I love theme cafes! They’re unique, fun and the food is always beyond cute. For my birthday, my boyfriend and I had lunch at the Gudetama Cafe in Osaka! Originally it was meant to be a temporary pop-up, but it had gained so much popularity that they completely renovated the space and made it a permanent cafe. As luck would have it, their grand opening was on December 19th… my actual birthday! I was beyond excited and even more thrilled to find that there was no wait to get in.
If you’re unfamiliar with Gudetama, he is the newest and currently most popular addition to the Sanrio family. Gudetama literally translates to “lazy egg,” which pretty much sums up his character. He’s super cute and incredibly lazy. So, if you’ve ever lacked the motivation to get out of bed in the morning (like me), Gudetama just might be your spirit animal… err, umm food?
The interior is quite spacious and splashed with shades of bright yellow and orange. Banners and pop art of the lazy egg hang from the walls and ceilings. There are even large Gudetama plushies distributed among the tables, in case you’d like the extra company. If you’d like to take a bit of Gudetama home with you, there’s also a small gift shop near the cash register.
I’d say that this place is a bit more restaurant than cafe, since it has a quite well rounded menu. There are a variety of main dishes, desserts and drinks. The menu was all in Japanese, so we basically made our choices based on the photos. The staff was super friendly and could speak a bit of English, so we were able to ask about some of the items, particularly the drinks. You can check out their full menu HERE, but unfortunately it’s all in Japanese.
We decided to start off with two main dishes. First we ordered the “White Curry,” (¥1,000) which we didn’t know was curry until we actually started eating it. This dish came with yellow Gudetama shaped rice wrapped in a bacon “blanket.” It comes served in a white curry with a side of grilled veggies (potato, cherry tomato, sweet pumpkin). Although the adorable presentation is what drew me in, the curry was really delicious and full of flavour. I think this was my favourite.
The second dish was the “Beef Donburi” (¥1,100) which was just your basic beef bowl. It comes with a bowl of white rice topped with seasoned stir-fried beef, onions, scallions and of course a Gudetama egg in the middle. I really enjoyed this as well, it was well seasoned and quite filling. However, there wasn’t anything particularly special about it… aside from Gudetama’s sleepy face staring at you from the center of the bowl.
After much deliberation, I finally decided on the “Mango Pudding Crêpe” (¥1,100) for dessert. This was the hardest choice for me to make since all the desserts looked so good! This crêpe came with a delicious piece of melt-in-your-mouth mango pudding topped with a dollop of whipped cream, mango syrup and a fresh cherry. What’s even better is that there was a hidden scoop of vanilla ice cream beneath the pudding! It was heaven. My only complaint would be that the crêpe itself wasn’t very good. It was a bit chewy actually, but if you eat it with everything else it’s great!
Finally, I decided to wash it all down with a nice hot “Chai Tea Latte” (¥600). It was well made, not too sweet, and it came with some very cute latte art. It was the perfect way to to wrap up my birthday lunch and our first visit to the Gudetama Cafe. It was a bit pricey I’ll admit, but the service was great, the food was delicious and of course the presentation was beyond cute. I definitely recommend this place if you’re looking to try something cute and unique.
- Hours
- 11:00am~10:30pm
- Address
- Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Kita-ku, Kakuta-chou, HEP FIVE Shopping Center 7th floor
- 大阪府大阪市北区角田町5-15 HEP FIVE 7F
- Phone
- 06-6366-3694
- Website (Japanese Only)
