Following all of the hijinks at Waseda University, my friends decided to call it a day. After they went home, I decided that I would have dinner at a place nearby in student-friendly Takadanobaba that I had always wanted to visit since the anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ）was introduced to me several years ago.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Shirokuma Cafe in Tokyo! I had seen the YouTube videos of folks visiting the place and even my colleague Noelle has dropped in on the home of Shirokuma, Penguin and Panda. Well, this was my turn.
Compared to the anime version, the real Shirokuma Cafe wasn't quite as spacious (or populated by anthropomorphized animals) but I couldn't deny the friendliness of the staff. I was still fairly full from the Korean lunch earlier in the day but there was no way I would deny myself the opportunity of dining at my first anime pilgrimage on this trip.
I ordered the Shirokuma Plate consisting of karaage, hamburg under some zesty and chunky tomato sauce with a mound of rice done up in the shape of the master himself. It was truly home cooking in that it was food that could have been whipped up by anybody in the kitchen but I never expected haute cuisine. The dish fit the bill.
Naturally, episodes of the year-long show were rolling on the screen and there were the various products for "Shirokuma Cafe" on sale at the front of the place. I ended up buying a couple of schedulers for my anime buddy, who had introduced me to the show in the first place, and myself.
Although my belt was threatening to explode as I left the cafe, I still had some regrets that I didn't have any room for dessert, and with my schedule, I could only visit once. Ah, well...next time it is for the sweets. Perhaps the menu might even have the apple pie mentioned in the song below itself.
Hi there. Thanks for sharing about your trip, it was quite a fun read.
ReplyDeleteAh, you've visited Shirokuma's cafe. Yeah, it was actually much smaller than I had imagined too and we had to wait for a little while to get a seat, but I was happy to see Panda and Penguin sitting at the counter.
I was there with my family so we had the opportunity to try more stuff. We shared the Shirokuma and Grizzly's salmon stew, Shirokuma's parfait and the coffee squirrels' lava cake with espresso (I don't remember seeing apple pie though). I would loved to have Grizzly's sandwich, but I too had the similar problem of still being half-full from the previous meal. As for souvenirs I settled for a couple of the aluminum badges from the vending machines near the door - wanted to get a Shirokuma plushie but the price was astronomical.
Hi Noelle.
DeleteIt might be nice going there next time with a small group since there will be more opportunities to try more dishes. Keeping my fingers crossed that Shirokuma Cafe will keep on going for another few years at least.
Cool decor inside
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