PrintSugar Rush: Taiyaki from Mitsuwa in New Jersey
Almost every time I go to Japanese superstore Mitsuwa in Edgewater, New Jersey, I end my meal with an round obanyaki or fish-shaped taiyaki, pastries made of a pancake-like batter filled with sweet red bean paste. When fresh out of the griddle mold, they're crispy on the outside and steaming hot on the inside; make sure to eat them right away or they'll get soggy and dense. The fish shape of the taiyaki makes it more fun than the plain obanyaki, but they taste the same.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any place to get fresh obanyaki or taiyaki in New York City, but it's worth taking the trip across the river to Mitsuwa's food court.
Mitsuwa
595 River Road, Edgewater NJ 07020 (map)
201-941-9113
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21 Comments:
mmm, i'm looking forward to making my first trip out there this weekend. btw, you can get those yummy fish patries in the Han Mart korean supermarket in flushing (union street & 29th ave). =)
cough drop at 7:20PM on 01/02/09
I love taiyaki, especially with red bean and mochi filling! And I definitely agree they have to be eaten right away. Soggy taiyaki makes me sad, although I find that you can sometimes revive them in the toaster oven.
caroliiine at 7:58PM on 01/02/09
Ah Han Korean supermarket in Flushing makes taiyaki. Well, at least the last time I went which was 2 years ago.
gargupie at 8:40PM on 01/02/09
Ah Han Korean supermarket in Flushing makes taiyaki. Well, at least the last time I went which was 2 years ago.
gargupie at 9:09PM on 01/02/09
I wish they would make the outer shell thinner. When you bite into it the dough next to the red bean filling always tastes undercooked.
sushijerk at 10:00PM on 01/02/09
@cough drop: Thanks for the info! I'm gonna be in Flushing tomorrow so I'll see if I'm not too lazy to make my way over there... ;)
roboppy at 10:18PM on 01/02/09
my parents always buy at minimum 6 @ mitsuwa, cuz there is some sort of deal that way. the leftovers we pop in the toaster oven and they come out hot and crunchy. sometimes better than when we got them.
bionicgrrrl at 1:32AM on 01/03/09
I wasn't too lazy to go to the Korean supermarket, but I was definitely too full. :( I just remembered another place in Flushing that sells em though: The Flushing Mall. Unfortunately, those kind of suck, so I wouldn't recommend them.
roboppy at 10:23AM on 01/05/09
Robyn, do you know about Doraemon, the blue cartoon cat who's obsessed with taiyaki? I grew up watching his show in Cantonese (the Chinese call him Ding-Dong.) He's awesome.
Check this out.
Michele Humes at 12:29PM on 01/05/09
Great shot -- and I second the toaster oven recommendation. I like the ones filled with cheese =)
onedaylingers at 3:04PM on 01/05/09
Hi Michele, just wanna let you know that Doraemon is obsessed with dorayaki ... that's where its name comes from.
I love both of these Japanese treats too, as well as imagawayaki/obanyaki. Actually in Hong Kong they have ones with a green tea exterior and a red bean or sweet potato filling, in addition to custard, chocolate, black sesame and savory fillings like potato and cheese.
dreamsicle at 9:00PM on 01/05/09
@Michele: I wish I grew up watching XIAO DING DONG (hehe, I like that name) but..didn't know Chinese so that didn't go over very well. But I've watched some episodes while staring in confusion.
roboppy at 9:17AM on 01/06/09
does anyone have a recipe for making the batter? i'm tempted to do a hybrid version in my aebelskiver pan. thanks!
chokpocky at 4:37PM on 01/06/09
@dreamsicle--wait, what's the difference between taiyaki and dorayaki? The shape? They're both red bean, right?
Hm, I could wait for you to respond or I could google it.
Gotcha.
Michele Humes at 12:21AM on 01/07/09
I love going to Mitsuwa, but I wish I didn't have to drive to get there. If you are going on a weekend you will want to find a bus from NY...the parking is someplace beyond awful. Way worse than the Harlem Fairway before they built the new lot. I have given up more than once.
That being said, if you can get a spot...it is a wonderful place indeed. Does the market have any other flavor of taiyaki? I'm getting hungry looking at the picture.
joannabar at 11:57AM on 01/07/09
@joannabar: I hear ya on the parking issue. I learned to just park at the mall with the Trader Joe's (I drive from the north) instead of go to the Mitsuwa parking lot and be disappointed during crowded hours. That parking lot has been the same size since FOREVER, with no room for expansion..hohum.
I think the taiyakis are just red bean, but there's a similar cream-filled thing as well.
roboppy at 12:03PM on 01/07/09
roboppy, is it a long walk from TJ's? TJ's must be north of Mitsuwa because there isn't much south of it, or at least there wasn't last time I was there last summer. Are there ever any un-crowded hours? ;-)
Thanks for the tip!
joannabar at 12:12PM on 01/07/09
@joannabar: TJs is in the mall next door to the north, so it's not a far walk. It's just..like..not the same mall, so it seems far at first, ha ha.
If you go right when Mitsuwa opens, you should be able to get a parking spot. Like 10 am? And then the crowds descend..
roboppy at 12:17PM on 01/07/09
Hi Michele, sorry if this is a bit late. A taiyaki is fish-shaped as described in this entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki), while a dorayaki is round, basically two pancakes sandwiching the filling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki). The filling for a taiyaki and dorayaki are similar, usually red bean. Hope the Wiki links help too.
dreamsicle at 9:44PM on 01/07/09
Mmmm - I was introduced to this at Epcot when I was a kid. I went home to Boston and dreamed for years about "that fish-shaped pancake with raisins". (I think they did raisins instead of red bean paste to appeal to the audience.) Now I know what it's called!
marzipanda at 11:56AM on 01/08/09
Holy cow! I was obsessed with these in Singapore. Where I was staying there was a Meidi-ya supermarket downstairs and there was a little mom 'n' pop stand inside where you could get them made fresh any time of day. I could not resist them. I went in on new year's eve and the line snaked around the whole store and that's the only day I didn't have some. Thanks for the tip-off!
fivefingerfeast at 1:09PM on 01/31/09