Frozen Rickshaw

Favorite, favorite place to get mochi ice cream in Austin. I’ve come here a lot and the owner is super chill and friendly. She comes up with all of the flavors and makes all of the mochi wrapper flavors &&& all of the ice cream by hand in a community kitchen. It’s a really cool place!
The flavors tend to rotate out, but there are a few classics that always seem to be there. My favorite mochis that I have tried are definitely the thai tea, the lychee coconut sorbet, and the taro. She also serves up her homemade ice cream by the scoop as well — try the black sesame or the almond cane (tastes like a sugar cane drink with a hint of almond flavor).
One of my favorite non-​mochi items to get here is definitely the tong sui, which is taro coconut milk with sago (small, white tapioca) — the sago reminds me of my favorite desserts in the Philippines a lot, although I think Tong Sui is actually a Hong Kong thing. It’s a bit sweet, but super creamy and a great taro-​coconut flavor!
ONLY THING IS, during the warmer months, the truck’s location is like a mosquito hot zone — I guess mosquitos like mochi ice cream as much as we do. She provides bug spray and stuff, but just prepare to be bitten alive if you don’t cover up!

With the coming of Fall, the coming of more tasty frozen mochis. This time I had owner Apphia’s (vegan) coco pumpkin and yuzu mochis. Still great little desserts that are not too pricey, and not too big.
I wonder what mochi she will create in winter… frozen hot toddy/​chocolate mochis? Hot apple pie mochi? I’ll return to find out. :)
All about the Rickshaw in the Chron here:

In regards to items being pricey, me and a friend had actually suggested to the owner that some items on the menu seemed pretty cheap and she should jack up the prices, $ 3.50 for half a waffle and ice cream? Maybe I’m a baller and don’t know it yet ;) Good ice cream, cute rickshaw, thumbs up.

Fantastic mochi. Try all the flavors. The sparkly lychee drink thing was really super good too so please do yourself a favor and get that as well. The lady was very nice and helpful too if you have any questions. I do admit everything is a tad bit pricey though.
My one gripe are the goddamn mosquitoes that plague this place… the lady has tried several methods of getting rid of them and has resorted to just letting them be but placing bug spray for customers to use… sadly though, it doesn’t have an effect on some people (like me) and people can get bitten up to 15 times (which happened to me) within a 15 minute period, so please, buy your frozen goodies and eat in your car or something. No deductions in review because the lady can’t control nature of course. but those goddamn mosquitoes will prevent me from going back for a while, even though I really want to come again.
9/​10, would come again and would STRONGLY recommend to a friend.

Hands-​down some of the best mochi I’ve had. Interesting flavor combinations and a cute little outside seating area. We went a little overboard ordering 6 mochis plus three scoops of ice cream – but it was worth every penny.
We tried the taro, the blueberry basil sorbet, the nutella, the cool cucumber and two of the strawberry passion fruit sorbet mochis. The blueberry thai basil was my favorite, but it was a hard decision to make since all were amazeballs. In fact, that’s what she should nickname the mochis – little amazeballs; balls filled with amazing; amazing balls… okay, maybe not, but you get where I’m going with this.
For the ice cream we tried the red bean, almond cane and the thai iced tea. Almond cane wins! She makes it with real coconut flakes and amaretto – enough said.
Highly recommend this place to any one looking for a delicious summer treat!

I know I’m simply adding to the chorus of five-​star Unilocal reviews, but man, oh man, is Frozen Rickshaw good. I stumbled upon the truck in all of its corrugated metal cuteness when I popped into The Burlap Bag to pick-​up a gift. Even though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I used the ungodly humid weather as an excuse to partake in a frosty goodie (or three). I almost went with the refreshing-​sounding lychee rose fizzy float, but was won over by the mochi ice cream. I sampled the nutella (a kiss of chocolate-​hazelnut rather than a hit over the head), the peach sorbet (the most perfectly ripe burst of fruitiness), and the taro (a little nugget of subtle creaminess). All were encased in delectably soft mochi. I can’t wait to go back to sample even more of the rotating flavors on the menu… Mmm…

I’ve been waiting to try this place for a long time, and seeing the sign off Guadalupe yesterday reminded me! Frozen Rickshaw is in front of The Burlap Bag (another place I want to try!) and catty-​corner to Trudy’s on 30^th.
All the mochi and ice creams are handmade, and it tastes like it. I really liked the green tea, but the strawberry passion fruit mochi blew me away. I’ve never had sorbet mochi before (might be vegan?). Anyway, perfect for cooling down while walking to Wheatsville.
The trailer also has a ton of cute seating and a fan outside. Good for a date!

