Tokyo: Tsukiji Gindaco – Takoyaki and Taiyaki

There’s a 5-hour time difference between Dubai and Tokyo, and I didn’t go to bed until 2:00 last night. I could easily have slept until noon, but between 10am-5am they’re cleaning the capsule hotel, and all guests are required to leave. Half asleep I therefore stumbled out of my capsule to get some breakfast. Jetlag does the strangest thing to my appetite. Even though I was hungry, I didn’t feel like eating breakfast food. In fact, I wasn’t sure what I felt like eating, but then I spotted Tsukiji Gindaco, which is a popular takoyaki shop.

Takoyaki are delicious fried balls made from a flour-based batter with chunks of octopus. They are cooked in a special pan like the one we use in Denmark to make æbleskiver (or the one used in Thailand to make Khanom Krok), and you eat them with mayonnaise and a brown sauce on top, sprinkled with bonito flakes. They are served piping hot, so you need to be careful, or you’ll burn your tongue on the gooey stuff inside. I always get burnt, because I’m never patient enough to wait for the takoyaki to cool off.

At the Akihabara branch of Tsukiji Gindaco, they’re also selling Croissant Taiyaki, which is a new take on the traditional Japanese fish-shaped cake. Instead of the waffle-like dough, they’re using croissant dough for the taiyaki, so you end up with a small, fish-shaped croissant. They come with a number of different fillings, and I had one with custard cream, which was delicious.