Pikachu Cafe!

Hey everyone!
So I am back with a brand new post!

A limited-time Pikachu Cafe has recently opened up in Roppongi hills!
The cafe opened on the 19th of July and will be around until August 31st. It is part of the Pokémon the Movie XY Exhibit that is being held at the Tokyo City View observation deck on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower Building. It is pretty close to the station and right by the Spider statue in Roppongi hills so it isn't hard to get to.

Being a Pokémon fan since childhood, a visit to this restaurant was a must so a few mutually enthusiastic friends and I ventured up to Roppongi yesterday to check it out.

If you go now you can also catch a limited-time exhibit of Doraemon (a famous anime) statues which are near the permanent spider statue. There were lots of people crowded around all the different Doraemon figures so don't expect to get a snap with your favorite one straight away!

Doraemon army!

No waiting for pictures at night!

They also had a dokodemo door anywhere door from the anime which had a short queue of people waiting to take photos.

dokodemo door

 Onto the main attraction... Pokémon!

Ash Ketchum... ah, my first crush!

 The Pokémon exhibit is being held to coincide with the new film Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction which is currently being shown in cinemas in Japan.

Being on an observation deck you can bet there are some pretty good views of the city as you walk through the observation deck (It does mean, however, that you need to buy a ticket up to the observation deck as well as the exhibition, but as students this came to 1500 yen - 2000 yen for adults). You can get your photo taken with the view in the background - a mini copy of the photo is given to you for free but you have to pay for the full-sized version.

Choose your Pokémon!

 Near the beginning of the exhibit you can find out your starter Pokémon by choosing one of 4 Pokéballs and following the path to your destined buddy! It was mainly for the kids but there were plenty of adults enjoying themselves. In fact there may have been more adults then children at the exhibit!

Who's that Pokémon?!

 The exhibit had original artwork of the characters and scenes and videos showing their search for locations for the films. I had no idea that location scouting was done for cartoon films but you could certainly see how they had incorporated it into some of the sceneries of the movies.

One of my favorite parts was a dark room with lots of glowing Pokéballs and atmospheric lighting. Without wanting to give too much away you could touch the Pokéballs to find out what Pokémon would be summoned!



After looking around the exhibit we were excited to finally see the Pikachu cafe!

What a cute menu!

While in the line we were given a rather cute Pikachu shaped menu to look at.

Once you have decided on a meal you use one of these machines often seen outside ramen restaurants to pay for your meal. You insert your money and push the buttons that correspond to the dishes you want. The machine prints you a ticket which you give to the waiter after you are guided to your table.

 

The café in all its glory!

 The food at the Pikachu cafe was - as may be expected - all Pokémon themed. They had ice cream floats that corresponded to different Pokémon and came with a matching coaster.

Food on offer was: a Pikachu curry, beef stew with omelette and Pokéball rice, Pikachu burger and a Pikachu curry bun. There was also a mango flavoured Pikachu pudding and a Pikachu parfait for dessert. All the food, was naturally adorable!

Blue oranges always were my favorite fruit

As usual I couldn't resist the unnatural allure of the blue Froakie drink which was 'blue orange' flavour. I, forever the naughty child, took the Fennekin coaster instead of the matching one!

I got the Pikachu parfait for desert which had a mango Pikachu pudding on top with layers of cream, fruit, cornflakes all decorated with blue sugar shards. It was really tasty, especially the strawberry sauce layer, but the kiwi sauce at the bottom was a little too strong without the cream.

My friend had the Pikachu curry

The Pikachu pudding

The teriyaki burger was delicious!

Don't worry it wasn't all mine!

The little Pikachu factory!

After the meal we headed up to the top of the building for an amazing view of the city unmarred by the reflections of glass windows. There is a little area where a photographer will take a photo of you with the amazing scenery in the background. You can also give them your camera to take one photo so there is no need to purchase the printed version which is kind!

Don't worry, if you feel that you didn't manage to get your fill of Pokémon, you can head on down to the temporary Pokémon shop where you can shop to your hearts content!

If you are a Pokémon fan, or just like meals so cute you don't want to bite into them and you are in Tokyo before the end of August I suggest giving the Pokémon exhibit and cafe a try!

Day 142 - Izakaya in Ikebukuro (Zawatami)

Hey everyone!
I hope you are all well!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I have had lots of coursework lately and just recently had to move to a new house! It is the holiday now so hopefully I should more time to write posts up.

On January 24th a group of friends and I went to an izakaya in Ikebukuro.

One of our friends was coming to visit from another part of Japan so we wanted to go somewhere nice. We eventually decided on trying out an izakaya called Zawatami.

Zawatami 座和民 is a chain of izakaya Japanese pub that is part of an even larger group of restaurants so there are many of them across Tokyo. We went to the branch near Sunshine City.

When you enter you need to remove our shoes before stepping into the elevated floor. There free lockers  that you can store your shoes. The lockers were even big enough to hold my tall boots.

I really liked the atmosphere of this izakaya, it had quite a Japanese feel to it. Our table was in  an enclosed area with tatami flooring and cushions. But there was a sunken area to put your feet in case you don't like sitting in seiza kneeling. You can also choose between smoking and non-smoking areas.

Ther menu had a wide range of food from sashimi to chips. Being an izakaya there was naturally lots of exciting cocktails on offer too. We ordered lots of things to share which is always a great way to eat!

As usual I couldn't resist the allure of the unnaturally blue drink

fried Gyoza dumplings

Cheese-filled meat croquettes - bad for the heart, good for the soul

tofu!

Takoyaki squid balls

The food was really nice and the table we were sitting at was perfect for catching up as the seating was quite intimate and we could all face each other.

If your ever in Japan I definitely recommend trying out an Izakaya!