You may have read our previous report about Ms. Kitty taking on the tough job of being baked into small golden brown cakes. Well, it appears she was just getting warmed up for a huge number of engagements in the Shibuya area this week. When yours truly, a humble Hello Kitty fan, found out that Ms. Kitty would be appearing in various edible forms at the food department of the Tokyu Toyoko Department Store in Shibuya, I knew I just had to go and see Ms. Kitty hard at work. And wow, has she been keeping herself busy!
When I arrived at the Tokyu Toyoko Department Store, I found to my delight that Ms. Kitty had practically taken over their entire food section – Ms. Kitty was everywhere! Tokyu Department Store was apparently putting on a Hello Kitty collaboration fair and the panels they had on display showed just how many Helly Kitty products were being offered.
So, let me share with you some of the adorable edible Kitties I found. In the mood for something sweet? How about some Hello Kitty macaroons? Or Hello Kitty cheesecake?
Even the fruits were dressed up in honor of Ms. Kitty. See the beautifully decorated cantaloupe. (Check out the price tag!)
Or, if you’re in the mood for a salty snack, they also had cans of Hello Kitty nori seaweed chips in four different flavors – plum, sesame, wasabi & sesame and brown rice (genmai).
Ms. Kitty was even transformed into “inari sushi“ – a sweet soy-sauce flavored pouch of tofu filled with rice. (No, it doesn’t involve raw fish.)
After roaming the food department of the Tokyu Toyoko Store to my heart’s content, I bought 2 types of Hello Kitty bento box lunches to take home. One came in a delightful plastic box in the shape of Ms. Kitty’s face and contained 2 pieces of inari sushi along with fried chicken, flavored boiled shrimp, Japanese-style eggs cooked liked an omelet (tamago-yaki) and vegetables including tomatoes and broccoli.
The other box lunch I bought was a truly artistic creation. It featured Hello Kitty’s face created with rice and garnished with seasoned ground chicken and Japanese style sweet scrambled eggs, with teriyaki chicken, grilled fish, carrots and broccoli on the side.
As cute as the box lunches were, I have to say that I was impressed that they were not just about incorporating Hello Kitty’s image; they were both very decent lunches that were a joy to eat.
I also bought dessert, a Hello Kitty anmitsu – a traditional Japanese sweet with read bean paste, agar, and fruit served in syrup.
And this was my prize acquisition of the day – a magnificent Hello Kitty strawberry shortcake. I actually bought this at the Shibuya Hikarie, the new shopping & entertainment complex that just opened on April 26th, located across the street from the Tokyu Toyoko Department Store.
So, my visit to the Tokyu Toyoko Department Store in search of Ms. Kitty was definitely a huge pleasure. The Hello Kitty fair is a limited time event that ends on May 9th, but I hope we will be seeing more fun collaborations with innovative and beautifully created food items, because all of these Hello Kitty products were certainly a feast for the senses. And once again, Ms. Kitty, we are impressed by your professionalism, appearing in so many different and delicious forms for our eating enjoyment. We hope you keep up the good work!