When you’re strolling around Tokyo, sometimes you will come upon a Taiyaki shop. Being lured by the sweet smell, you will find that it is hard to refrain from buying it. If you are on an old street, the Taiyaki shop could be more than a hundred years old. As a street food, Taiyaki is popular and famous among visitors. Although they are all in a fish shape, there are 2 different method to make Taiyaki.
As these 2 photos show, some shops make Taiyaki one by one while others are making several of them at one time. The method of making them one by one is the old way. Since the size of the fire is big, the Taiyaki skin is very crisp. There are still many people that love Taiyaki to be made in this way even if it cost more time and manpower.
The common filling of Taiyaki is red bean paste (anko). These days there are many flavors of Taiyaki such as fruit paste, and now even cheese bacon is becoming more and more popular. The popularity of Japanese animation overseas has made the number of Taiyaki shops in other countries bigger and bigger. The method of making several Taiyaki at one time is more popular in new shops. Since the fire size is the same, it makes the Taiyaki all consistent with each other.
Since Taiyaki is in a fish shape, some Japanese call these two methods “Single fishing” and “fish farming”. What a nice sense of humor!