Random Picture #107

My last full day in Japan was March 28 and my husband and I traveled to the place where it all started for us, Kita-senju. This was where I "met" him for the first time and lived in his apartment for a month in 1988. As part of our experience, I had my last taiyaki. For those who don't remember, taiyaki is a waffle/pancake like cake with a filling that is shaped like a fish. The most popular kinds are filled with sweetened beans or custard, though a wide variety of fillings can be had including savory ones. 

The shop we went to hadn't even started doing business when we arrived, though they were actually open. My order started the day for the proprietors and here we see him making his first batch of the day. The device he's holding is being used to fill the other half of the mold. The right half already contains kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) filling. He made 5 pumpkin and 5 bean varieties at the same time even though I ordered just one kabocha. I guess the rest will be set aside for those who buy in bulk.

One of my readers once said that it was hard to get really freshly made taiyaki as often patrons are sold pre-made ones. I was lucky because my very last experience was about as fresh as could be. 

Random Picture #87

Yeah, my nails are a mess. I do a lot of dishes by hand. Give me a break.

I've purchased taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes filled with beans, custard, or other things, before, but only in a "specialty" form using tapioca flour. I've also had a "cousin" of theirs, imagawayaki in frozen form. Despite walking past a traditional taiyaki shop several times a week, I have never purchased a fresh one for immediate consumption. A few weeks ago, my husband headed off for America for a week and I was left all alone so I decided to comfort myself and finally take the plunge. I picked up this warm, fresh number at Koenji station for 130 yen ($1.60). It's on the smallish side, but was a great size for a snack. The outside was a little crispy and extremely bland. It was more akin to a monaka shell (like a cake cone) than a pancake or waffle (which is what some of the shells are like). The custard inside was warm, very sweet, and had a good vanilla flavor. All in all, it was a delicious combination of varying textures and flavors and delightfully fresh. I'm sorry that I waited so long to get one. If you are in Japan or are coming here, take advantage and get one sooner rather than later.

Onagaya Taiyaki

Taiyaki is a traditional Japanese sweet made with what looks like and is similar to pancake or waffle batter. It has a filling which is often made of beans or custard in my experience, but can be any from a wide variety of fillings including savory ones.



There's a taiyaki place not too far from my home which I have walked past many times, so I've seen the process hundreds of times. There are two fish-shaped mold pans (like a large muffin tin with fish-shaped holes) which batter is poured into and a dollops of filling are placed in the center of one side. The two sides are then joined together and the batter is completely cooked and the filling warmed up or melted.

Recently, we got a flyer for a taiyaki place, Onagaya, opening up in our neighborhood. This one produces taiyaki which is a little different than usual because it is white and made with tapioca flour-based batter instead of pancake-style batter. They sell a great many varieties including black and red bean, grean tea, blueberry cheese, strawberry cheese, and mango cheese. We decided to sample their unique taiyaki and chose white bean, custard, and chocolate.

The texture of these is rather rubbery and the outside feels tacky, but is not actually sticky. The inside is good quality, sticky and hard to chew and like mochi. You have to be very careful to chew it well to prevent choking. The chewy shell was a little on the thick side in these sweets. I had to make an effort to take small bites and these were tough to bite off and cut in half with a knife. If you have a chance to sample these, don't underestimate the danger of eating them too fast or the difficulty of chewing them.

from left: chocolate, custard, white bean

custard: The vanilla pudding in this is rich and smooth. It has a nice vanilla flavor and is at the right sweetness level. The mochi mainly adds its texture so it was a pretty nice combination.

white bean: This was somewhat of a disappointment. It was good, no doubt, but the beans didn't have a strong flavor aside from sweetness. Both the mochi and the beans are mainly lending textural elements so you're getting two interesting textures, but a very bland flavor profile.

chocolate: Like the custard, this had a good pudding center which was creamy, smooth and rich with a bittersweet bite.

All of these were good, high quality and well made. The main issue was with the combination of tough, chewy mochi-like outer shell with those fillings. If the shell had been much thinner, I think this would be a definite repeater, but chewy, tough wrapper with a squishy filling isn't really a match made in heaven. One of these days, I hope to do a review of the more traditional taiyaki from our local shop to contrast the experience I had with these ones.