other Japanese desserts such as sakuramochi (essentially a pink-hued rice cake filled with anko and wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf) and Japanese tofu cheesecake.
Some items are only available at their pop-up booths (i.e. offline, rather than at their online store), such as the satay-like dango (rice dumplings on skewers), warabimochi (a wagashi made from bracken starch and dipped in kinako or sweet toasted soybean flour) and the Insta-famous raindrop cake.
Given the aesthetic appeal of their offerings, Mimi Daifuku also provides customised gift box services targeted at corporate and private events. These run the gamut from weddings and birthday parties to even full moon celebrations.
Chan notes, “In this, we are able to use the skills and knowledge that we learned during our university life – be it branding, photography and advertising – to create a variety of presentable gift sets for different occasions.”
One of their most popular products is their Classic Set which, happily, is available all year round. Presented in a Japanese style wooden bento box, the set offers new customers a taste of both their original and matcha daifuku.
Chan explains, “To make the daifuku set look more presentable and suitable for gifting, we added gold flakes on top of the daifuku. This is available as a 4-piece or 6-piece set, with two or three pieces of both flavours.”
For return or regular customers, there is always the eager anticipation of their limited edition daifuku flavours that come and go depending on season.
Chan says, “We introduced our Sakura Daifuku during the Japanese cherry blossom season last spring. Others include our Sweet Potato Daifuku; our Hojicha Daifuku, a cross-brand collaboration with Matcharo; and our recent CNY special set with honey mikan.”
For those who are looking to continue celebrating after the recent double whammy of Valentine’s Day and Chap Goh Mei, consider romancing your significant other with their Charcoal Black Sesame Daifuku.
This sophisticated limited time offering features the same imported seasonal strawberries and wooden bento box that fans have come to expect but with glossy black sesame filling (instead of the usual red bean paste).
And the addition of charcoal powder to the mochi? Well, 50 shades of very dark grey, anyone?
While their operations run like clockwork now, things were a bit more challenging when they first started. Chan says, “Our business started during the first lockdown period. Due to limited manpower, our daifuku had to be sold on a pre-order basis.”
This meant the duo were scurrying to take orders via multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. The early days meant a lot of trial and error to see what stuck (and what did not).
Chan adds, “However, when we went viral within a few days, we standardised our process to taking orders only via Instagram to avoid missed orders. During peak periods, we received hundreds of messages each day and we took hours to reply to the queries one by one until midnight.”
As a small startup, everything is labour intensive. Chan shares, “All our daifuku are freshly made in the morning, with delivery and pick up in the afternoon.
But their efforts and sacrifice have paid off as Chan notes, “Sales grew during the lockdown as everyone couldn’t dine out and switched to ordering online. The pandemic affected our travel media careers as travel was restricted. But this also meant that people were craving for overseas food, especially desserts to de-stress.”
The couple is keeping themselves busy with more products, collaborations and activities. Chan says, “We have participated in various art markets, including the upcoming Publika Night Market, and are actively thinking of new flavours. As the pandemic will not disappear within a short period of time, we have to learn how to live with it.”
With the delicate sweetness of their daifuku, each shaped elegantly by hand, you can imagine facing the days to come, good or bad, with just a little more equanimity, a little more grace.
Mimi Daifuku
IG: instagram.com/mimi.daifuku/
View the menu of daifuku and wagashi here.
