{"id":127463,"date":"2022-08-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-136339"},"modified":"2022-08-22T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T17:00:00","slug":"feature-kirby-cafe-tokyo-we-go-full-mouthful-mode-beneath-the-worlds-tallest-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/08\/22\/feature-kirby-cafe-tokyo-we-go-full-mouthful-mode-beneath-the-worlds-tallest-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Kirby Caf\u00e9 Tokyo &#8211; We Go Full Mouthful Mode Beneath The World&#8217;s Tallest Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f71ebd9f2a154\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f71ebd9f2a154\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<figure class=\"picture ptris\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Kirby Cafe Tokyo\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f71ebd9f2a154\/kirby-cafe-tokyo.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f71ebd9f2a154\/kirby-cafe-tokyo.900x.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" alt=\"Kirby Cafe Tokyo\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019re a long-time Nintendo Life reader, or a devout Kirby fan, then you might remember <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2016\/07\/nintendo_is_opening_a_kirby_cafe_in_japan\">that time Nintendo opened a small chain of Kirby-themed pop-up restaurants across Japan \u2013 christened Kirby Caf\u00e9, appropriately enough \u2013 in 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with its first temporary location in Osaka, that was quickly followed by two more in Tokyo and Nagoya. While all three locations only operated for a couple of months each, <a href=\"https:\/\/kirbycafe.jp\/tokyo\/\">Kirby Caf\u00e9 Tokyo<\/a> popped up once again in 2018 and proved so popular with fans of the \u201cpowerful, pink puff\u201d that it was ultimately reopened as a permanent establishment in 2019. Despite serving patrons for going on four years now (only two of which were during the fabled Before Times), Kirby Caf\u00e9 Tokyo remains one of the most exclusive themed restaurants in all Japan \u2013 perhaps only rivaled by <a href=\"https:\/\/kirbycafe.jp\/hakata\/\">Kirby Caf\u00e9 Hakata<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s little wonder, too. Not only is it located in the Tokyo Solamachi shopping complex at the base of Tokyo Skytree, the metropolis\u2019 most treacherous tourist trap, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/10\/gallery_you_know_its_probably_for_the_best_that_we_dont_live_near_a_kirby_cafe\">the menu is just so gosh darn cute<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Phoebe Ho, Andrew J. Rue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<h2>Online gaming<\/h2>\n<p>In fact, it wasn\u2019t long after I read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2022\/06\/random-you-can-eat-the-real-kirby-car-cake-at-the-kirby-cafe\">our recent coverage of the Kirby Caf\u00e9 special summer menu<\/a> that I began trying to reserve a table for two \u2014 Tokyo address has its privileges, after all \u2014 but it turns out that tables are only available through <a href=\"https:\/\/kirbycafe.jp\/tokyo\/\">online reservation<\/a>. Online reservations for the following month, meanwhile, can only be made beginning at 6:00 pm on the 10th of every month, and are about as stress-free to secure as a Nintendo Classic Mini preorder.<\/p>\n<p>When eighteen-hundred hours <em>exactly<\/em> eventually arrived on 10th July, I got relatively lucky and managed to reserve two seats for 1:55 pm on 7th August after refreshing the online reservations page dozens of times over the course of a half hour or so. Coincidentally, two of my coworkers also had hopes of devouring a car-mouth Kirby cake together this summer, but it reportedly took them well over an hour to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>After nearly a month of getting hype, my partner and I finally arrived at Tokyo Skytree Station on an uncomfortably humid and overcast Sunday afternoon. Evidently, Tokyo Skytree is the world&#8217;s tallest tower and the third tallest structure on the planet, and it was built in part to revitalize <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sumida,_Tokyo\">Sumida<\/a>. As such, it\u2019s surrounded by numerous lesser attractions, from hundreds of retail stores and restaurants to a planetarium and an aquarium, so it took us some wandering around Tokyo Skytree Town before we found the East Yard on the 4th floor of Tokyo Solomachi where Kirby Caf\u00e9 Tokyo is located.<\/p>\n<p>With the sun beating down on us through a break in the clouds, we waded through a large crowd gathered around a street magician, occasionally stopping to snap photos of the 634-meter-tall broadcasting tower looming directly over us before bumping into an illuminated statute of Kirby and Waddle Dee beckoning us to stop by the Kirby Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\">&#8220;Dorsia, that&#8217;s impressive!&#8221; \u2014 <em class=\"credit\">Images: Andrew J. Rue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<h2>Entering the magic Kirb-dom<\/h2>\n<p>Like many restaurants in Japan, stools were lined up outside for waiting customers. Unlike most restaurants in Japan, however, an enthusiastic server soon herded those of us waiting outside into a small group, verified our online reservations, and proceeded to orient us to the caf\u00e9, explaining the rules for ordering, COVID-19 protocols, and generally managing our expectations for the availability of the car-mouth Kirby cake.<\/p>\n<p>Once that spiel was out of the way, she began letting parties into the caf\u00e9 one at a time, offering us the option of taking photos at the entrance in front of a comically oversized Kirby Caf\u00e9 plate while holding a comically over-sized Kirby Caf\u00e9 fork and spoon. Feel welcome to post your best guesses in the comments below, but I\u2019m not going to spoil what the server said in lieu of \u201cCheese!\u201d as it was a genuinely delightful surprise.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the Neverending Pandemic, the caf\u00e9 appeared to only be operating at half capacity with the best social distancing precautions I\u2019ve seen any restaurant take in Japan. Besides an entrance straight out of a theme park, the rest of the caf\u00e9 was tastefully low-key, save for a giant Whispy Woods growing from a round table smack-dab in the middle of the dining area. If you look hard enough, however, you can find the occasional figurine here and there, such as a tiny Kirby inhaling tiny apples and a tiny Waddle Dee waving from a decorative wreathe.