We head to Shinjuku to encounter these Square Enix video game mascots turned tasty treats.
There’s a roasted sweet potato stand called Katsugorou located just two blocks over from Shinjuku Station in downtown Tokyo. Usually, this wouldn’t have such a bearing on me personally, since while Japan does have some really nice sweet potatoes, they aren’t my go-to snack. I’m much more of a taiyaki kind of guy…
Ah, now we’re talking! It turns out that Katsugorou has taiyaki too.
The tai in taiyaki means “sea bream,” but the pancake-like fish-shaped cakes contain no seafood. Instead, the most common filling is anko, sweet red bean paste, but custard cream, chocolate, and other sweet fillings are popular too. Of course, you could take the same ingredients and make something that doesn’t look like a fish, like the hockey puck-shaped sweets called imagawayaki, which also have their fans. For my money, though, there’s no question that taiyaki are the superior snack shape. I mean, to top those cute little fishies you’d have to cook up something really special, like a Final Fantasy Chocobo taiyaki–
Wait a second…did I somehow acquire the power to will things into existence just by thinking about them? Let’s test this theory. You know what else would be cool? If there were Dragon Quest Slime taiyaki too!
Sadly, it turned out that I actually don’t have the ability to magically conjure up whatever I desire (as confirmed by the continuing lack of a new Tactics Ogre sequel). Happily, though, the Chocobo-yaki and Slime-yaki are indeed real and currently on offer at Katsugorou.
Katsugorou sits on the first floor of the Paselabo Tower, which gets its name from the Pasela group. The company is best known for their chain of karaoke parlors and hotels, but they also have theme restaurant business through which they regularly collaborate with Square Enix, the makers of both the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises. For example. right now the Paselabo Tower is also the venue for a 25th anniversary celebration pop up cafe for Final Fantasy IX.
While they’re not tied to the Final Fantasy IX cafe specifically, the Chocobo and Slime sweets are part of Pasela and Square Enix’s ongoing friendship, and they both definitely deserved a taste.
Taiyaki are typically served in a paper wrapper, and for the Chocobo-yaki, even this is Final Fantasy-themed, with pixel art depicting a Chocobo and Firion, the colorfully turbaned protagonist of Final Fantasy II the installment in the series in which Chocobos first appeared.
▼ Reflecting Final Fantasy’s worldwide popularity, the other side of the wrapper displays its message in English.
The Slime-yaki’s wrapper is themed too, though only in Japanese, with “A Slime draws near” on one side and menu command prompts, with “Eat” indicated by the cursor, on the back.
Both the Chocobo and Slime make the transition to taiyaki with their cuteness intact, with the slime bearing an especially strong resemblance to its in-game appearance. With yellow being the most prevalent color of Chocobo feathers, the Chocobo-yaki is appropriately filled with custard, while the Slime has anko inside of it.
Katsugorou’s taiyaki have a pretty unique texture. It’s not the pillow soft fluffiness of conventional thick taiyaki, nor are they grilled to the crispy consistency of thinly breaded versions. Instead, they’re firm at the outer layer with chewiness waiting underneath, closer to a waffle than a pancake. The fillings tasted great, satisfyingly sweet but not oily or overpowering, and since the Chocobo-yaki and Slime-yaki come off the grill completely sealed (i.e. with no openings for their fillings to leak out of) and without any greasiness, slipping your snack swiftly out of the paper will let you hang onto it as a souvenir, provided you’re confident you can eat without making a mess even without a safety net/wrapper.
At 540 yen (US$3.60), the Chocobo-yaki and Slime-yaki are on the pricey side for Japanese street sweets, but they’re still a fun, tasty snack for fans of the game series, or of cute stuff in general. While the Final Fantasy IX pop up cafe only runs until December 12, when I asked the staff how long these sweets would be available they seemed surprised at the notion that they’d be going away anytime soon, and when they checked with the shift manager his response was “Yeah, we’ll be selling them for a while,” so it looks you don’t have to rush out right now to try them, but it’s totally understandable if you want to.
Shop information
Katsugorou / 勝五郎
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-36-1 Paselabo Tower 1st floor
東京都新宿区新宿３丁目３６−１ パセラボタワー１Ｆ
Open noon-11 p.m.
Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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