The best Taiyaki in Tokyo
Also spelt tai yaki, imagawayaki, obanyaki and たい焼き. A curated shortlist, shaped by your votes.
Editorial picks
Selected from published food guides and local reporting. How the list works
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Number 1.Nadai Taiyaki Wakaba (Yotsuya)
- Open
- 9.30am to 6.30pm, shut Sundays
- Where
- 1-10 Wakaba, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0011 (新宿区若葉1-10), four minutes from Yotsuya Station
One taiyaki here is 80g of faintly salty bean paste to 40g of batter, a ratio the shop has not changed in decades. Sundays it stays shut, and the lane fills by mid-afternoon, so come earlier.
What to orderA single taiyaki, the salt-edged tsubuan
0 votes
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Number 2.Naniwaya Sohonten (Azabu-Juban)
- Open
- 11am to 7pm, shut Tue and the third Wed
- Where
- 1-8-14 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0045 (麻布十番1-8-14, Taiyaki Building)
Order the plain taiyaki, baked one fish at a time since 1909, skin about a millimetre thick. It shuts on Tuesdays and the third Wednesday, and the counter queue moves faster than the upstairs cafe.
What to orderPlain taiyaki with tsubuan, off the one-fish iron
0 votes
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Number 3.Yanagiya (Ningyocho)
- Open
- 12.30pm to 6pm, shut Sun and Mon
- Where
- 2-11-3 Nihonbashi-Ningyocho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0013 (日本橋人形町2-11-3), three minutes from Ningyocho Station
The thin-skinned taiyaki is the only thing to order, crisped almost to scorching over one-fish irons. Sunday and Monday are dark days, opening is half past twelve, and the queue on Amazake-yokocho routinely runs twenty minutes.
What to orderThin-skin taiyaki, eaten within the hour
0 votes
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Nezu no Taiyaki
- Open
- 10am until the anko runs out, about 1pm; shut weekends
- Where
- 1-23-9-104 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0031 (根津1-23-9-104), on Shinobazu-dori near Nezu Station
Buy two of the plain ones and eat them on Shinobazu-dori. Baking starts at ten and stops when the bean paste is gone, often by one, and at weekends and on holidays it does not open at all.
What to orderPlain taiyaki, two of them
0 votes
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Taiyaki Hiiragi (Ebisu)
- Open
- 10am until sold out, 8pm at the latest; odd days off
- Where
- 1-4-1 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0013 (恵比寿1-4-1, Ebisu Urban House 107), two minutes from Ebisu Station east exit
Thirty minutes on the iron gives a shell that shatters, so ask for tsubuan and nothing clever. It opens at ten and closes when the last fish goes, and there is no seating in the arcade.
What to orderTaiyaki with tsubuan, straight from the counter
0 votes
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Asakusa Naniwaya
- Open
- 11am to 7pm, from 10am at weekends; odd Tuesdays off
- Where
- 2-12-4 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0032 (浅草2-12-4), five minutes from Tawaramachi Station
The Azabu-Juban recipe, carried over here by a branch-off of the original house: order the taiyaki, and shaved ice if it is summer. Tuesdays are unreliable, so ring ahead before crossing town.
What to orderTaiyaki with tsubuan; kakigori in summer
0 votes
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Taiyaki Kanda Daruma (Ogawamachi honten)
- Open
- 11am to 8pm, to 7pm at weekends, open daily
- Where
- 2-1 Kanda-Ogawamachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0052 (神田小川町2-1, Nichibei Shokai Building 1F), one minute from Ogawamachi Station
Get the winged taiyaki, batter spilling past the mould into a brittle skirt. Open every day and late by taiyaki standards, though the shop on the Ogawamachi crossing has nowhere to sit and the wings soften within minutes.
What to orderHanetsuki taiyaki, the winged one
0 votes
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Kyodo Ogura-an (honten)
- Open
- 11am to 7.30pm, shut in heavy rain or typhoons
- Where
- 2-14-2 Kyodo, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-0052 (世田谷区経堂2-14-2), near Kyodo Station
Whatever the day's bean paste is, order that, because the rotation runs to seventy-odd fillings and never repeats in a week. Kyodo is a long ride out, and the shop closes in heavy rain.
What to orderThe day's rotating anko taiyaki
0 votes
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Tsukiji Sanokiya
- Open
- 8am to 3pm or until sold out; shut Sun and holidays
- Where
- 4-11-9 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045 (築地4-11-9), three minutes from Tsukiji Station exit 1
What comes off the iron is a tuna rather than a sea bream, so order the honmaguro with its Tokachi bean paste. Selling stops at three or when batter runs out, and market holidays close it.
What to orderHonmaguro maguro-yaki with Tokachi anko
0 votes
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Edogawabashi Naniwaya
- Open
- 10am to 6.30pm, shut Tuesdays
- Where
- 1-5-8 Sekiguchi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0014 (関口1-5-8), in the Jizo-dori arcade, three minutes from Edogawabashi Station exit 3
Ninety years of the same house anko in a shopping arcade nobody visits for food: order the plain taiyaki at 160 yen. Tuesdays it stays shut, and it is a walk-up window with nowhere to sit.
What to orderPlain taiyaki, 160 yen
0 votes
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Shinjuku Tsubakian (Sasazuka)
- Open
- Noon to 8pm in summer, 11am from October; shut Mon
- Where
- 1-56-6 Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0073 (笹塚1-56-6, Crescent Plaza Sasazuka 1F), by Sasazuka Station north exit
Two skins are made here, so take the atsuyaki, nearly a centimetre of batter round the anko, and leave the thin one to purists. Mondays closed, and summer opening slips to noon until October.
What to orderAtsuyaki, the thick-skinned taiyaki
0 votes
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Yushoku Taigashi Honpo Amane (Kichijoji)
- Open
- 11am to 6pm daily, ends when sold out
- Where
- 1-1-9 Kichijoji Honcho, Musashino, Tokyo 180-0004 (吉祥寺本町1-1-9, Harmonica Yokocho), two minutes from Kichijoji Station north exit
Ask for the hanedai, the winged one, tsubuan inside and a crisp frill hanging off the mould. The Harmonica Yokocho lane is easy to walk past, closing days are irregular, and popular fillings go before mid-afternoon.
What to orderHanedai, the winged taiyaki with tsubuan
0 votes
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