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Andrew J. Rue, Sakura Shibue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>The chill vibes were accented by vaguely familiar Kirby tunes, specially arranged and recorded for Kirby Caf\u00e9 by the musicians at HAL Laboratory to assure maximum relaxation. In fact, you might want to pick up both volumes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hallab.co.jp\/products\/kirbycafecd\/\">the Sound of Kirby Caf\u00e9<\/a> should you have the chance, since they\u2019re exclusively sold on CD at Kirby Caf\u00e9 and Kirby Caf\u00e9 The Store (no international shipping for online orders, predictably).<\/p>\n<h2>Stars, &#8216;Dees, and Kirbuttocks<\/h2>\n<p>We happened to be shown to two seats directly behind Whispy Woods, and while I imagined the seats directly in front of the iconic first-level boss would have provided better photos of his summer best, nearly every table in the caf\u00e9 boasted something unique and special to point at and exclaim, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kawaii\">\u201cKawaii!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Andrew J. Rue, Phoebe Ho, Jessica Lin<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>I imagined the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omurice\">omurice<\/a> would be the best dish on the menu at a caf\u00e9 like this, but since I had trouble deciding on just one thing, I ended up ordering the Waddle Dee avocado soy burger with spaghetti and meat sauce since it came with a little bit of everything. My partner, on the other hand, seized a rare opportunity to enjoy a seafood dish in my presence and ordered the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lomi-lomi_salmon\">lomi-lomi salmon<\/a> and avocado over rice, served inside a Waddle Dee. While I had the option of paying an extra fee to take my plate home with me as a souvenir, my partner got to take her lidded plastic bowl home for free.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Jessica Lin, Andrew J. Rue, Sakura Shibue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>For a drink, I ordered an iced <em>cafe au lait<\/em>, which came with my choice between three impossibly adorable marshmallows: Kirby riding a Warp Star, Waddle Dee snoozing on a cloud, and for some reason, Kirby\u2019s \u2013 <em>ahem<\/em> \u2013 buttocks. Naturally, I was tempted to order the buttocks, but my better half convinced me to order the Warp Star for the benefit of this very article. Unfortunately, she opted for a simple, no-frills iced coffee, but both of our drinks came with a choice between several paper coasters, which we were also allowed to take home for free as souvenirs. Should you ever have the chance to visit any of these caf\u00e9s while in Japan, I would recommend telling the server when you would prefer to enjoy your drink, otherwise whatever you order will be brought to your table as soon as it\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n<h2>What a Mouthful<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, we had no choice but to order the mouth-car Kirby cake from the special summer menu.<\/p>\n<p>Before entering the caf\u00e9, we were warned that the cake was limited to one per table and could take upwards of 45 minutes to prepare due to its popularity. So, we were surprised when it arrived together with our meal shortly after our drinks. Again, I personally would have preferred the cake to have been served after the meal along with our drinks, but the service was otherwise friendly and attentive.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Andrew J. Rue, Sakura Shibue, Jessica Lin<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>And although the meal was honestly no better than any school lunch I ate during my stint as an English teacher in Japan, the cake was astonishingly decent. To be sure, it was the perfect dessert for the summer heat, served nice and chilled while neither being too tart nor sweet. The bulk of the confection was made out of a strawberry-flavored blancmange set atop a thin slice of sponge cake that sported chocolate and cheese wheels, a pretzel stick bumper, and apple feet. Before digging in, I felt strangely compelled to apologize to the game item so lovingly brought to life before us.<\/p>\n<p>The caf\u00e9 generously offered us an hour and a half to take pictures, enjoy our meals, and shop for souvenirs but requested that we order everything we wanted to eat or drink up front and not add on to our order later. Let the diner beware: the portions are far smaller than the pictures or prices would otherwise lead you to believe.<\/p>\n<h2>Exit through the gift shop<\/h2>\n<p>When you\u2019re good and ready to leave, both you and your wallet will have to survive a perilous journey through the souvenir shop.<\/p>\n<p>You could be forgiven for mistaking this area of the caf\u00e9 for Kirby Caf\u00e9 The Store, but it\u2019s actually a glorified impulse shopping isle. The real store is located on the other end of the building, down the hall and directly across from the Pok\u00e9mon Center.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to check in at the kiosk with your Nintendo Account before paying your check to grab a free Kirby Caf\u00e9 sticker, and bring at least a month\u2019s pay with you to Kirby Caf\u00e9 The Store as it\u2019s brimming with exclusive merch, be it a giant Chef Kirby plushie, a pouch fashioned after a Kirby burger, or a replica refrigerator magnet of the very Kirby pizza you ordered. And while you\u2019re here, you may as well buy a ticket and ascend 450 meters to the upper observation deck of Tokyo Skytree for a panoramic view of Godzilla\u2019s old stomping grounds like we did.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\"><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Images: Andrew J. Rue, Sakura Shibue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;Delicious times, precious memories&#8221; indeed.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>We\u2019d like to thank Sakura Shibue, Jessica Lin, and Phoebe Ho for generously contributing additional photos to this article. If you&#8217;re in Japan and want to visit this Kirby Caf\u00e9, you can make a reservation via <a href=\"https:\/\/kirbycafe.jp\/tokyo\/\">the official Kirby Caf\u00e9 Tokyo website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image: Nintendo Life If you\u2019re a long-time Nintendo Life reader, or a devout Kirby fan, then you might remember that time Nintendo opened a small chain of Kirby-themed pop-up restaurants across Japan \u2013 christened Kirby Caf\u00e9, appropriately enough \u2013 in 2016. Beginning with its first temporary location in Osaka, that was quickly followed by two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}