Rice Culture - Chantilly

I saw IG posting about their popup in Fairfax. And $5 a piece of fish waffle that is lukewarm and minimal amount of filling, thought that was pretty average quality only until I have found a bag of frozen version with more portion for $4.99 at Korean grocery and air fried at home gave me a lot better satisfaction. $3-$3.50 would make sense more selling at pop ups for that quality.

I saw Ube while wandering around the Bethesda Farmers Market and had to try it. I went with the ube flan cheesecake float (ube cream, leche flan, biscoff crumble). I was afraid it would be overly sweet with that triple combo, but I was pleasantly surprised. The 3 distinct flavors pair well together, and it was not too sweet at all, just right. I only wish there was a little more of it- seemed small for $8. Maybe due to inflation? Definitely a nice and unique special treat for a holiday weekend.

Found out about this place on Instagram and gave them a try at the Art Blooms festival in Mosaic District. It seems like a great product from how they advertise themselves online and I was excited to try it. I purchased three flavors: Ube, Golden Oreo, and Vanilla Custard. There was a decently sized line that went pretty fast which was nice. I could describe the taiyaki crust as a light pancake that was cooked well and crunchy but also a bit underdone in some parts. The flavors were also varied, I enjoyed the Vanilla Custard the most, it had a nice creamy texture and mellow vanilla flavor. Ube was also fine with a mellow taste to it as well. The Golden Oreo was honestly tasteless and it felt like I was just chewing on some kind of flavorless pudding. I see the other reviews have had other things on the menu that look good but unfortunately I have not tried them. Overall, my impression of the taiyaki is that they could use a bit more cooking time and a bit more savory flavor overall but this place is worth trying once to see if you'll personally like it or not. In my opinion its not worth checking out again after having tried it once.

They were outside The Block Hall and the service and food was Great! They are worth the try!

Save your money!! I was so disappointed with this place.I had bookmarked this place to try and saw they had a stand at The Block. I was surprised at the $5 cost of one item, but I should've saved the money. The first picture was when I opened the bag. The pancake split open itself and all the filling was oozed out. I tried it anyway. The dough wasn't good. Very light and breaks apart easily. Not chewy at all. The fish is also not enclosed around the pastry, so the filling just fell out.I took it back and asked for a different flavor: ube. I was thinking the filling would be thicker, but it was the same as the vanilla. I should've went to the store in the shopping center to get a frozen pack, which would've been better.