Cafe Watoto in Obama, Fukui

This is the right way to relax: delicious food and rich coffee in an old, beautiful Japanese-style cafe.

This is Cafe Watoto, a small, friendly, family-run restaurant in the quaint rice fields of Obama, Fukui.

They serve a wonderful seasonal selection of drinks, sweets, and great lunch sets.

In addition, a few times every year, local Wakasa Higashi High School students serve up unique, housemade lunch sets made with plenty of fresh, local ingredients.

These are unbelievably good!

I can't recommend them highly enough. Stop by for a lovely day of delicious food and cute doggies. Reservations on busy weekends are also highly recommended. Check their website or Facebook page for more info!

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Hanako-kun x Princess Cafe (プリンセスカフェ＆ショップ大阪新館) in Osaka

Although I had not yet read any of the manga or watched the anime, I went to the Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun themed roll ice at the Roll Ice Cream Factory. After that, I also agreed to go to the Hanako-kun themed cafe in Osaka, so I made it a point to get into the manga just a bit so I can at least identify the characters before going. You know what, though? The art is pretty, the characters are cute, and the story is unique, so it’s worth the read.

The Princess Cafe is in Den Den Town (the Osaka version of Akihabara), so there are blocks full of anime and electronic shops nearby. Their collaboration menu is simple with only a few main dishes, four colorful drinks, and a few sweet treats.

I opted for the Tsukasa Omelette Rice Curry for 1300￥ ($12 USD) and the Strawberry Milk for 800￥.

My friends ordered the teishoku set, melon Calpis drinks, and jelly desserts. As with many other cafes, we were also given a coaster for each food item ordered as part of the theme.

The drinks came quickly and they were very cute with the printed edible characters atop each item. The food was simple, but well made and also undeniably cute. I suppose the same could be said about the desserts but I did not personally order one.

While I wouldn’t say this was the most elaborate cafe, especially compared to the Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe, I’d say it was an enjoyable experience for Hanako-kun fans!

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Roll Ice Cream Factory (ロールアイスクリームファクトリー) in Nagoya, Aichi

I am not surprised to see the massive, growing popularity of roll ice cream all around Japan. Essentially, it is an ice cream dessert made by super-cooling creamy dairy products over a pan and scraping them off into little rolls. Top off with additional sweet toppings and you have roll ice cream. Simple, very cold, and delicious…

Roll Ice Cream Factory is a growing chain serving these desserts, but the reason we stopped this time was for their new Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun) collaboration ice cream and tapioca boba drinks. These treats are patterned after different characters and it actually started on the day we went! Though, unfortunately due to shipping and production issues, the mascot characters shown on the menu were unavailable. Well, we ordered them anyway.

We opted for one roll ice cream of each collab flavor, @lavioli with the Kou Vanilla x Mango, @83castellas with the Hanako-kun Strawberry, and I chose the Nene Chocolate Mint at 900￥ ($8 USD) each. As expected of such a simple treat, they were all sweet and creamy, though I think the mango had the most prominent flavor of the bunch.

We also ordered some tapioca drinks which have really started growing in popularity everywhere <l>. Unfortunately, RICF is known for their ice cream and not their tapioca… the 800￥ drinks were too milky and not flavored enough and the regular black tapioca had no flavor and merely average texture. My strawberry bits and tapioca were a bit better, but a bit too sweet. These drinks are strongly not recommended; I would’ve gladly eaten another ice cream instead.

As part of the collab, we received a coaster with each item order though we got stuck with 3 of Tsukasa... too bad we couldn’t get an even collection of all the featured characters between us three!

 

Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe (ファイナルファンタジー エオルゼアカフェ) in Osaka

I usually don’t go to themed cafes unless I’m really interested in the theme… the last one I went to was the Pokemon Cafe in Tokyo a year and a half ago. The theme and whole setup was super kawaii and perfectly used a “Super Effective!” attack on my wallet. However, while the food was visually appealing, it was a bit average.

So when my friends invited me to the Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe, I was intrigued, but somewhat reserved. The food certainly wouldn’t match the slick theme, could it?

In collaboration with Pasela, a chain of restaurants, resorts, and karaoke rooms across Japan, I am surprisingly pleased to say the food and drinks were great!

Among the four of us, we covered a pretty impressive spread of menu items. I was recommended the Azim plate which had some soft, juicy slices of beef atop some amazingly flavorful rice… it is something that I would order again at any restaurant!

I also ordered the Heaven-on-High, an impressive tower of real, deep-fried onion rings and fried fish.

Advanced reservations are required at 1000￥ ($9 USD) which also includes one drink selection. I opted for their limited Caramel Tea. Everything we ordered also was quite good, but everyone raved about the Minfilia Almond drink which tastes like liquid almond pudding.

There are plenty of yummy themed desserts to satisfy any fan.

Of course, the whole theme and exclusivity meant that nothing else was “cheap,” but the experience is worth going for any Final Fantasy XIV fan!

★★★★★ · Cafe · Dotonbori, 1 Chome−4−27 なんば 道頓堀 店 4F パセラ リゾーツ

A Happy Pancake (幸せのパンケーキ) in Kyoto

I can’t always eat ramen when I go out, can I? This past weekend, I went with some friends to Shiawase no Pancake (“A Happy Pancake”) in Kyoto. They are actually a chain of fluffy pancake shops, so you can find them around Tokyo and Osaka as well. Its popularity speaks volumes about the chain, as they are always busy at all times of the day.

They have a few variations of their pancakes, mainly varying toppings and prices.

While everything looked delicious, I opted for their Rich Cheese Mousse and Berry Sauce Pancakes for 1250￥ ($11.50 USD) and a hot coffee for 200￥ more.

Jenny ordered the Kyoto-only Hojicha Tiramisu Pancakes and Josie the Seasonal Fruits Pancakes. As you can see, they all looked absolutely deliciously decadent.

The texture was unbelievably fluffy, soft, and pillowy. Never before have I ever had such light, yet rich pancakes, though they do not taste at all like the typical American diner pancakes. They are more akin to the eggy taste of a Chinese egg tart with the softness of a bread pudding. Which means delicious.

The toppings, too, were varied between our dishes, though I definitely think I had the best choice with the creaminess of cheese and whip complementing the sweet eggyness of the pancake, cut with tartness from the berry sauce. Ridiculously delicious with a price to match.

Would it be worth the wait? To those seeking a savory-sweet snack (there are those options available) or a sweet treat, definitely. I’d personally prefer to wait for a ramen, but you know, sometimes having a lovely meal with some lovely ladies is a nice change of pace.

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