From star compact burgers to “beauty charge” juices, this is the best way to consume a bit of Sailor Moon magic.
Fans of the Sailor Moon manga and anime franchise have been getting a bellyful of their favourite characters recently, with pop-up cafes in Tokyo and Osaka offering everything from bright blue gyoza dumplings to fluffy Crystal Star Pancakes. Now, there’s a new destination for the world’s Sailor Warriors, and it’s located high above the ground, in between the earth and the sky, on the 52nd floor of Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills Mori Tower shopping, museum and restaurant complex.
Called the Chibiusa Cafe, the new space features lots of natural light and a glass wall decorated with a variety of Sailor Moon motifs.
▼ Inside, the tables feature beautiful designs, with Chibiusa in one corner, joined by a series of different characters on the other side.
One of the star ingredients at the cafe is the new ginger-flavoured Chocola BB Joma energy drink, which Sailor Moon herself has been advertising recently, for “Pretty Soldiers doing battle in the workplace”.
Ads for the drink, which contains Asian ginseng and guarana extracts, as well as Vitamin B6 and the amino acid arginine, play on a loop near the exit at the back of the cafe.
When we arrive shortly after the 11:00 a.m. opening time on the cafe’s first day, we are met with a long line and a waiting time of thirty to forty minutes. However, the staff are quick at moving customers along with a limited one-hour seating time for each group, and the wait allows us to see everything the cafe has to offer before we settle in.
▼ The plastic food replicas at the front of the cafe are particularly enticing. In the middle of the dessert line-up below is Chibiusa’s Custard Pudding a la Mode (1,100 yen or about US$10.11).
▼ Sitting on top of the custard pudding and surrounded by fresh strawberries, grapes and dragonfruit, is an adorable edible replica of Sailor Chibi Moon’s Prism Heart Compact.
The Five Sailor Senshi Beauty Charge Juices (850 yen or about $7.81), which contain the Chocola BB Joma energy drink, feature the colours of the five main senshi, along with a generous serving of fresh fruit inside each glass. On the right is the Evil Black Crystal Cocktail (1,000 yen or about $9.19).
Also on display to tempt the tastebuds are some main meals like Tuxedo Mask’s Nihilistic Pasta (1,300 yen or about $11.95), which has a pie-crust mask and spicy tomato sauce.
And the Three-Variety Talisman Curry (1,450 yen or about $13.33) features the magical items of Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto accompanied by yellow, spinach, and squid ink roux.
When we’re finally ready to be seated, we’re shown to our table by one of the waiters wearing a neat apron featuring the cafe’s logo.
And our table features Chibiusa and the handsome Tuxedo Mask, along with some well-known items from the series.
Choosing from the menu, we decide to order a selection from the Food, Dessert and Drink sections.
While waiting for our order to arrive, we get to enjoy a spectacular view that includes some of the city’s most well-known landmarks like Tokyo Tower.
First up, we try one of the Five Sailor Senshi Beauty Charge Juices, in Sailor Jupiter green.
Packed with strawberries, raspberries, acai berries and some refreshing mint leaves, this is delightfully fizzy and sweet, with just a hint of an energy drink aftertaste.
The large crescent moon topping is made from chocolate and has a chewy texture, much like icing or soft cookie dough.
▼ Next up, we try the Evil Black Crystal Cocktail.
Adorned with a dark chocolate crescent moon on the outside of the glass, the alcoholic version comes with a small glass of “mysterious liquid” which looks and tastes suspiciously like Blue Curacao.
When added to the cocktail, the blue liquid changes the colour of the drink from deep red to rich black, making the transformation into the Black Lady.
The thick, syrupy cocktail is sweet and delicious, with a slight fizz that’s well complimented by the serving of berries and the taste of high quality tempered dark chocolate.
Plus, each drink comes with a specially marked coaster, highlighting the tie-up collaboration between the Chocola BB Joma drink and the Chibusa Cafe.
For the main meal, we order the Sailor Moon Special Hamburger (1,600 yen or about $14.70), which comes with a side of pickles and star-shaped tater tots.
The burger comes in the image of the magical pink-coloured Crystal Star Compact, with pieces of thin, fried egg, colourful dollops of mayonnaise and a glazed cherry making up the edible design.
In between the pretty pink buns lies a meaty filling of bacon and ground beef, topped with a thick piece of fried egg.
Also containing lettuce, mustard and tomato sauce, this tastes just like a regular burger should. It’s moist, meaty and delicious; perfect for powering up at lunchtime.
The tater tots are incredibly crispy and wonderfully salty, filled with carbohydrate-rich potatoes and topped off with a crispy crescent moon.
▼ Moving on to dessert, we try the Heavenly Miracle Romance Parfait (1,250 yen or about $11.49).
Containing four layers of jelly in different shades, and topped with a serving of cream, fresh strawberries, flaky pie pastry, crumble pieces and a round scoop of berry-flavoured sorbet, the parfait has been designed to resemble the main poster for the Sailor Moon exhibition being held on the same floor.
The jelly inside the parfait is filled with cider-like flavours, making this a fun sweet that recalls childhood memories of first encounters with the Sailor Moon girls, back when cafes like this were the stuff of childhood dreams!
▼ We finish off the meal with the adorable Luna P Ball Berry Mousse (1,200 yen or about $11.03).
This is one of the cutest items on the menu, with a fluffy, light purple-coloured berry mousse forming the round, plump face of Chibiusa’s Luna P Ball.
Lying on a bed of whipped chocolate cream and surrounded by tinned fruit pieces and fresh mint leaves, this dessert tastes as lovely as it looks.
With fresh strawberry pieces as ears and a dainty mouth made from watermelon, the only thing hard about this sweet is having to delve into its face to eat it!
With a thin sponge layer at the bottom, the tart berry flavour of the mousse blends perfectly with the sweeter whipped chocolate cream. With the accompanying fruit pieces and mint leaves, it’s both decadent and refreshing at the same time.
After finishing off the meal, we can’t help but feel like we’ve absorbed some special Sailor Moon power from all the magical items we’ve eaten!
Filled with a sense of celestial anime energy, we make our way to the exit, past a signed portrait of office lady Sailor Moon and a display of promotional prizes being offered as part of the energy drink campaign, and head next door to the Sailor Moon exhibition space. The Sailor Moon art exhibit, which is included in the admission fee of 1,800 yen (about $16.55) to enter the 52nd floor, is being held from April 16 to June 19.
The Chibiusa Cafe will be open from April 16 to June 19, in conjunction with the Roppongi Hills’ Sailor Moon art exhibition.
Restaurant information
Chibiusa Cafe / ちびうさカフェ
Address: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-10-1, Roppongi Hills Mori Twoer, 52nd floor
東京都港区六本木6-10-1 六本木ヒルズ 森タワー 52F
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website
Photos © RocketNews24
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