There are Super Mario Cafes in Tokyo? Oh yes, but only for a limited time.
In honour of Super Mario‘s 30th anniversary, Nintendo is teaming up with Tower Record Cafes in Tokyo for a trio of newly-opened Mario-themed cafes.
Tokyo resident, Nintendo super fan, and all around good guy Kyle McLain swung by all three (in Shibuya, Omotesando and Ebisu), ate a bunch of Mario food, snapped a bunch of photos, and sent along a smattering of impressions to Kotaku.
This is Kyle in his casual clothes. You should see his formal wear!
Each of the cafes did their own spin on Mario. So, for example, the one in Shibuya had a huge 8-bit Mario and warp pipes.
Kyle also had dinner at the cafe at the Tower Records in Tokyo’s Omotesando. “It has nothing garish outside the restaurant like in Shibuya,” Kyle writes. “Just a couple posters next to an elevator.”
Kyle described this cafe collaboration as more of a cool Omotesando vibe to it, but Mario-ed out.
“There were giant plushies of various Mario characters everywhere,” Kyle writes. Food was good, albeit your somewhat standard ‘cafe food.’” Kyle gives high marks to the waffle in the Mario Overworld Sweet Set.
“The Super Mario Cafe latte art was real cool,” Kyle adds, “and it somehow managed to maintain its shape even after I had drank most of it.”
According to Kyle, the Mario Cafe at the Tower Records in Tokyo’s Ebisu had more of a rock and roll vibe. “I had never been to that place before, but it seemed to be like a kinda Japanese Hard Rock Cafe-lite style setup.”
“The walls were littered with all sorts of rock and roll goods, and they actually did a fairly good job of melding the Mario stuff in with it. My favourite were the various 8-bit Mario sprites mixed in with some album covers.”
Continuing, he adds, “The food tasted slightly better than the Omotesando outlet I thought. Each restaurant has their own exclusive menu, and the Ebisu location had Koopa Taco Rice and a Princess Peach Panna Cotta. They also had a Spicy Mario Tomato Juice (the juice meant to represent the lava in Koopa’s castle).”
If you do decide to visit any of these Mario Cafes, know that each cafe will be Mario-themed until early next month and that all the Mario-themed food has a little 8-bit wafer hidden in the food or drink!
“They had a bunch of themed Tower Records plus Mario themed merchandise, and several items were already sold out by the first night,” Kyle writes. “There were also some new 30th anniversary Mario merchandise on sale as well.”
Feel free to follow Kyle on Twitter! Or since today’s his birthday, wish him Happy Birthday!
Pictures: Kyle McLain
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