As a person that loves anime and aesthetic food, I have been to many of the strange and unique cafes in Japan. However, the Pop Team Epic X Sanrio Cafe in Ikebukuro particularly caught my eye due to its hilarious-looking menu items and overall craziness of two unlikely series crossing over!
Located in the Gourmet Stadium attached to Ikebukuro Station, this cafe is easy to access and requires no reservation. We came around 3pm on the Saturday after it opened, and only waited 30 minutes to get in which is a very reasonable wait time.
Once inside, we were presented with this very unique menu including burgers of the Pop Team Epic characters cosplaying Hello Kitty, drinks containing cheese, the classic anime cafe parfait, and my personal favorite–corn on pancakes with an anime face and side of Pompompurin pudding:
The food was definitely very strange, but overall delicious. I enjoyed the parfait because it had a crepe wrapped around it and also contained some delicious chocolate jello and whipped cream! I did not have the courage to try the corn, but the pudding and pancakes were very creamy. I would definitely recommend coming here for some desserts!
There was also a little souvenir shop with buttons, pins, and T-shirts! I could not resist this adorable keychain of Pompompurin DJing:
This cafe is running from February 7, 2019 – April 14, 2019. As previously implied, I would recommend coming her for the lulz.
