5

Remeber Gudetama, the lazy egg character from Hello Kitty owner Sanrio? Well, it turns out that the unmotivated egg with an extremely unmascot-like personality has gained quite a following in Japan. Apparently, his soft appearance and to an even greater extent, his lazy disposition, which prompts him to mutter phrases like “I have no strength” and “I can’t feel motivated enough to do anything” have earned him considerable popularity. In fact, he’s popular enough to have had his very own character cafe for a limited time in the past, and recently, he’s been collaborating with Dotonbori, a chain of restaurants that serves okonomiyaki, which are Japanese pancakes containing various ingredients such as cabbage, meat and seafood.

That’s right, at Dotonbori, you can use actual eggs to add realistic Gudetama faces to your food. Now, that sounded like too much fun to pass up, so our reporters from our Japanese sister site went to one of the Dotobori shops and actually tried it! 

▼ Here we are at a local Dotonbori shop.

9

The Gudetama collaborative foods have been on the menu at Dotonbori since mid-April and will be served until June 14. All the items are apparently based on illustrations from Gudetama’s official Twitter account, and the best part, of course, is that you get to decorate the eggs used in the foods with a Gudetama face. And the face looks super realistic and cute to boot!

▼ The four Gudetama collaborative menu items: the “Gudetama okonomiyaki with a grated yam facial pack”, the “Gudetama monjayaki (pan-fried batter similar to okonomiyaki) with scrambled eggs and blankets of bacon”, the “Excessively entangled Gudetama stir-fried udon noodles kamatama style (mixed with raw egg)” and the ”Gutdetama beef tendon rice bowl”.

1b4

Hmm … but one concern we had was that collaborative food menus tend to be on the pricey side. In this case, a combination set of one of the food items and a side order (drink or dessert), plus a limited edition Gudetama towel was priced at 1,296 yen (US$10.89), which we guess wasn’t too bad. Plus, if you order two sets, you get an additional tote bag with an illustration of Gudetama showing off his adorable behind!

2b5

And we were dying to find out how the Gudetama face was going to be made. Well, it turns out you get a sticker with Gudetama’s face printed on it along with the food. The sticker is made from edible material, and you stick it on top of the food once it had been prepared. The okonomiyaki and monjayaki in particular require a bit of preparation at the table before you can eat them.

▼ The edible Gudetama face sticker:

3b5

When we received the sticker, we wondered if it might be difficult to place the sticker on the food properly, but it was easier than we imagined. And even if the sticker gets stuck on a little crooked or off-center, this is Gudetama, after all, and you don’t have to worry about all the facial parts being exactly where they should be — a little imperfection could even add to the charm, and how you apply the stickers will determine what your Gudetama looks like. It’s quite fun, in a way, like when you’re making character-themed bento (kyaraben) lunches.

All the items were enjoyable enough, including the flavorful beef tendon rice bowl containing pieces of chewy konnyaku yam cake and the monjayaki with the cute bacon blankets, but we particularly liked the  “Okonomiyaki with grated yam facial pack” and, the “Excessively entangled Gudetama stir-fried udon noodles kamatama style”.

▼ Here are the ingredients for the “Okonomiyaki with grated yam facial pack”.

10
▼ And here’s the twitter illustration this dish is based on.

▼ The menu gives instructions on how to make the okonomiyaki, so there’s no need to worry.

11

▼ We cook all the ingredients into a pancake like shape and pour the grated yam on top.

12

▼ Now, to add the egg on top of the okonomiyaki..

13
▼ And for the final touch, we add Gudetama’s face to the egg!

14
▼ We followed the instructions closely to get it exactly right.

15
▼ You may get better results if you just do it quickly without hesitating.

16
▼ Here’s our Gudetama okonomiyaki!

4
▼Our reporter Meg looks very happy with the result.

17

The yam “facial pack” was soft and delightful, especially combined with the fluffy texture of the okonomiyaki itself. Even though the okonomiyaki was cooked well, it seemed to melt in our mouths.

4b4

▼ Oh no, that looks a little painful … but we ate our Gudetama egg anyway.

19

And the kamatama-style udon noodles were strongly flavored with spicy mentaiko (cod roe) and a rich, savory stock. The noodles had a delightful, firm texture, making the dish more than just another collaborative food item.

▼The “Excessively entangled Gudetama stir-fried udon noodles kamatama style”:

6

▼ Yup, it looks very much like the Twitter illustration.

20
▼ The texture and scent of the mentaiko made it a very satisfying dish.

21

Our other reporter, Yuuichiro, who accompanied Meg to the restaurant, didn’t know about Gudetama, but when asked whether he could see how closely the dish recreated the Twitter illustration and how it was supposed to represent “the things in life that entangle and constrain us”, he replied, “I’m not really sure, but the food is good. Seriously.”

▼ Yuuichiro is at somewhat of a loss as to how to react, since he didn’t know the character Gudetama.

18

▼ “Whatever this Gudetama character is, the food certainly tastes good!”

7

▼ And we also have pictures of the other two menu items! This is the “Gudetama monjayaki, and the way Gudetama uses pieces of bacon as a blankets is just adorable.

23
▼ Yes, Gudetama looks apathetic and unenergetic.

24

▼ And here we have the Gutdetama “beef tendon rice bowl”.

22

▼ We’re thinking this Tweet may be the inspiration for this dish.

00

▼ You get a towel for each set you order and also a tote bag for every two sets.

8

Now maybe this isn’t exactly in good taste, but we couldn’t resist trying to figure out whether the set really is good value, so we went online and found out on Amazon Japan that a similar Gudetama towel costs about 680 yen ($5.72), and a similar tote bag about 800 yen ($6.73).

Since the goods included in Dotonbori’s set meal are not for sale, the prices from Amazon Japan may not make for a  straightforward comparison, but fast food, drinks, and the Gudetama goods all together for 1,296 yen definitely sounds like a good deal. In fact, we have to say we’re impressed with Dotobonri’s generosity.

▼Three of the four towels we received were the same design! We wonder how likely that is to happen.

25

Overall, we have to say we were happy with the Gudetama menu. With such collaborative cafes and foods, you might sometimes feel reluctant to take someone with you who isn’t really into that particular character, but we thought the quality and price of the food in this case was more than acceptable. Oh, and we probably should keep this a secret from Yuuichiro, but Meg kept all the Gudetama goods to herself — well, we’re glad they both seemed to enjoyed the food, in any case!

Reference: Gudetama x Dotonbori Collaboration Campaign, AMAZON.JP
Report and original article by: Meg Sawai
Photos © RocketNews24

Food by Dotonburi