Asagaya's Taiyaki Tomoe-an records its highest ever sales! The "Jaga Butter Taiyaki", which recorded the highest sales ever at Tomoe-an in Asagaya, is back on sale again on February 21 (Friday)!

A Japanese sweet you've never had before, filled with jaga butter and anko (red bean paste)!

2025.02.20 16:15

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　Taiyaki Tomoean (Asagaya, Suginami-ku, Tokyo) will re-launch the "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" (450 yen including tax) on Friday, February 21, 2025.

　The "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" was sold for a limited four-day period in early February and became one of the most popular new flavor taiyakis ever sold. In response to the numerous requests for its re-release in stores and on social networking sites, the menu will be re-launched as a menu item offered for an unlimited period during the cold season.

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Jaga Butter Taiyaki (Potato Butter Rice Cake)

The combination of the rich, salty butter and the potato is the perfect match with the red bean paste!

　The "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" is made of roughly mashed potato (Baronimo) with a little salty butter, mixed with Tomoean's sweet bean paste.

　The buttery aroma of the first bite is followed by the texture of the potato and its mild sweetness.

Popular during the limited sales period and record sales!

　Tomoe-an sold "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" for four days from February 6 (Thu.) to 9 (Sun.).

　Tomoe-an has a monthly cycle of "monthly special taiyaki" from the 11th of each month to the 9th of the following month, and we had "Kizami ginger taiyaki" from January 11 to February 9, but due to more orders than expected, we ran out of candied fresh ginger, which was the ingredient, and it was sold out on February 5, so we had to make a quick substitution and had "Jaga butter taiyaki". So, we served "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" as an urgent substitute.

　To our surprise, the "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" became very popular from the first day. The "Kizami Ginger Taiyaki" was so popular that we ran out of ingredients, but we received three times as many orders as the "Kizami Ginger Taiyaki". We have never had a new menu item suddenly become so popular.

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Jaga Butter Taiyaki

Jaga Butter Taiyaki, Development Process

Abandonment of "An Butter Taiyaki

　The story goes back to a few years ago, in 2020.

　At that time, Taiyaki Tomoean was considering the possibility of making Taiyaki with "An Butter", which was becoming increasingly popular in dorayaki and bread.

　Unlike bread and other confections that are served at room temperature, butter would flow out when added to hot taiyaki. Instead of preventing this, we were preparing to serve them "immediately" by cutting a slit in the freshly baked taiyaki and inserting the butter. We decided to let it melt.

　However, just as we were about to make arrangements for the packaging, we learned the news that another taiyaki shop had commercialized an almost identical product. Since it is our policy not to imitate others, we stopped selling the "An Butter Taiyaki" and it became a phantom menu item. At that time, we decided that the next time we commercialized the taiyaki, we would use some other ingredient with butter, but the development of the taiyaki was interrupted after that.

Trial production of "Yaki-imo Taiyaki" (baked sweet potato pancake)

　Time passed, and around the beginning of 2024, we made a prototype to see if we could make a "baked sweet potato taiyaki. We thought it would be a good idea to try a different arrangement than the sweet potato taiyaki that was already available at other taiyaki shops, so we tried baking it with baked sweet potatoes instead of sweet bean paste.

　The result was a failure. The baked sweet potatoes were tougher than tsubuan (sweet bean paste) and did not spread to every corner of the taiyaki mold. I had no choice but to add water to the baked potatoes to soften them, but the taste was still weak and not as good as before.

　So, I decided to add butter to make it thicker. I wanted to use salted butter, but the store only had unsalted butter, so I added salt separately.

　I expected it to taste better, but this time it turned out to be quite salty. It seemed I had added the wrong amount of salt.

　Then, I suddenly had an idea to make taiyaki by mixing salty baked sweet potatoes and mashed sweet bean paste roughly. The salty and sweet flavors mixed well together, and the combination of the sweet potato's flaky texture and the rich buttery flavor made for a taste unlike anything I had experienced before.

　However, to be honest, I didn't think it needed to be sweet potato, because I didn't really feel the sweet potato flavor anymore.

The "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" was completed, but...

　I tried again with potato instead of sweet potato, and it turned out to be more delicious.

　The sweetness of sweet potato disappears when mixed with sweet bean paste. Potatoes, which are less sweet to begin with, brought out the flavor and saltiness of the butter, which contrasted clearly with the sweetness of the mashed sweet bean paste.

　Another advantage is that "jaga-butter" is easier to imagine than butter-flavored sweet potatoes if you want to pair them with butter.

　I found myself closer to what I had imagined as an improved version of the "An Butter Taiyaki" that I had once given up on a few years ago.

　The potatoes hold the butter firmly in place, so there is no need to worry about it flowing out. It is best to eat it right then and there, but it can also be taken home and reheated to be enjoyed even after a little time has passed.

　Still, there was one more problem.

It was sold as a "substitute" for a limited amount of time, but it was revived as a seasonal menu item.

　The winter is the time when people crave for "Jaga Butter," but during the winter season, there were already so many popular items on the monthly changing menu that there was no room for them to be available. Therefore, the new menu item that we had developed was put on the shelf as "something we hope to serve someday.

　However, with the early termination of the "Kizami Ginger Taiyaki", we finally had a chance to introduce the new menu item. As a result, as mentioned above, it became the most popular ever, leading to this re-release.

■We will serve it throughout the cold season

　The "Jaga Butter Taiyaki" is not a monthly item, but a seasonal item. We plan to offer it for an indefinite period of time until the weather warms up.

Product Information

Product name: Jaga Butter Taiyaki

Price ： 450 yen (tax included)

Price ： 450 yen (tax included) ・Launch Date ： February 21, 2025 (Friday)

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