Gin’noankafe

A cute little street stand in Shibuya, open until about 9 pm. A taiyaki is usually a thick-​ish cakey pastry filled with red bean or some other filling, but this place has leveled up, and started wrpaping croissant dough around custard filling, and putting that into the press, creating a flaky, crunchy, fish-​shaped-​ish delight.
Try to get a fresh one if possible, we went towards closing, and we had ones that were still warm, but not completely fresh, sadly.

My husband and I discovered Croissant Taiyaki while walking through Shibuya in Tokyo. We were on the lookout for taiyaki during our trip and when, by complete accident, we came across this little stand selling croissant taiyaki, we practically squealed like children. Only upon returning to the U.S. did we learn that croissant taiyaki is a relatively new thing in Japan, and is kind of like the cronut craze in Manhattan.
Before I go any farther, I’d encourage travelers to check out the restaurant’s website. There are multiple locations throughout Japan, including several in Tokyo, and I can only hope that I recorded their address in Shibuya correctly on Unilocal.
A brief primer on taiyaki: these are a Japanese treat that consist of a slightly sweet batter filled with slightly sweeter adzuki bean paste. And, most importantly, they’re shaped like fish. Specifically, sea bream.
Croissant Taiyaki make various flavors besides adzuki bean, and instead of using the regular dough, they use a flaky croissant-​type dough instead. This is sprinkled with sugar and baked. The first bite is heavenly. You get a little crunch from the sugar, followed by buttery flakiness of the croissant dough, then the creaminess of the sweet adzuki bean filling.
Our eyes rolled into the back of our heads in a dopamine-​rush of ecstasy. (Slightly hyperbolic, maybe, but we had been walking non-​stop since lunch, and it was 7 pm. Needless to say, we were a little peckish).
My only complaint: later that evening, after dinner, we decided we wanted more taiyaki, so we circled back around to try to find the place and it was already closed. :(Many tears were shed.
Bottom line: if you’re in Japan, add croissant taiyaki to your list of things to try. You won’t regret it.