Alice in Wonderland themed Bakery Antique

When I imagine a Bakery, I imagine a large display counter with bread and cake, and maybe a fridge in the corner for some fresh milk.
The Bakery "Antique" however felt like a cafe and a family restaurant all into one.
Why?
Well, first of all, it was located next to a main street, with a large parking space like all restaurants do.

But something about the melting chocolate over the entrance enticed my cute cafe lover's heart and so I stepped closer to get a better look at the said "bakery".

Doughnuts doorknobs!

 Upon approaching the door, the design of the shop was so much Alice in Wonderland, that I wondered if this was just a themed cafe

The white rabbit was a re-occurring symbol

Once inside however, I was greeted by the open display of bakery goods and some trays and tongs. You pick your own tray and tongs, walk around and then select the sweet baked goodies you like. It's like a self-service bakery type, or one of those "bakery supermarkets" that are recently popular in Europe. The baked goods however looked absolutely sweet and tasty:

There was a secret entrance and exit for kids to go through behind the goods

The glass case was empty but still decorated nicely

Who would like a cute worm bread?

Special of the month: Green tea and rice cake bread-doughnuts with chocolate. The most tasteful combi EVER!

 At the counter you can order some hot drinks with your baked goods, which made it seem more than ever like a cafe to me. Just like a self-service cafe. I selected a hot chocolate and went to find my seat. But guess what, the seats had doughnut pillows and there were heart and card patterns on the tables!

So cozy!

My daily food haul. The rabbit card is a membership stamp card.

Coffee and Tea is on refill, all other drinks are just one-serving only. Customers however do not receive their baked goods on plates, but in little cute bread baskets, which is a charming twist to the whole bakery idea.
The green tea bread was so delicious, I am still dreaming about it sometimes. Unfortunately it was a limited edition for January, so I think it has been changed to something new by now.

Card-chandelier and doughnut chairs!

 The interior was quite spacious and left room for quite a lot of guests to visit.

☆REVIEW of Antique☆

☆☆PLUS☆

☆Alice themed interior

☆Interesting choices of bread

☆drinks on re-fill

☆secret tunnel

☆lots of space  

★★MINUS★★

★self-service

★mostly normal design on the baked goods, so cute faces etc are rare

★near a busy road

★★OVERALL SUMMARY★★

 Can I go there every day please?

Prices are good, you will always find a seat and the quality of the bakery was really good.

I like how it combines cafe and bakery and even adds a bit of a theme touch to it.

I vote for the staff to wear Alice in wonderland dresses. But then again, that would probably make the prices go up again. Possibly good for large Lolita meets, but maybe not comfy enough for smaller ones, because there is nothing close by and once you finished eating that's kind of it. I wish there was an Antique branch my way to work, I would love to have a coffee there before going to hunt the white rabbit.

Thanks for reading

x

Cat 

Subway Cafe Amanti: chocolate delight!

Right in the buzzing subway of Ikebukuro station you can find a piece of Europe. Cafe Amanti, located in the maze of subway hallways, gives you the chance to flee the rush and have a quick moment of rest and the illusion of time.

Once walking through the wooden door you are greeted by European inspired interior. A bar with a waiter polishing a glass with a towel makes you feel like you are watching a movie. Sitting down, the smart looking waiter comes over and presents you with the menu.
On the door a sign that had praised their hot chocolates has caught your attention and so the choice will be their special hot chocolate.
Even the wet towel and the coasters carry the logo of the cafe. Attention to detail that i appreciate.

Once the hot chocolate arrives you take a moment to marvel at the thick and dark brown colour, decorated with a white cream swirl. The colour of the drink already tells you that there is a higher cocoa content compared to the average hot chocolate. One sip and your tastebuds pick up rich and strong chocolate flavour. Where some hot chocolates taste milky, Amanti's tastes of dark chocolate.
But that is not the only thing trained cafe lovers will pay attwntion to. Looking around you, the person next to you has another delicate teacup with yet another design, different to yours. Even the bill has been customised for amanti customers.

**Quick review of Cafe Amanti**
PLUS
+Nice interior, you will even forget you are in the subway area of Ikebukuro station
+gorgeous and rich hot chocolate
+ lovely attention to detail in their branding
MINUS
-It seems a little small, so before going there with larger groups you might want to check for seats
- It seems quite posh, so going there in fancy fashion or lolita fashion might earn you some strange looks
A quick stop, a quick moment in a movie europe, is what amanti offers its customers. Classy and a little bit posh, amanti is worth a visit if you want to forget the busy day for a moment.

Colourful&Collectible: Japanese Anime themed sweets

Who doesn't love sweets?! What's even more exciting are sweets that are anime themed or that do collaborations with famous anime series or characters. Let me show you some of the sweet, cute and collectible edibles I got while in Japan!

Morinaga brought out chocolate wavers in the Miku Hatsune Design! The sweets are fairly basic, but the package and cards were Vocaloid themed! Each package contains 1 of 18 collectible cards. Mine was of Rin and had a see through pattern. The artist's style was pretty awesome too.

Galbo did a convenience store Anime collaboration special. If you bought two of their sweets, you got a free sticker of "Natsume's book of friends" to stick onto your monthly suica train card (not the normal ones though). The sticker can be used for other purposes as well. The sweets are green tea or strawberry covered chocolate bits that claim they don't melt in the summer sun!

Coolest collaboration that month was the Madoka Magica Movie special. Buying two of the campaign sweets in a convenience store, you could receive a free clear file of either of the characters. I got one pack of Madoka themed candies (right hand side) that contain one sticker (bottom right). The collaboration was so popular that the stores ran out of the files pretty quickly though. By the time I arrived, Sayaka was the only one left, so I was lucky I got one at all.

If you go to a convenience store in Tokyo, it's always good to check if there are Anime offers or collaborations running at the time. You might get some rare goodies of your favourite anime! Family Mart is known for its Miku Hatsune items, but they are usually not on a special offer but rather just rare designs (they are quite pricey though).
If there are free collaboration items, just make sure that the things you pick are actually included in the offer. If you pick the wrong sweets, you might not get the item you wanted!

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!
Stay sweet

x
Cat