Soft Serve in Fish-Shaped Cones Is the Newest NYC Sweets Craze

It’s a traditional Japanese treat but with a big mouth

The newest long line, Instagram-friendly treat in New York is a fish-shaped ice cream cone filled with soft serve at new Chinatown shop Taiyaki NYC. It opened earlier this month and already sports crazy lines for its big-mouthed fish cone. The ice cream shop’s social media game has been strong. Taiyaki is a cute traditional Japanese treat that’s usually filled with red bean paste, and it’s been served in New York in for years. Otafuku in the East Village, for example, has been open since 2000. But from the start, Taiyaki NYC had a hashtag for their offering, caught on with media, and named themselves after the treat itself — making it particularly difficult to find other restaurants that serve taiyaki in New York.

The new ice cream shop does do something differently than the traditional fish-shaped cake, which has been around long before Instagram. Its version of the fish cake has a large mouth, created with a special griddle. The soft serve that fills the cake cone has a Japanese bent too, with flavors like matcha and black sesame and additions like red bean and mochi. They cost $7.