Rainy
The Ion Orchard has one called 'The Taiyaki'. Quite tellingly, it sells taiyaki. So what is a taiyaki? It is a japanese creation that involves fish-shaped (not fish cake) pancakes with a bean paste inside. Why fish-shaped? The best answer would be as the japanese were grilling their cakes, their imagination grew wild and the burnt iron patterns became like fish scales to them, hence ta-da, it was completed as fish.
This is not from Ion Orchard, but one of the exotic fridges which has taiyaki inside!
Hence a note to all fish lovers, you must be sharp enough to dig up every cold bin you see. As you can tell from above, this is not a normal taiyaki. There are three fillings found inside the taiyaki, which is denoted by the markings on the wrapper. The black skin, the ice cream layer, the bean jam, some nice milk chocolate and black skin again. Sounds like a hamburger.
Imuraya Kuroi Taiyaki Ice (SGD 3.80)
The taiyaki is really black! From the back of the wrapper it says Monaka (charcoal colour, caramel colour) so the black must be derived from charcoal, or a mixture of charcoal and caramel, the burnt toffee colour. Still, one don't quite understand why is there a black fish.
Marunaga Shiroi Taiyaki (White) (SGD 3.80)
For novelty's sake, there is also the white fish! From the back it reads Monaka (glutinous rice), so maybe the rich white creaminess is derived from milling glutinous rice. Monaka is a type of japanese confectionery with paper-like wafers sandwiching the bean jam inside. They usually look like a small clam or a gaping oyster. These are taiyaki in monaka style.
Crushing the fishes mouth, the wafers come to you as reed-thin, soft and papery, with a thick chunk of ice cream inside! It is rich and milky, without any ice blisters, and this fish can stay frozen at room temperature for up to a-twenty minutes. There is caramel ice cream and bean jam in the black taiyaki, and as you can see, there is a whole layer of brittle milk chocolate just above the ice cream! It is equivalent to that sparkly crackle when you first bite yourself into a fresh stick of pocky that is covered in chocolate, or the bliss when you get yourself a chocolate coated ice-cream bar, and start breaking the milk chocolate layer to get to the ice cream.
P.S. Differentiate your fish now, in black or snowy white. Taiyaki leaving its old waffle self; the golden brown crust, and being more adventurous than its fillings, interchanging its batter for a coloured one.
