Hellooo KITTY and Merry Christmas from Rome! YES! Rome took me to the Hello Kitty Cafe at the Irvine mall. Wow, right!
When you arrive at the Hello Kitty Cafe, there is an entry space with a counter to buy food and a few souvenirs to-go, and a line to wait to be seated, reservations encouraged since it’s quite the deal inside there, oh man, HELLO KITTY! During this whole hellllo kitty kitty experience I said Hello Kitty 150 times in about 150 different ways because I could not stop.
I’ve left the overall pink tint in these pictures because it was indeed PINK. These are both Rome’s and my pictures.
Here comes the first course, a chocolate pudding and strawberries decorated with Hello Kitty. Note the cups with Hello Kitty handles and multiple decorations, and the plate, wow, the plate. Also, the pink bit on the cup is sugar in the shape of, you can guess, Hello Kitty. Rome is not a fan of chocolate so the server said ‘let me figure out something’ and came back with the strawberries and cream and, yes, a Hello Kitty cookie.
The adorable sugars in two different forms and a view of our seats.
The menu: Croissant with cream cheese and salmon (I ate Rome’s salmon!), open-faced cream cheese and cucumber, a little tartlet with a touch of pesto, tomato, and mozzarella, a small cone with egg salad. Next level: a scone with jam and butter with a Hello Kitty stamp, and a spinach quiche. Top level: Apple pie tart, raspberry macaron with a bow, and two sweetly decorated cakes (which of course we cut in half in case they were different).
Rome’s doll and one of the cakes are Keroppi, a character in Hello Kitty World.
My favorite picture. Rome is displaying my phone, the case design and execution by Rome’s long-time good friend Lola.
Hello Kitty sitting on Buddha’s lap. Too Good.
The café was pretty full with each group having one clearly delighted person and another person taking their picture. So Many Pictures. It was like people just couldn’t get enough pictures. Me too!
One of our cutie-pie neighbors wearing the Hello Kitty crocs charmed up with other favorites I’m sure, even Keroppi. And Rome’s shirt and necklace were a favorite too including Keroppi and Cinnamoroll.
The inset is how I came to be so taken with Hello Kitty Sitting on Buddha’s Lap. Sharon brought one back from Japan, in pink, and I wanted it BAD so she gave it to me. I had that pink charm on my bag for ages but then it broke and I was Hello Kitty Sad. Then I found this blue one on eBay and I was happy. Then I was worried that it too would break so I stopped carrying it and it sits on a shelf. Now I have this gorgeous phone case and I’m Hello Kitty Happy again.
After our Hello Kitty extravaganza we strolled around the enormous mall and then went home. Oh yes, a day to remember.
