Hello Kitty Day pt 2

I can't tell you how excited I was to go to Sanrio's Puroland (aka Hello Kitty Land). They actually have 2 theme park that's Hello Kitty and friends based. The other one is way down south of Japan, it was easier to get there via Russia or Korea than from Japan. Crazy, huh? I'll take this any way I can.

Sanrio's Puroland actually have 4 places for food, suitable for all budgets and taste. As you enter the park, you're technically on the 3rd floor of the place. The main level doesn't have much except Information, Gift Shop, some lockers, and characters photo spot. The next thing we did was to walk upstairs. They have a small gift shop which is really Viviex, a small Cinnamon Dream cafe, a very hidden fancy restaurant Yakata, and a Robot Cafe.

I had actually hoped to go to the fancy Restaurant Yakata, because on their site, it looked like a nice fancy buffet. But, we were so hungry after all the walking from the morning to Hello Kitty Bakery in Timbuktu, that we were happy to see a sign of food. It was also kinda getting late by the time we got there, we wanted to make sure to get food and squeeze in all the stuff we can inside the 'park'.

We ended up at the Robot Food Machine Cafe. It was cafeteria style, but the way they presented the food is very much on par w/ the name sake of the restaurant. You have this giant machine looking thing, which is a mask for the kitchen in the back. You go thru each 'station', which has rotating food or drinks. One would be for children, their food/snack/juice box; one station would be for appetizer, one would be for hot Westernized food, and one for Japanese food. Then you have a drink station, and then you pay. Much like Luby's. Their staff will help you w/ your tray and help you to your table. Each table is equipped w/ a Hello Kitty high chair, because not all people who go to Puroland is a crazy 30-something girl who drag her mother with her. Urm.. yeah, that was me.

There is a Gourmet Bazaar is inside the 'park' which is on the 1st Floor. It's a fast food style snack place. Things are relatively cheap as far as themed park goes. We walked in and took a quick look and turned around. By the end of the day, I was ready for some 'snack' so I got a chestnut tart from Cinnamon's Dream Cafe. I was sad to report the macaron wasn't fresh, and the tart was only dismal in taste, but hey, it sure was fun to be there.


On the way to the hotel, we needed to switch trains at Shinjuku. Their train station is a major hub for the working masses and also a jointing point for different JR lines so there are shops and restaurants built inside the station. This 'sub floor' between 1st and 2nd floor is basically built as a circle w/ food either to go, fast food, or sit down all in this circle.

One of my MUSTs was Unaju from the authentic place. So, Unaju it is... I must say, it doesn't taste any better or worst, but you feel the tradition and the food when it is presented to you sitting there. It came with miso soup, which by the way, they don't put in diced tofu anymore. Instead, they put in fried tofu skin, which is kinda crunchy but soften by the soup. Some small veggie and ginger.

That meal was the most expensive meal we've had in Japan. Most of our meals doesn't cost more than $10US per person, this one dish by itself was more than $20US. That's a shock to me because how cheap everything else is by comparison, this is on the higher end. But now I can check off my list of food to experience while I'm in Japan.