"Danso" is the term for girls wearing boys clothes and cafe PRINCE has themed their cafe in a way to accommodate the dreams of a "perfect" boy in a way that reminds us a little of anime scenarios. In anime a very beautiful boy is often described as "beautiful like a girl" or having a feminine face. The girls at cafe Prince are thus called "Prince" and are incredibly charming or entertaining - depending on what personality they represent - just like in an anime.
Danso cafes and butler cafes are not yet as popular as maid cafes but they still are aiming at similar guests - those who love those dream worlds and fluid spaces in-between.
To be honest, i was almost a little nervous when i walked into the cafe the first time, not knowing what to expect. I was greeted by a "Prince". All staff at the cafe are to be referred as Prince - to further deepen the prince/princess dreamscape. (I shall refer to them as "he" now, otherwise it gets too confusing). We were then shown to our place at the bar. First i was wondering why they put us at the bar, instead of the leather sofas...but then i realized that this was so we could easily chat with the princes behind the counter. The bar was stocked impressively with spirits of all sorts. Their evening bar part is another popular feature to the cafe, running on Saturday and Friday nights until the first trains take up their services again.
Today three princes were present. Two of them the cool type, looking beautiful and dangerous, one of them the cute type. Our cute "shota" type prince made jokes and told funny anecdotes, soon having the room in stitches. He said he was much older than he looked and he often got asked by guests if he was old enough to serve drinks yet.
I felt rather hungry and ordered some "omrice" (rice inside an omelette). Omrice, like in maid cafes, gets decorated by your prince of choice with hand drawn pictures. However, different to most maid cafes, the prince himself will cook especially for you! No microwave or magic box!
I got a picture of a cat drawn in ketchup by shota prince on my omrice. He said he cannot draw cute things but it came out quite cute.
When i left the cat picture (too cute to eat) he received it with the biggest smile i have ever seen.
Me and my friend decided to order some of their house special cocktails and "cool-type" prince made us his special: maccha cocktail with rose petals!
Another prince had brought back some sweets from a trip outside of tokyo and so we got free sweets.
In the end we decided to round it up with a cup of tea. To my surprise they had quite an impressive collection of different and high end brands of tea. They didnt only sound fancy, they also tasted good, and thats coming from a tea lover like me!
All in all a nice afternoon well spend. Its not as squeamy and noisy as a maid cafe, more like a classy bar/cafe with chandelliers and leather seats and entertaining situations.
Shota prince told us that most guests stay quite long, around 3 hours at least. I peaked around us to see what crowd has been here with us. Most were other cute geek girls and one crossdressing boy, enjoying being a princess for an afternoon.
All in all it was a fun experience, and after a while i wasnt so nervous anymore. You can also be in touch with your prince of choice after your stay, on twitter. Generally you have much more time to talk with the staff and be entertained by their quirky sides, banter and conversations than in.moat themed cafes
FOOD & DRINK
The food was delicious (handmade), the cocktails creative, the tea collection impressive, the free sweets a nice addition.
LOCATION
Near Nakano station and easily reached. The inside interior is classy and a little posh looking
CHARGES
Table charge (at the time of this being posted) is about 500yen. Drinks vary between 700-1000 (or more for high end spirits).
Foods are around 1000-2500 depending on what you get.
- no cake set with a drink, not so much cake choices.
It was fun and kinda exciting. I like that you can take it slow and there is no "time limit" to your stay (like in most maid cafes). A good place for anime lovers, princess lolitas and brolitas, if you dont mind the small cake selection. Definitely worth the experience if you wanna get treated by an anime prince for a day :)
Catch you soon
X
Cathy
