Wakaba

This store is supposed to be one of the three best Taiyaki (fish shape pancake with sweet red bean paste inside) places in Tokyo. This was my first time to eat 天然たいやき(Ten-nen taiyaki — It’s a wild fishy pancake!)
I was surprised at the first time I heard it since taiyaki has nothing to do with fish but only its shape.
When making regular taiyaki, the pan used can make 5+ taiyaki at a time but Wakaba makes its taiyaki piece by piece and that is the reason Japanese call it not farmed but wild. We felt how well the taiyaki were taken care of to be served. It’s one of the best Japanese sweets I ever had!
I liked that the Anko (sweet red bean paste) wasn’t too sweet and you can feel the bean taste and texture. Outside was so crispy and thin, which is different from normal taiyaki that tends to be a little thicker and softer.
The reason why I didn’t put 5stars was I needed to wait 10+ minutes even though the line wasn’t long. To make this type of taiyaki just takes time…
They also had a small number of tables available inside and if you are lucky, you may be able to have a seat and free green tea or water.