Any Potter heads here? It’s September 1st and the students of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are on their way to plattform 9 3/4 to get on the Hogwarts Express. Meanwhile, we muggles in Tokyo gathered for a yummy feast in Omotesando, which I want to share with you here on my blog today.
Okay, for anyone who is not familiar with Harry Potter: this time the article will be about the Harry Potter themed cafe that is running in Tokyo right now. The time limited cafe is taking place at Omotensando Box Cafe & Space in Shibuya, and is open from 22nd July to 12th September 2021. So only a few more days to go!
If you want to visit the cafe you have to make an reservation beforehand via the official website which costs 715 yen per person (you will receive a random mask case for this at the entrance). However, the cafe is pretty popular and seats for the first weeks were quickly booked out. Also, when I check the website now, it seems like all seats are gone until the end of the cafe. But we were lucky enough to book a time slot for our group at the end of August (we booked it on the opening day, over one month before our actual visit).
Decorations around the Café
The cafe is a bit hidden in the backstreets of Omotesando area. However, when you found it, the decorations for the cafe are hard to miss. This place is often having collaborations for cafés and I went there a few times already. At the entrance area you can find a path with many different pictures from the movies such as wallscrolls of the main characters.
At the end of the paths, stairs are leading down to the cafe where you have to wait in line outside until it is your time to enter. However, they made up another photospot there with Platform 9 3/4. This was really cool and we decided to take photos after our visit, because it would be more empty then.
Inside the cafe the walls were decorated all around with pictures from the first Harry Potter movie and there were some screens showing scences from the movies. Banners of the four houses and Hogwarts were hanging from the ceiling and also the tables had different colors.
Online you only can book tables for up to 4 people, but we were 5, so we did two reservations for 2 and 3 persons each. The stuff was so nice to arrange the tables for our bigger group then.
Menu of the Harry Potter Café
The menu of the Harry Potter Café can be splitted up in three sections:
- Harry Potter food & desserts
- Harry Potter drinks
- Fantastic Beasts desserts
While the Harry Potter themed foods and drinks predominated, I was happy to also see two desserts from Fantastic Beasts on the menu. You had to make your choice already outside of the cafe while lining up and write it down on a list. Unfortunately all the Hogwarts themed lunch boxes were already sold out when we visited the cafe. But we got another nice selection out of the menu in our group which I want to show you here.
First, let’s go with two savory dishes. We ordered the Shepherd’s Pie (1.320 yen), which really looked yummy, especially with the crunchy part on top showing the Hogwarts emblem. For the more healthy version, there is a cute Herbology Class Salad (1.100 yen), coming with a watering can for you little green garden. Inside the pot a sweet bread was hiding.
Two examples for the sweets are coming next. I really loved the idea of the Happee Birthdae Cake (1.100 yen) which came with a do-it-yourself decoration kit and a sample picture. So you have to write down the message by yourself and set up the fruits wherever you want. And don’t miss the cool Gryffindor Smoothie (990 yen) next to it, coming with dry ice for some extra magic.
Talking about Fantastic Beasts, there were two sweet dishes. One of it was the Niffler Orange Tart (1.540 yen) which looks just too cute. We were only wondering why there were tomatoes on a sweets plate. The other one was a chocolate cake suitcase, but nobody of us ordered it.
I went for the most expensive choice on the menu, and I’m glad I did. The Owl Post Snack Platter (2.860 yen) combines savory and sweet and I was really filled up after eating everything. The sandwiches with egg and cucumbers were designed as envelopes. The fluffy owl was really adorable and filled with ice cream under all the cream.
Goods at the Harry Potter Café
No theme cafe without merchandise! Also here you could find goods from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, even though there was not that much to buy. Clearfiles, a letter set, an eco bag, pouch, masking tapes and other things you could choose. However, the keyholders, magnets and stickers were random which is why I skipped buying something. I actually liked the design of the tshirt, but it was sold out at the cafe (you still can get it at the online shop though).
I really enjoyed the visit to the Harry Potter Café and the food there was surprisingly good (usually popup cafe food only looks good and the taste is less than average). Especially with that group of Potter heads, we had a lot of fun there. I hope there will be another cafe like this coming in the future and we don’t need to wait until 2023 for more Harry Potter in Tokyo.
Check out the official cafe website ⇒ Harry Potter Café 2021
More popup cafés on my blog? ⇒ Find more articles here!