>taiyaki the faux tai

Another tai.
Or is it?

Rather than the flesh-and-bone variety, this is the bean-and-batter variety. Sweet azuki red bean paste filling (anko, koshi-an or tsubu-an) inside soft pancake batter, that is. Shaped into (why in the...?) fish - more specifically, our very own, tai, and cooked rather quickly in some contraption - a cross between a waffle iron and a foosball table.

tai + yaki (toast, roast, broiling, baking) = taiyaki

For Japanese children, taiyaki stands loom large, on the order of magnitude of an ice cream truck.