It was late on a Monday night. I’d just finished teaching and had walked into my local 7-11 to grab a bite to eat before the walk home.

A girl I’d seen regularly around the area came up and started to talk to me. She told me her parents lived in Taichung and she’d just come back from visiting them over the weekend.

“Wait a minute, I have present for you-” she blurted out mid conversation. Before I had a chance to even process what she’d said, protest or ask her why she was off racing down to her apartment.

I was left standing in 7-11 wondering just what she’d gotten me…

About ten minutes past and she came racing back,

“These are from Taichung. These cakes are very famous in Taiwan and are delicious. One is coffee and one is cherry. For you!”

“Uh, thanks.”

I didn’t really know what to say. I had no idea why she was giving the cakes to me but I thought’d it’d be worse if I refused. She just seemed to excited to share them with me.

She didn’t know the English name for them but after hitting the internet worked out they were ‘Dorayaki cakes’, which originate from Japan.

Taste and look wise they are just like pancakes but a bit fluffier and cakier. Whereas a pancake is fried these tasted like they’d been somehow baked.

The fillings weren’t too bad either, although cherry was definitely better then the coffee filling. Instead of sweet coffee they’d opted to go for a savoury flavour which I felt clashed with the pancake texture.

I have no idea where to find Dorayaki cakes here in Taiwan and to be honest I’d probably choose a donut over one if given the choice but it was something different to try.

I got the sense that if I was eating a Dorayaki cake in Australia, being Japanese I’d be paying through the nose for one. Sometimes it’s nice being so close to central Asia.