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Sip on a creamy pandan drink from Nhà Cafe, munch on a malasada from MoDo Hawaii and snack on a taiyaki, a Japanese fish-shaped cake, from Snowtime Dessert Cafe all from one drive-thru in Santa Clara.
The MoDo Hawaii Drive-Thru soft opened April 13 at the old Boston Market in the same plaza as MoDo Hawaii’s brick-and-mortar. The storefront, which opened in 2020 after operating for two years as a pop-up in the Bay Area, will continue to sell mochi donuts and ice cream, and the new drive-thru will offer a selection of MoDo’s signature drinks like tiramisu lattes, strawberry matcha lattes and brown sugar cream, as well as rotating flavors of malasadas (think lilikoi, black sesame, ube and more). The grand opening will be later this month or early May, and the drive-thru will only operate for about a year, said MoDo Hawaii’s marketing manager Maliya Madanes.
“If the drive-thru does well, then we will eventually look into having our own standalone shop that will not be just a pop-up,” Madanes said of potential future drive-thru plans.
MoDo Hawaii is offering limited-edition taiyaki dipped in MoDo Hawaii’s glazes from Snowtime Dessert Cafe, which opened in Campbell in October, and is partnering with Nhà Cafe, which previously operated as a pop-up, to offer Vietnamese-inspired beverages.
“Since the drive-thru is pretty big, we wanted to share that space with someone else,” Madanes said. “And we believe that helping another small business would really be awesome. And we just wanted to give (Nhà Cafe) the opportunity to have a standalone shop as well, since MoDo Hawaii used to (operate through pop-ups).”
Nhà Cafe is owned and operated by Brandon Pham and Sandra Ho, and they’re currently offering three drinks at the MoDo Hawaii Drive-Thru: Pandan Dream (pandan-infused soy milk with mung beans and coconut), Orange Sunset (lemongrass tea with peach and orange) and Corn Cloud (corn milk topped with coconut foam). Pham and Ho declined an interview at this time.
The MoDo Hawaii Drive-Thru menu is still being finalized, and customer feedback will guide future menu changes. Signage has not yet been installed, as MoDo Hawaii only looked into the space about two months ago, Madanes said.
MoDo Hawaii Drive-Thru, 2006 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. Instagram: @modohawaii and @nhathecafe. Open Wednesday to Sunday noon to 8 p.m.