#hep5

[mel-the-glaceon]

❄️🧋「12月ことクリスマス月間最初のお出かけは梅田、ます記号に、ヨドバシのマリオに…(ファイブのツリーもっ！【⬛️🐺】)」、🐈‍⬛🌃「ニャンだかメスいニャ〜ぁ。」

[seiyu32]

Blue Hat... #osaka #umeda #hep5 (at つけ麺専門店三田製麺所梅田店) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvESHsCHFm-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=g8fgpywn3gtp

[rzk-cristate]

I've been trying to find the right words to sum up this adventure to Japan and while i still don't really know how to, i think unexpected would be the most fitting. what i am certain of, I'm thankful for the experience, for seeing mejibray one last time but most of all for meeting these wonderful ladies. for once it was what i hoped for and i feel like this time i won't be left behind. 本当に、ありがとうございましたしょこさん。 楽しかったです。#me #personal #hep5 #kaiyukan #kaiyukanaquarium

[matchajapantravel-blog]

Hop On The Red Osaka Landmark, HEP FIVE's Ferris Wheel

HEP FIVE in Umeda is a multipurpose commercial complex with more than 170 shops to explore, and its roof houses an Osaka landmark, the HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel.

https://matcha-jp.com/en/1862

[henry-van-doerjatt]

So much #fun in #Osaka, #Sushi oishimilikiti, #Okonomiyaki ekonomiyabi, and #AsahiBeer to save water from its surreal extinction. Should go back to #MandarakeUmeda to find cool stuff. #EStreet is like, umm #Legian #Seminyak. Oh I miss #Bali so much and our fury lazy monstah, #BennyHwang "Mesmerising, the abundance of happiness is just an illusion awhile. Why bother? Enjoy the show" #TheDoerjattDiary #HvD #HenryVanDoerjatt #JapanTrip2017 #Umeda #Shiseido #TheAmenity #INAX #EcoLine #Tokyo #Osaka1946 #Hankyu #FerrisWheel #Hep5 #Osaka #FamilyMart #Tokyo #Shibuya #NishiUmeda #Higobashi #YamanoteLine #Hammachi #kimochi (at Mandarake Umeda)

[sideofreality]

[keitaistyle]

Who would have thought, that Mango, Avocado and Kanikama go so well together? Delicious salad at an Okinawa restaurant #hep5 #osaka #salad #mango #avocado #okinawa #yummy (hier: Hep Five HEP5 ヘップ ファイブ)

[jessica-reviews]

Jessica reviews.... Gudetama Cafe in Osaka

As if often the case in Japan, the establishment I’m hunting down is not immediately obvious. In fact, it’s tucked away in the famous HEP 5 shopping centre in Umeda (somewhere on one of the upper floors in the food courts, hidden in a corner).

Gudetama is one of Sanrio’s (the same company that created HelloKitty) cute characters. It is the simplistic yet successful approach Japan has mastered in relation to kawaii - take a mundane object or idea, put an adorable expression on it et voila! A money-making mascot is born. That is in no-way a cynical criticism, I have to admit I am in awe of the way that the Japanese public will dedicate themselves to a brand. In 2013, Gudetama came onto the scene. He is a lazy egg who is lacklustre about facing life. But this is a review about the cafe dedicated to him, not the character itself. For more information, look on Sanrio’s website (https://www.sanrio.com/categories/gudetama and http://sanrio.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Gudetama)

The outside is cute but a little intimidating because the cafe is behind a door and the windows are blocked out with pictures of Gudetama in various poses. But the menu is incentive enough to overcome social anxiety (’oh god is it closed’ / ‘will everyone stare at me as I walk in’ / ‘is it busy and I’ll have to U-turn’)

 I summon up my courage, hit the ‘push’ button and step into a cafe.

My sister and I are taken to a table. The cafe is surprisingly spacious and, needless to say, adorably decorated as a shrine to Gudetama. Minisodes play on a small screen and there are continuous murmurs of ‘kawaiii’ from the clientele, looping in parallel to the Gudetama theme music. There is a booth to buy products like key chains and pens and plushies. 

My Japanese is pretty poor but I can pick out the gist of what everything is by the pictures and the help of my trusty Google translate app. I order the beef steak and my sister orders a take-on carbonara (to out and out call it carbonara would be blasphemy to my Italian stepmother). 

I was intrigued as to how they had managed to get his face onto the yokes, which were beautiful runny. It seems somewhat sadistic to carve into Gudetama’s face with chopsticks, but the overflowing golden contents was satisfying enough to outweigh the loss of the kawaii expession. My guess is that the face is printed onto a sheet of gelatin which is then placed over the yoke.

The whites of my egg was in fact creamed potato, which seemed a little unnecessary because I had a heap of carbohydrates in the form of rice under the deceivingly small amount of thinly sliced beef. The taste was pleasant enough but I’ve had more delicious things in Japan.

My sister was happy enough with her meal too but I noticed that it did go unfinished (an unthinkable ending to, say, a bowl of Ichiran ramen). She told me it was very mushroom-y so I bowed out of tasting it. 

After, we both ordered a latte with a different design on the top. There was a centimetre of set whipped cream with Gudetama stencilled onto the top in cocoa powder. The coffee was surprisingly high quality, but there was just a bit too much cream for me to enjoy it properly - although I appreciate this was the canvas for me to enjoy the Gudetama character before swirling him out of existence as I mixed a sugar in (I have a sweet tooth).

The bill came to ￥３７８０ - so, that’s ￥１８９０each (around £13). For a decent size lunch and a meal, I’d say that was about average but you can definitely eat better and for a lot cheaper elsewhere in Japan. 

That being said, it was a nice atmosphere and if you’re a fan of anime or manga, it was nice going to a themed cafe that didn’t have the seedier OTT quality. I’d recommend it for tourists looking to do some stereotypical Japan-ing, character fans and for people with young families. I enjoyed myself but I probably wouldn’t go again unless I wanted to show some friends / family visiting from the UK.