Patisserie Swallowtail Annex

Four Harajuku Fashion loving girls went to Cafe / Patisserie Swallowtail on Sunday.
I had the pleasure to see Gizzy (a German fashion photographer) and Cake (A Chilean Blogger) again and also got to meet Harriet (a British Lolita) for the first time.

Now, some of you might instantly get an alarm sound saying "Swallowtail? Wait a moment ... isn't this a Butler cafe?" Yes indeed, Swallowtail is famous for its Butler cafe, but that one is based in Ikeburo. They also have several, less famous sub-braces that serve tea and cakes like the one in Marui Annex that we went to.
While the decoration is very classical, they broke it up with large pictures of anime characters and a HD screen, showing scenes from the "Tales of Symphonia" game series. They currently doing "Tales of Symphonia" special collaboration sweets in store.
To our surprise, pictures were forbidden, even if they were just of ourselves. The only thing we were allowed to photograph were the cakes :)

We were served by a maid in an old Victorian style frill dress that was ankle length. But since this wasn't a maid cafe, we didn't get the "welcome mistress" treatment.
My cake was called Catherine, so it literally had my name on it (Cat/Cathy = Catherine) and therefore HAD to belong to me :)

QUICK "PATISSERIE SWALLOWTAIL ANNEX" REVIEW

PLUS
- The interior looked like a cute delicatessen shop. The large counter at the entrance contained dozens of delicious looking cakes and sweets, which pretty much drew us in.
- If you have a soft spot for cute looking cakes, you are at the right place. Their cakes are quite reasonable and cute, and their menu changes with the seasons. If you follow the link, you can drool over them yourself (see if you can spot Cake Catherine!)
http://www.patisserie-swallowtail.jp/annex/sweets/index.php
- They have a good selection of teas, including Rose tea (Thanks to Harriet). Not as large as some places but still adequate for the Patisserie.
- Reasonable price of their drink set: If you pay an extra of 315yen you can select any drink from the menu, no matter how fancy, and add it to your cake.
- The Victorian Maid uniform of the staff was very cute to look at.

MINUS
- Taking no pictures is a minus for me. The location was not as fancy as the Butler cafe so it didn't really make sense that we were not allowed to take pictures of us sipping tea
- I am an Anime fan, but large pictures within a classical tea room - it just didn't work. With a different colour shade maybe, but it looked somewhat out of place. Either it's a posh place where you can't take pictures or it's a fun place with colourful posters and happy music - they tried to do both and it looked a bit unhappy. Maybe the pictures are more classical once the collaboration special is over though.
- There is no show or guest service.

SUMMARY

All in all it's a cute little cafe in a busy department store in the center of Tokyo.  They are right on the same floor with famous Lolita brand shops (currently opposite Putomayo) in Marui Annex.
So if you are out shopping brand, you can take a rest there in style.
Perfect as a little break on a Lolita shopping day!

If I made you curious, you can look more pictures and information on their official web page:
http://www.patisserie-swallowtail.jp/annex/

We had a good time there and then moved on to more frilly adventures, but you will hear more about that sooooon!

Love and Sparkles
x
Cat

Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant Ikebukuro!

☆It was Halloween across the world, and also in Japan☆

The streets of Ikebukuro were filled with girls cosplaying in revealing outfits and it was also a friend's of mine's birthday. (I know, right? A Halloween Birthday! How awesome is that?!)
So for this special double occasion, we decided to go to a themed restaurant called "Alice in an old Castle" 「古城の国のアリス」 in Ikebukuro.

It's an Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant run by the company Diamond Dining who also does several other themed restaurants, bars and cafes. (This one had the theme 'old castle', even though I'd like to question whether the name could have done without the 'old' really.)

Now let's have a look inside!

 

The walls show several Alice themed pictures and large chandeliers are hanging from the ceiling to give the restaurant that 'old castle' look. On the end of the side hall is a large aquarium with mirrors to give the moving fish a surreal touch. In the main room there is also a chandelier on the floor, which is so large that people can sit inside it if they reserved the space in advance (see the picture below on the left).

They put a lot of effort into the design of the place, so even the lights on the side are golden hands holding the candles, and the coasters were designed with a trump card pattern. Also, relevant to my interests, the staff was cosplaying as Alice in Wonderland characters.

After some time waiting, we got our long awaited Halloween 5 course meal. On Halloween they only allow you to pick from their set meals, instead of getting things from the menu. The Halloween set was a 5 plate course meal for 3.000yen per person.

Starters: Ghost ships with devil and bat chrisps

Next one up: White Rabbit salad

Third dish:bewitched potato stars

Fourth dish: Pumpkin pasta, served in a pumpkin

Dessert: ghost sponge cakes

Overall "Alice in an old castle" Review

PLUS
- Great atmosphere and lots of attention to detail all around the restaurant floor.
- Very cute decorated food and it also tasted really nice.
- Great for lovers of Alice in Wonderland

MINUS
- If you are looking for a show or entertainment, there is none though. Some themed restaurants usually supply some kind of entertainment but there were none this time.
- The portion to price value was a bit questionable. The portions you can see on the picture were for a group of 5 people but could easily have been for a group of three or even two. We were all still a bit hungry afterwards. You might actually get more for your money if you go there with a smaller group.

OVERALL COMMENT
I really enjoyed my time there, and even though I still had some appetite after the meal, it was a nice experience. I might pick another of their restaurants again, at a time when they are less busy, maybe they will be more engaging. I also think restaurants like these are perfect for Lolita Fashion lovers!

 

On the topic of hungry, here a pic of me mimicking the character "Peko-chan"

I am always a little bit hungry for more sweets I guess. Omnomnom.

Have fun tumbling through Wonderland!

If you are curious now, the link the restaurant is here:

古城の国のアリス池袋

http://www.alice-restaurant.com/kojo/top.html

Love and Peace from Japan

x

Kitty Cat