O-​M-​G. I love this place!
Not only does she make the mochi from scratch, she makes the ice cream from scratch too!
I ordered the sesame coconut and green tea. The sesame coconut mochi blew my mind… like Michael Bay Transformers explosion mind blown! I had this terrible habit of demolishing anything frozen in seconds. Needless to say, I inhaled these too. My s/​o hadn’t even taken a bite out of his mochi balls by the time I finished eating mine.
They come super frozen which is awesome because that’s how I like to eat mine and for those who like it more melty, just wait, the heat will take care of that for you.
There are even vegan options for those of you out there.
PLUS, the owner is SO friendly! When my s/​o decided to step out of his comfort zone to try something new, she told him that if he didn’t like it, she’d give him a different one. Luckily, he LOVED his mochi flavors too!
I think next time, I going to grab a pint of the sesame coconut ice cream if she has it. That amazing.

Errol M., being the amazing and awesome Austinite (how about that alliteration?) Unilocaler that he is, suggested that we stroll on down to Frozen Rickshaw after sharing a popcorn tofu poboy at Wheatsville. Despite my Asian origins, I wasn’t sure that I had ever had mochi ice cream/​sorbet. I also improperly utilize chopsticks, my ancestors would not be pleased — what the heck guys?!
Anyway, it was hot as balls on the day after Summer Solstice, so it obviously only made sense for us to cool our palates with some frozen balls. Logic 101 y’all. I tried the blueberry Thai basil and strawberry passion fruit sorbets and my mind proceeded to be blown. Okay so I’ve had regular olé mochi balls a few times — my mom even attempted to make them a few times during my childhood (they were passable at best), but sorbet-​filled mochi?! Where have you been all of my life?!
So the frozen mochi balls shells are quite thin and formed to perfectly encase that delicious fancy flavored sorbet, not to mention quite pretty, an accurate representation of the wonderfully refreshing or decadent flavor on the inside. I don’t know how Ms. Mann manages to perfectly infuse the cold little balls with the delectable flavor profiles, but the blueberry Thai basil and strawberry passion were perfectly delicious. I probably should have savored them a little more slowly, but you know, the heat, it makes you irrational!
I also had a sip of Errol’s iced tea (chrysanthemum I believe), which instantly transported me back to my childhood, a majority of which was spent sampling random canned sweetened Asian teas, grass jelly drinks, etc. Yes, my childhood was very waterlogged, yours wasn’t? Anyway, the tea was really quite good, I’ll have to order myself one the next time I’m around because yes, I do plan on re-​visiting Frozen Rickshaw.

Steps to follow —
1. Go here.
2. Park in the Burlap Bag parking lot. Its always empty.
3. Go and order all the mochi, ice cream, and drinks.
4. Have a very knowledgeable conversation with Ms. Mann about mochi, and all things concerning Asian dessert.
5. You’re welcome.
6. Repeat whenever you drive by this place.

