Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku launches spring menu full of crazy kawaii-ness

The Kawaii Monster Cafe Harajuku has just released a new seasonal spring menu, and it looks like the insanely colorful offerings won’t disappoint!

The Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku, which has been an icon of Japanese kawaii culture since opening in August of 2015, has just launched their “Spring Lunch Fair” campaign. The new items on their menu certainly look worthy of the cafe’s reputation as a “visual representation of the colorful and crazy Harajuku district.”

▼ The cafe is designed after Harajuku, which they’ve described as a “monster”
that gobbles things up and expands, creating a unique culture in the process.

The new spring menu features “poisonous-looking yet cute” items  in typical monster kawaii style and includes the latest in the cafe’s popular line of original hamburgers, as well as easter-themed desserts made in collaboration with major snack manufacturer Lotte. Let’s take a closer look at the seasonal items!

The spring lunch menu includes the colorful dishes below:

The “It’s Time for Flower-Viewing (hanami) Burger (2,400 yen, US$22.47)

Hanami, or flower-viewing, is a big deal during spring in Japan, so it stands to reason the activity has been made into a hamburger! This sakura-themed creation features pink buns with a menchikatsu (fried minced meat cutlet) patty, garnished with salsa and topped with a sakura leaf. It even comes with a bit of dessert, in the form of sweet dango dumplings in three colors.

The Fujiyama Taco Rice (2,100 yen)

This dish offers a Mt. Fuji made of pink rice with flavored meat “lava” flowing out of the mountain, topped with cheddar cheese and garnished with prawn chips, while the green vegetables are meant to represent the vast “sea of trees” (jukai) that surrounds the actual Mt. Fuji.

The Colorful Vegetable Parfait Fondue (2,200 yen)

The ingredients in this dish, which include brightly-colored quail’s egg, purple cauliflower, and pieces of blue bread (in addition to the more ordinary looking sausages, shrimp, and cherry tomatoes), not to mention the pink and purple cheese sauce, are certainly eye-catching. The idea here apparently is supposed to be that the eggs are monster eggs and the cheese sauce is a kind of “honey” from a fantastical carnivorous plant.

The cafe has also created delightfully quirky-looking Easter-themed desserts in collaboration with Lotte, which you can order as part of a set meal in place of a regular dessert for an extra 400 yen. The “Lotte Enjoy Easter Kawaii” desserts include the following two options:

The Pink Rabbit Easter

This playful dessert represents a rabbit that has had too many Lotte Chocolate Pies and Custard Cakes and has turned into a giant monster Pink Rabbit! The dish involves a Lotte Custard Cake base topped with a Lotte Mini Choco Pie and strawberry, wrapped in a generous serving of strawberry cream.

The Koala’s Easter Island

This dish is supposed to represent the “Lotte Easter Island“, made in the image of floating dessert islands inhabited by the koalas from Lotte’s popular Koala no March snack. The dish includes a “Custard Cake” island, a “Chocolate Pie” island, and a “Pie no Mi chocolate biscuit” island decorated with colorful cream and Koala no March biscuits.

There are also desserts you can take away as well, which again can be ordered in place of a regular dessert for an extra 500 yen. Below are the two take-away options:

The Chihuahua Wa Wa Cake

This colorful cake was designed in commemoration of the Year of the Dog and is made from strawberry mousse contained inside a layer of yogurt mousse for a combination which should delight children and adults alike. Unfortunately, the green cream decoration doesn’t come with the cake when it’s to take home.

The Mushroom Cake Bite!Bite!Bite!

This is what a lifeform from the cafe’s Musroom Disco area looks like when turned into a cake! The image here is of a carnivorous plant about to devour some brightly colored easter eggs. The inside of the cake contains chocolate ganache covered with white chocolate mousse, so it should be satisfying as a sweet as well as eye-popping to look at. (Again, the decorative green cream is not included with the take-away cake.)

So do the new items look colorful and kawaii enough to you? The spring menu is available now until April 8, so do check it out if you’re not afraid of the bold designs and colors!

Restaurant information
Kawaii Monster Cafe
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 4-31-10, YM Square Building 4th floor
東京都渋谷区神宮前4丁目31‐10 YMスクエアビル 4F
Telephone: 03-5413-6142
Open 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. for lunch and 6 p.m.-10:30 p.m. for dinner (weekdays and Saturdays); 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (Sundays and holidays)
Website

Source, images: PR Times

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