Taiyaki NYC, Boston

Taiyaki NYC.

Trendy.  Instragram worthy.  Now a chain.  As you might guess, most of the locations are in NYC, however they now have locations in Boston, Miami, and Toronto (a very random assortment of cities ...)

And ... yeah, worth a visit.

"Our mission is to unlock a magical exploration of the palette one Taiyaki NYC®  creation at a time."

Taiyaki NYC is known for taiyaki ice cream cones, and in particular, for the fact that they make ones with unicorn horns.  Like I said.  Made for Instagram.

But also, they care about sourcing of ingredients, and about quality.  The taiyaki cones are made fresh throughout the day, the ice cream (soft serve) is made in small batches.  The quality does actually show.

Storefront.

I visited the newly opened Boston location, in the new up-and-coming seaport area.

You can't make this stuff up - there was a weekday farmer's market across the street, and outside free yoga.  The area was hopping, even on a Wednesday night.

Unicorn Taiyaki.

My eyes rolled at the sign out front, almost enough to make me turn away, as I really didn't want to buy into the Instagram nature of this.

Yes, yes, "seas the day", ha ha, and yes, yes, I could get my taiyaki waffle cone with soft serve and a unicorn horn.

Counter Area.

Still, I went in.

Inside was much smaller than I anticipated.

The entire assembly and prep area was behind a counter, with a single register right when you enter, and only a couple seats along the window.  Certainly not somewhere to go when the weather isn't warm, and you'd want to dine in (uh ... they do know about winter, right?)

Menu.

The menu tries to explain everything, and provides plenty of pictures (and a *lot* of words!)

The beverages side teaches you what matcha and hojicha are, and what taro is, and walks you through options for hot or iced lattes, frappes, and a signel type of slush (taro) ... which you can get with a unicorn inflatable float around it.  Don't ask me.

The other area of the menu is the taiyaki cones(and, someday, "coming soon", souffle pancakes).  There are several pre-designed options to pick from (all $8), or you can build your own.

To build your own, you pick your base: cup for $5, waffle cone for $6, or, as nearly everyone does, taiyaki waffle cone for $8.  The taiyaki cone can be optionally stuffed with red bean or custard (not both!)

Then, flavor of ice cream.  This is the area Taiyaki NYC let me down.  I so desperately wanted taro, but also, they make a taro slush, but have no taro soft serve.  I'd fall back on black sesame even, but alas, no.  Instead, your options are basic chocolate or vanilla (or swirl), strawberry or vegan mango (or mango strawberry swirl), or matcha or hojicha (yup, or matcha hojicha swirl).

I've tried them all.  Sadly, I don't love any, but the vanilla is my go-to.  More on this soon.

After you pick your ice cream, you can add an optional syrup (free), caramel, chocolate, strawberry, or condensed milk.

Then, toppings time.  Two are included free, additional are $0.50.  The lineup includes several types of sprinkles (chocolate, rainbow, cotton candy (!), unicorn (!!)), coconut flakes, crushed oreos, graham crumbs, and rice cracker pearls, and then a bunch of things to stick out of it, like skewers of rainbow mochi or wafer sticks.  Oh, and of course, unicorn horns.

I see why they provide some pre-sets, but of course, I had fun making my own.

Taiyaki Mold.

For the uninitiated, taiyaki are molded, baked cakes, shaped like fish (tai).  They are usually baked to order and filled with things like red bean paste or custard.

Taiyaki NYC *does* make traditional taiyaki like this, but, they aren't really known for those.  They are known for the taiyaki cones.

I didn't see any being made, but I believe they make them all day long.

Taiyaki Waffle Cones.

Here you can see a completed cone, a traditional taiyaki shape, but, with an open mouth, hence, making it a cone.

You can get the cone with red bean or custard in the tip (or plain).

Toppings.

And, like any Instagram worthy shop, its all about the toppings too, which I enumerated above.

The staff apply drizzles and shake toppings on over a grill, and I so desperately wanted to just get a bowl filled with all the stuff from that grill - all the goodies!

Matcha hojicha twist (sample).

So, about the flavors.

They are known for the green tea based flavors the most, so I assumed that is what I would get.  I was mostly just trying to pick which one to get, matcha or hojicha, during my daytime visit (since, caffeine).  I'm glad I asked to sample, as it turned out, I didn't care for either.

The hojicha was just too ... uh ... black tea tasting to me?  It tasted like earl grey.  I really didn't like it, but the texture was good.  It looked like black sesame, and that is really what I wanted it to be.

The matcha was ... ok.  Very bitter.  Grainy actually.  Not my style.

Chocolate (sample).

I moved on to the chocolate, still wanting a good "daytime" flavor.

It was ... ok.  Not much interesting about it, really, and a bit grainy too.  I'm kinda picky when it comes to chocolate ice cream, and this just wasn't for me either.

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Strawberry & Vegan Mango.

My next visit was in the evening, and I avoid caffeine at night, and didn't like the chocolate, matcha, and hojicha anyway, but they were out.

I tried the vegan mango flavor, and really disliked it (icy, fake sweet).

I asked to try the strawberry this time, even though I don't generally care for strawberry ice cream.  I wanted something more interesting than vanilla!  It was creamy, good soft serve, but, yes, it was strawberry, and wasn't for me.

Vanilla Soft Serve / Red Bean Filled Taiyaki Cone / Condensed Milk Drizzle / Unicorn Sprinkles / Cotton Candy Sprinkles / Rice Cracker Pearls. $8.

I did a custom creation.

It was a mixed success.

I'll start with the cone, the taiyaki cone, which I got filled with red bean.  The red bean, found down in the tail, was quite good, a sweet, pleasant mash.  It went better with soft serve vanilla that I would have imagined.  I definitely liked the red bean.  But the cone?  Uh ... this was not for me.  Far more eggy that I was expecting, and just not a style I like at all.  Much like Hong Kong egg waffles.  Soft, eggy, no.  But yes it was fun.  I'd have to opt for a waffle cone next time though.

Then, the ice cream.  I had just plain vanilla, since no other flavor suited me (caffeine or fruity flavors I didn't like).  It was good soft serve, great texture, very creamy, rich, good sweetness.  But, alas, plain vanilla.  Still, solid, above average, soft serve, although, as many reviewers note, it did melt far faster than most, and that shocked me, even though I had read these reviews myself (it was night, it wasn't sunny, it wasn't that hot, the waffle cone wasn't fresh and hot ... why did it melt so crazy fast?!)  I'll admit that some enjoyment was taken away by frantically trying to lick it before it melted all over the place.

The toppings are where I had fun.  Sweet condensed milk for my drizzle, which jazzed up the vanilla quite a bit, and made it almost have a hint of dulce de leche flavor.  A great choice.

Then, both unicorn and cotton candy sprinkles, that were crispy, sweet, colorful, and really quite fun.  Really generously applied, and I loved these.  So much better than your standard rainbow sprinkle.  And finally, I added the rice cracker pearls (extra $0.50, or free with Yelp check-in as you can get a third topping free).  They gave it more crunch too, and I was glad I added them.

So, a mixed review, clearly.

Good quality ice cream, although I'd prefer another flavor, and I'd like it to melt less rapidly.  Great red bean filling, but the cone wasn't for me.  Fantastic toppings.

I'd return, opt for a waffle cone, and I'll keep hoping they add more flavors ...