I’ve had this on my list of places to try for ages, but never seemed able to make it happen. Last night, it was brought up at a Unilocal event and since we were ready to head out anyway, we immediately decided to head there for a little after Spartan Pizza and Blue Ox BBQ dinner treat.
In our typical fashion when visting a new place we’ve been hyping in our minds for months, we ordered all the things. Nutella, Taro, Strawberry Passion Fruit Sorbet, and Ginger Lime mochi, as well as Lychee Rose, Almond, Taro, and Black Sesame ice cream. Everything we tasted was so unique and amazing. Standouts were the Lychee sorbet and the strawberry passion fruit mochi, but everything was truly tasty and worth ordering again.
The trailer itself is adorable, and there’s a nice sitting area around it as well, so you can relax while you let your mochi warm up a little. Ms. Mann, as Errol, the MochiFather, calls her, is the owner, and she spent some time chatting with us about her wonderful desserts and how she got into the business. I was rather surprised to find out that she’d originally intended to do ice cream with Japanese flavors (something she couldn’t find in the area), and mochi was to be an addition item (she’d only made in once in college prior to her soft opening). And now, though the ice cream is delicious, mochi seems to be as much as a standout/​draw.
A year or so ago, I had no idea about the plethora of amazing Asian desserts out there, and now I dream of mochi, snow ice and boba on the regular when I’m craving something sweet. Frozen Rickshaw will absolutely be added to the rotation.

I’d never heard of mochi until a client of my husband’s work recommended we try them at Trader Joe’s. We purchased the box of strawberry and it took a few of them before I thought «these are pretty good!» Then I heard of a place called Frozen Rickshaw where you can get them for real, not for prepackaged, and I had to go there.
We took the opportunity to go recently when we knew the UT population had dwindled to nothing since it’s intersession, which is a good plan, btw. Parking wasn’t a huge issue at 8pm, but you still have to park along 30^th or in one of the neighborhoods. Driveways are not forgiving so remember this as you try to turn around and scrape your bumper to a pulp as I did.
On to the mochi… Rick saw me staring blankly at the menu and said «Is this your first time here?» «Yes!» I replied. «Have you had mochi before?» «Yes! But only Trader Joe’s…if that counts.» Rick then walked me through the menu. Everything sounded so good, I had a hard time deciding. I ended up going with a nutella mochi and a strawberry passion fruit mochi, which is actually sorbet.
Everything is handmade by Apphia, so this is like real deal mochi! I started with the nutella and it was really tasty! But I found the wrap to be tough to bite into. No worries, its deliciousness made up for my inability to eat it gracefully. Then I bit into the strawberry passion fruit sorbet. Holy moly was that good. I made the mistake of letting my husband try it. He loved it and he doesn’t like mochi. I highly recommend that one, and the wrap was easy to eat.
I can’t wait to go back and try other things, or just get a giant jug of strawberry passion fruit sorbet. I could eat it by the scoopful. The mochi balls are $ 2 each, which is much more expensive than my Trader Joe’s box, but they are handmade and taste better. Plus they come in all kinds of cool flavors and the customer service at Frozen Rickshaw is hard to beat.
Heads up, it’s a $ 3 minimum to use a credit card, but that minimum is easy to meet.

Uh oh, looks like I’m gonna be the monster that puts a blemish on the perfect rating. I’d been wanting to check out this trailer for a while now, and had to do it big when it was finally open again for the spring. We ordered one of every mochi ice cream flavor that day — green tea, taro, guava, nutella, black sesame, and strawberry.
Homemade mochi really does taste better than the frozen kind. They melted really quickly though, and it wasn’t even a hot day. The guava, black sesame, and taro were my favorites. The nutella and green tea were okay, and the strawberry is a definite pass.
We also tried the rose lychee float, which was way too sweet and tasted like syrup. I recommend getting just the lychee sorbet on its own; it’s refreshing. Not dying to return, but the tong sui caught my eye because my mom used to make it for me, so I may give it another shot.

If someone tells me there’s a trailer serving authentic Taiwanese desserts, I’ll probably shake my head and say «nahhh nothing can compare to the authenticity of Taiwanese desserts.»
Frozen Rickshaw has proven me wrong. The mochi balls remind me of Taiwan, but with very bold flavors. The handmade mochi ice cream is just amazing. Just looking at their menu, none of the mochi flavors are your typical flavors; from Taro to Guava w/​Cardamom, all the flavors are so unique. My favorite was the Guava w/​Cardamom because it was light and refreshing. Another favorite is the Blueberry Thai Basil mochi… a «WTF amaze balls» kind of flavor. Their menu changes daily so I wasn’t able to try the Thai Tea mochi, which I heard is really good. I had the Thai Tea ice cream though and imagining that inside mochi makes my mouth water. The mochi skin is really chewy (you might have to wait a few minutes for the skin to become soft).
As for drinks, the Lychee Rose Fizzy Float is my go-​to and reminded me of being back in Taiwan. Ah such good memories.
Lots of street parking so there’s no excuse not to come here.

