Andrew Zimmern visits Tokyo's bizarre themed cafés
When the producers of Andrew Zimmern’s travel show, Bizarre World, invited me to co-host an episode about Tokyo theme cafés, it took me all of three milliseconds to say yes.
Why me? Had they read my book, "Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo"? Or seen the cross-dressing shenanigans on my blog? Host Andrew Zimmern flatters me by saying, “It was a no-brainer. You have beauty, grace, intelligence and can speak with authority on many subjects.” You can guess that I liked the bald food guru the minute we met.
With TV crew in tow, Zimmern was introduced to three Tokyo cafés that throw customers into an over-the-top food fantasy.
Haunted mental hospital restaurant
Alcatraz E.R. is not a restaurant for the faint-hearted. The waitress -- dressed as a skimpy nurse -- slapped handcuffs on Zimmern and locked him in a cell with my Goth comrades. We bravely sampled pig tripe, fruit cocktails mixed with dildos and Russian Roulette takoyaki. When a slushy red drink arrived in a mannequin’s decapitated head, he used a syringe to pump shots into our mouths.
Zimmern loved the kitschy B-horror atmosphere and was surprised by the broad mix of customers. “Quality of the food was better that I would have thought it would be. And eating dinner with a giant pink pussycat was about as fun as life gets,” he said.
Alcatraz E.R.
Harvest Bldg 2F, 2-13-5 Dogenzaka, Shibuya
Bunny Shinto maid café
The following day, we visited an Akihabara café where the waitresses cosplay as Shinto temple maidens with bunny ears. (Don’t ask why.) We skipped the snacks in favor of the 'rabbit hole' attraction. Our bunny told us to follow three instructions: don’t use your cell phone, speak softly, and keep moving forward. She took us to the basement and left us in pitch darkness. And what happened next was as chilling as the trapped-in-a-coffin scene from "Kill Bill". You’ll have to wait until the episode airs to find out!
Akiba Usagi JinjaShuman Bldg B1, Soto-Kanda 4-6-1, Chiyoda
A private school boys café
Edelstein (click here for CNNGo's review) is a favorite with the ladies: the café resembles Harry Potter’s boarding school, and the waiters pretend to be awkward schoolboys. My friends joined us, dressed like students from a horror high school. Zimmern and I drank rose tea, tasted dainty buttercream cakes and sighed over the dreamy waiters.
Café EdelsteinChamps-Élysées Bldg 2F, 4-28-14 Jingumae, Harajuku
Thumbs up to bizarre theme restaurants
The Bizarre Foods star has visited Tokyo several times, but this was his first opportunity to explore theme restaurants. He gave them the thumbs up and said, “The idea that food should be fun and not a stuffy experience has always been my preference. In Japan, these restaurants achieve that without diluting their content (food) the way that American ‘eater-tainment’ joints do.”
The Tokyo episode of Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World airs this May on the Travel Channel and in 75 countries. La Carmina photographed and described dozens of Japanese theme restaurants in her book, "Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants".
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