In the world of Japanese sweets, it's not uncommon to come across some snacks that appear to be too cute to eat. Taiyaki (literally "baked sea bream") looks like it may fall into that category, although the growing popularity of the fish-shaped cakes around the world may say otherwise. While traditionally filled with red bean paste, many shops in Japan offer varieties filled with chocolate, custard, and thanks to trends around the globe--ice cream! While not the only shop in the world stuffing taiyaki mouths with sweets, New York City's Taiyaki NYC has gained a lot of popularity for their variety of ice cream-filled taiyaki, including a recent special of colorful unicorn ice cream taiyaki.

Taiyaki NYC has been creating lines with their take on the popular Japanese street stall and festival food, featuring a crispy variation of Taiyaki with a mouth big enough to stuff with ice cream. The Taiyaki contain custard and other fillings in their tails, while scoops of soft serve ice cream erupt from the mouth. While ice cream Taiyaki has been trending both in and out of Japan, Taiyaki NYC is taking things a step further with unicorn ice cream varieties.

While Taiyaki NYC normally serves up flavors like green tea and black sesame, these special unicorn taiyaki are a special limited variety.

New York isn't the only place having fun with "different" taiyaki, however. Recently at Yokohama's Kurikoan, a blue chocolate mint taiyaki made somme news.

And of course, there was that time Japan turned Magikarp into a taiyaki!


By - grape Japan editorial staff.