KONNICHIWA! Emi here.
I’ve visited “Kiki & Lala Cafe”, the limited-time collaboration cafe with “Twin Little Stars” in Osaka, and the whole time I was fascinated with the “kawaii” magical world of Kiki and Lala. Everything offered here are Kiki and Lala themed, from the shop’s atmosphere to their menu of dishes! Let me share my charming experience at this Kiki & Lala Cafe!

The Charm of Kiki & Lala Cafe

Kiki & Lala Cafe has two appealing points. One is their dishes offered with high quality both on appearance and taste. The other is their well-elaborated world view.

Appealing point 1: High quality dishes on appearance and taste

The best thing about this cafe is exactly the dishes they offer. Their menu is in the motif of Kiki & Lala, every dish shows their impressive attention to detail with such a high quality!
It is not just their appearances, but also their genuine food that amazed me. The dishes on the menu are all delicious!
They say they are proud to be fussy to pursue palatability.

• キキのシーフードカレー/ララのベジタブルカレー 〜オリジナルマグカップ付き〜(Kiki’s seafood curry / Lala’s vegetable curry(with Mug)) ￥1,580 each

The dish that attracted me the most is this curry.
First, the color of the curry roux catches your eye. It uses a white roux with blue or pink coloring. They use natural food dyes for the coloring, so it is safe for children too.
The roux was thick, and gave it a mild but rich flavor of curry, and its hot spiciness spread into my mouth afterward. Its appearance being fancy and dreamy, its authentic spicy curry taste surprised me. It’s not only looking cute but also tasted so good!
An original mug cup of hot soup was also very rich and pleasant. According to Wikipedia article, Lala is good at cooking soup. Imagining Lala cooking this soup for me led me deeper into the fantasy. You can take this original mug cup home as a souvenir.

• Okonomiyaki like pancake? Surprise pancake (With Mug) (お好み焼きみたいな？びっくりパンケーキ 〜オリジナルカップ付き〜) ￥1,580 each

This is the most popular dish on the menu at the Osaka branch shop. It was first introduced there prior to other branches.

◀︎Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is often regarded as “Osaka soul food”. The batter is made of flour, eggs, broth, water and the like, and usually contains other ingredients of your liking such as shredded cabbage, pork and so on. It is pan-fried on both sides into a thin round shape, and served with its special sauce and often mayonnaise.

It looks exactly like an Okonomiyaki, but it is actually a sweet pancake.
They have a cute story set up for this pancake; Lala used her cane of the star and changed the Okonomiyaki into a sweet pancake. Open the box, and you see clouds of white fog of dry ice drifting down. It is showing you that Lala has put out sweets by her cane. It’s such a dramatic interpretation!

Like I said, it’s not just its appearance but its taste that is great!
The dough contains desiccated coconut and granola to give it the texture of shrouded cabbage in Okonomiyaki. I’m impressed that they are even reproducing the detailed texture to it!

• Kiki&Lala special! Takoyaki look Petit cakes☆ (☆キキ&ララ特製！たこ焼き風プチケーキ☆)　￥500

This sweet is also first introduced at the Osaka branch shop. It is a small cake that looks like Takoyaki.

◀︎Takoyaki
Takoyaki is a ball-shaped snack made of a wheat flour based batter with eggs, broth, water with diced octopus, and topped with special sauce, green laver and mayonnaise. This is another “Osaka soul food”, and Japanese people often buy this from street food stalls to enjoy as snacks.

It looks like a Takoyaki, but it is actually a genuine sweet cake. Its slight sweetness was very nice.
Lala shaped cake is served with a toothpick to resemble a cane of the star. I imagine, this sweet too, has the story of Lala casting a spell on Takoyaki to change into a sweet. Very cute!

• Kiki&Lala’s cotton candy soda (キキとララの綿菓子ソーダ)　￥800 each

You enjoy this soda while melting the cotton candy shaped like Kiki & Lala by pouring soda onto it.
The cotton candy gets smaller as you pour soda on it, which makes it look like magic. The surprising gimmick really charms you!

After all the cotton candy is melted, you’ll find Kiki & Lala floating on soda inside the cup.

The fruits in it are cut into star shapes as the character’s signature. You see how dedicated they are, expressing all the details to it.
The soda tastes like a lactic acid bacteria beverage, something like yogurt. It also contains mint and gives it a refreshing smell spreading inside your mouth.

This is a free coaster you can receive when you order a beverage, that you can take home.
There are four different kinds, given at random.

Appealing point 2: Well-elaborated World View

The second appealing point is their world view that is thoroughly elaborated with the characters story.

It is very appealing that every single dish on the menu has a detailed background story. In addition, it is not just the menu but also the shop interior that can immerse you in the fantasy world.

When you enter the shop first, what you see inside is the figure dolls of Kiki & Lala, giving us a warm welcome.

Then you look around, and you find Kiki & Lala sitting casually as if they were also customers. You feel like you wondered into their fantasy world.

There are also small stuffed dolls of Kiki & Lala.

This is a place mat that every customer receives. The Osaka branch shop has a concept to set up a “hand mirror”, and this place mat has the motif of a hand mirror. Its pastel shades are cute.

They also have a merchandise corner that sells the items that you can only buy from here.
For your information, the most popular items are their limited items including tote bags, tin badges, and clear file folders.

Final comment

The Kiki & Lala cafe has much appeal with its menu and the world view.
Various gimmicks help you enjoy your immersive experience, as if you visited a theme park. It seems they aim to let you immerse yourselves in the fantasy world of Kiki & Lala. I’ve enjoyed such a dreamy time that took my mind off the real life. I definitely recommend you to visit this cafe!

Their Kiki & Lala themed menu is available until June 12th. They are changing their theme every two months, and I’m looking forward to the next collaboration too.
Incidentally, this cafe is very popular and often very crowded at their peak hours. I’d recommend you to visit this cafe at around 2 to 4 PM when it isn’t as crowded.

Shop information

Venue：THE GUEST cafe&diner
Available until: June 12th, 2016
Opening hours: 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Official website：http://www.parco-art.com/web/other/exhibition.php?id=928

Official Twitter：https://twitter.com/theguestosaka

What is “Little Twin Stars”?

The title of the fictional story produced by Japanese company Sanrio, with its protagonists Kiki & Lala. They are associated with the twin stars of Gemini, and are depicted as a twin of brother Kiki and sister Lala. It’s been 40 years since these characters are created. They have been very popular among a wide range of age groups in Japan.

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