I don’t think it can get any better than this… homemade mochi icecream near the campus?!
I almost missed this place because it’s a small little shack yet decorated so DIY-​like (probably was) and is definitely super cute!
Along wtih the mochi icecream, I also wanted to try their chrysanthemum passion fruit iced tea. Sadly they sold out of ALL their drinks when I got there T_​_​_​_​T
I ended up ordering one of all 6 flavors which were; green tea, taro, strawberry sorbet, nutella, black sesame with coconut, and mango with ginger. I usually would not splurge $ 2 on one mochi, but these were homemade and I just had to try them! And I was not disappointed at all, absolutely loved all the flavors. I was very surprised at the mango with ginger once since I really do not like ginger. But the ginger and mango complimented eachother nicely! Eventhough all were great, if there was one I could not get would be the strawberry sorbet one. It was good, but the others were just better. Which is my favorite? I can’t choose!!!
A little later on the owner gave me what was left of the sold out chrysanthemum tea which filled up more than half of the cup for free! She was so sweet. And of course, the tea didn’t disappoint either. I expected it to be a bit more sweet, but it tasted very natural and would be great on a sunny day!
Overall, I would definitely come back and eventhough $ 2 may sound a little much for one mochi, its definitely worth it!

Thanks to Unilocal,no wait, THANKS TO ERROL I found this place. Its been on my bookmark to come and I have to say I am addicted. It was a little hard to find at first since its hidden away and if at night, its hard to see the Asian Ice cream sign. Also when I was reading the reviews I imagined Ms. Mann to be this old Asian granny making mochi, like my grandmother use to. Imagine my surprise when I came here I see this adorable Asian lady that is about my age. I was like. Ms… Mann? She replied yep! Then I jumped up and down in joy because I have finally arrived!
So that was maybe a little awkward at how excited I was but the anticipation had been building up! I ordered 10 mochis, 1 ice cream scoop and 2 sorbet scoops, pretty much I just went down the list and everything she had I wanted. There are also items sometimes that’s not on the board that you want to ask her for, like black sesame and red bean, as those can be rare and she may only have a few left so she doesn’t put it on the board. The 2^nd trip I made I ate 8 mochi, 1 ice cream scoop and 1 sorbet. Ms Mann does it right, the flavors are right on point.
At $ 2 bucks a ball, Here are the flavors I have tried: Green Tea, Red bean, black sesame, Grapefruit*, thai tea, taro*, this chocolate one that I don’t know the name, cornbread honey, pumpkin spice scoop, lychee rose scoop.
The lychee rose and grapefruit are sorbets so they are icier. The asterisks are what I think are must try at this place. The taro is absolutely amazing, the flavor is exactly what I want taro to be. The green tea is sweet but still that slight bitter tea taste. The red bean and black sesame are both authentic and true to their flavors. The thai tea isn’t like the overly condensed milk version you get in bubble tea, its much much better. If you like grapefruit, its tart, its slightly bitter, and taste really just like grapefruit.
This review may come a little too late as she’s closing tomorrow for the season. But seriously people, put this on your bookmark and come back in the spring when Ms. Mann opens up again. That sweet lady can take my money anytime for these frozen little balls.

The best mochi ice cream in town! I seriously crave Frozen Rickshaw’s mochi at least once a day. The owner asked me which flavor was my favorite and I coudn’t decide. Taro, Pineapple Mango, Thai Iced Tea… each mochi greets your mouth with its distinct flavor. Very natural, strong and confident… but still delicately subtle in taste, and delicious. I went the other day when it was 50 – 60 degrees outside and they were still delicious in the cold weather.
For fizzy drinks, I think the lychee float is becoming my staple. I have never had anything like it. I can’t figure out how she gets it to taste so perfectly lychee.
The cart is beautifully decorated and the lanterns in the evening are cozy. Dog friendly too!

