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 

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