In Shibuya, Tokyo
A limited-time Cardcaptor Sakura Cafe is open in Shibuya's Parco department store until December 25, 2023. The cafe features a Chinese motif and inspired cuisine.
My Experience
We made reservations and visited the cafe on a Saturday. The process of booking reservations was a little complicated, since you need to sign up for the lawson ticket app and book the tickets through the app. Other than that, the process was really smooth! We arrived at the cafe about 10 minutes before our registration time. They gave us the menu while we were waiting in line, and they took our order beforehand. You aren't allowed to order anything extra afterwards, so it's a good idea to decide what you'll be getting ahead of time. We paid before entering the cafe and there was a 1 hour time limit from when you received our food.
The cafe wallpapers were really cute! They had clow, sakura, and clear cards on the walls, as well as shots of sakura in various adorable outfits, and Sakura and Syaoran in their Chinese outfits in theme with the cafe. They also had monitors of the show playing in the background, but you aren't allowed to take pictures of it. Also, generally no filming of the cafe interior is allowed, but pictures are okay!
Each menu item comes with a coaster of one of the cardcaptor characters. We received Sakura, Syaoran, Sakura/Tomoe, Kero/Suppi, Toyo, and Yuna coasters. The dimsum set also comes with Sakura and Syaoran luncheon mats!
Sakura card & clear card cream sodas
The restaurant featured cream sodas based on the types of cards. There was also a clow card cream soda, but we only ordered the sakura and clear card ones. The sakura one is a lemon squash flavor and the clear one is a lemon soda flavor. Both came with a dollop of yogurt icecream on the top. The sodas weren't particularly sweet and the yogurt flavor was quite strong when mixed into the soda. It was similar to like citrus-y sparking water, but I would've liked it more maybe without the yogurt and if it was a tad bit sweeter!
Kero-chan braised pork burger
The Kero-chan braised pork burger was a burger with braised pork, lettuce, tomato, and scrambled eggs. It also came with a side of fries, ketchup, and sweet chili mayo sauce. The braised pork was actually quite good! I wasn't a huge fan of the scrambled eggs in the burger though. The burger bun was also a little eggier than normal, but not in a bad way! It just made it more flavorful and a bit chewier. The fries were also good and tasted like regular izakaya/Mcdonald's fries.
Kero-chan dimsum set
The Kero-chan dimsum set came with four layers. It was very cute and surprisingly tasty! Maybe like one level below a regular Chinese restaurant in terms of taste!
The first layer came with sticy rice, a steamed bun, and kinshi(?) shumai. I believe the kinshi shumai is like a seafood egg dumpling. The sticky rice and kinshi shumai were good. The steamed bun was also fine, but I was a little surprised there wasn't any filling. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to put the shumai in the steamed bun or something, but I think it's just supposed to be eaten on its own.
The second layer came with shrimp dumplings, shrimp and cheese rolls, and a black sesame dumpling. I kind of wish they gave us shoyu for the shrimp dumplings, but the taste was pretty good! They did give us ponzu sauce in the fourth layer, but I still think having shoyu would've been better. The shrimp cheese rolls were also tasty! My favorite was the black sesame dumpling though. The outside was nice and crispy and the inside had a tasty gooey black sesame paste.
The third layer came with tofu shumai, crab shumai, and a pork bun. The crab shumai and the tofu shumai were good! The pork bun was also decent. I love the little decorations on top of the pork bun and the tofu shumai. The pork bun was a cute size, which I liked since there was still a lot of stuff left to eat! To be honest the fillings for most of the shumai all tasted very similar to me.
The last layer came with two Hisui shrimp gyoza, ponzu sauce, and two sesame dumplings (one filled with red bean paste, and one filled with custard). The shrimp dumplings were okay. I really liked the sesame dumplings though! They were probably my favorite part of the dimsum. The red bean paste one was delicious and the custard one was really unique, but I enjoyed it!
Sakura fruits parfait
The sakura fruits parfait came with yogurt, grapes, berries, pieces of cake, and icecream. The parfait was really good! The grapes were fresh and the berry sauce went well with the cake and yogurt.
Kero-chan takoyaki?! shaved ice
The shaved ice was probably my favorite dish! It came with a Kero-chan background you could take pictures with. The shaved ice is supposed to resemble takoyaki, which I think is a very adorable concept. It's milk tea flavored with boba, ice cream, and coffee jelly on the bottom. Honestly this dish was just so adorable and the flavors went really well together!
Gift shop
After we finished our meal, we were able to look around the gift shop. The gift shop had clear files, these super cute thread badges, buttons, cards, tea, snacks, towels, keychains/holders, water bottles, cups, card holders, stationary, etc.. They even had cute clow card magnets but they were all sold out unfortunately! I bought two thread buttons and an acyrllic clip. Both are like gacha, so you can't see which one you're getting beforehand. I ended up with a Kero-chan and Suppi thread badge and a Momo clip. The shop also had a special sticker creator, where you could create stickers with your name on it!
Overall I really enjoyed my experience at this cafe. I think the taste was a lot better than some of the other themed cafes and the design of the dishes were really cute! I felt like they could've maybe put more into the cafe decorations. The patterns on the wall and the table were cute and I liked the Sakura wallpaper, but I do wish the decorations were't just the wallpaper and that there was more of a cute-sy vibe to the cafe. The merchandise was also adorable and I really like the designs for the buttons. The art style is so cute! In any case, I highly recommend visiting if you're a fan of Cardcaptor Sakura!
Official site https://cafe.parco.jp/parade/detail/?id=8690
Address
Shibuya Parco 6F TOKYO PARADE goods&cafe
15-1 Udagawacho, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-8377
Date
November 23, 2023 - December 25, 2023
Time
11:00 - 21:00 on weekdays
10:00 - 21:00 on weekends and holidays
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