It occurs to me, on a pleasant Sunday evening, at a small table on 30^th Street, in front of Frozen Rickshaw (I’ll just go with FR), that food trailers are the new Apple. Though instead of building computers out of a garage, the food entrepreneurs of the day are starting their dreams out of apartments, or renting time in a commercial kitchen, selling in one of our local farmers’ markets, finding counter-​space at a local store, or opening a tiny trailer.
One person putting herself out there, bringing unique eats to Austin streets, is the charming owner of the new FR trailer, Apphia Mann. She’s not putting out the same boring burgers or «fusion tacos» that so many others are doing. And listening to her talk about ingredients and recipes, you can feel the passion.
I used to think I didn’t like mochi, for being too chewy and flavorless, like rubbery candy. But now I know that’s because I’d never had fresh mochi. FR’s are tasty and light, with a nice punch of flavor wrapped around her hand-​made ice cream. FR caters to the Asian-​influenced flavors I’m growing to like more and more. The taro is the best taro ice cream I’ve had, and offers a light alternative to a full cup of bubble tea. Then there’s lychee, pineapple/​mango, Thai tea, coconut, and more.
Apphia has got a good thing started here at FR. The location, just east of Guadalupe on the north side of and across 30^th from Spider House, will be easier to find when she puts up the new sign she was working on while we were there. But find this trailer. You won’t be disappointed.

While on a little weekend getaway to Austin, we had an early lunch and weren’t quite hungry for dinner yet… so that means it was snack time. I brought up my BFF Unilocal app and searched «nearby» while in our hotel. Frozen Rickshaw came up. As soon as I saw thai tea mochi, I was sold! Then I see lychee floats, green tea mochi and taro. oh man oh man. TOTALLY sold. We head out and arrived about 15 minutes later. It wasn’t too hard to find and we parked in the back of a little shop right near Frozen Rickshaw. Not sure if we were supposed to park there, but seemed like an okay place.
We were greeted by the friendly, hard-​working owner who told us all about her delicious offerings. I went with the thai tea, green tea and taro mochi, my husband got the lychee rose float and my daughter a scoop of taro ice cream. Everything was delicately delicious and totally what we were looking for at the time. There is a cute little area to sit and enjoy your treats but the mosquitoes are pretty fierce. Come prepped with some bug spray or take your tasty treats to go.
Definitely worth a stop, so glad we did! Will be back next time we’re in Austin!

I’m pretty easy when someone has the dream and initiative to open their own food trailer in Austin. Anybody with money can open a corporate brick & mortar franchise with regular Sysco delivery, but you’ve got to have some solid Mochi balls to take the trailer plunge in this town.
And that’s exactly what Ms. Mann has, and they come in rotating flavors. In the mornings she hand-​makes her Mochi balls, ice creams, two vegan sorbets & drink mixtures, and then opens for business from 5 until 10pm. That’s got to be one long day. Incidentally, if you know Wheatsville on Guadalupe, just go around the corner on 30^th and there’s the Frozen Rickshaw trailer, in front of the Burlap Bag store. Trudy’s is a little further up the road. I had no problem with street parking, or use Burlap’s parking lot behind their store.
I thought Ms. Mann’s Taro ice cream and Almond Cane were superb. The Black Sesame was a tad savory for me, but not overpowering. I enjoyed the Thai Tea more as a Mochi ball than as a standalone scoop. And the Lychee Rose sorbet float she recommended was totally unique, surprisingly refreshing, and made me wonder what the Ginger Mango would be like — this place is a flavor profiler’s dream.
I was originally going to go with four-​stars here, but it bothered me: Should I be comparing Frozen Rickshaw’s Thai Tea ice cream with Sway’s Thai Tea Affogato? Pffft. They’re two different things, and definitely two different price points. The bottom line is if you’re around this area, and you get a sudden hankering for something short, sweet, and Asian — and no, we’re not talking about me here — then make Frozen Rickshaw a destination point. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.