Maid cafés are a very popular attraction of anime-themed neighborhoods in Japan. Akihabara in Tokyo is popular for its crazy intepretation of the concept, but did you know that you can also find exciting ones in DenDen Town – Osaka's equivalent to Akihabara?
Maidreamin Maid Café is a coffee shop chain that also opened in DenDen, close to Namba station. From the outside, you can already feel the pink electric vibe of the café. You might even run into a maid that will greet you with a big smile and invite you to come inside and relax with their delicious snacks and coffee.
The shop is all pink, with happy J-pop tunes playing in the background. Everything is sweet, colorful and swimmingly cute or kawaii. The maids happily welcome their customers to their universe and are actually part of the attraction themselves: they are dressed in the cutest fashion, wearing a typical frilly maid dress decorated with shiny accessories, pink bow ties and rainbow bracelets. You will feel like you've just entered a dollhouse, so get ready for tea time!
Once you are seated, you can choose something to eat or drink from the menu. What I like about this place is the effort they put into designing cute food. You may choose one of the decorated dishes, such as a sleeping teddy-bear omelette or a teddy-bear burger for about 1500¥. If you take some coffee, it will also come with a small bear decoration on the foam.
But the main interest of this place are the friendly maids who interact with you during all your stay. Once you've placed your order, a maid will come to see you with a little electric candle. She will ask you to count to three with her and it will light up. She will keep the candle with her during all your stay and when you'll have to go, she will bring it back and repeat the ritual to shut the light. Your stay will be punctuated by such funny interactions, and they will ask you to count or sing along with them on many occasions. Sometimes, the maids perform a little show and you can request them to sing a song for you.
The prices are quite affordable for a maid café. You have to know that, for such places, you usually have to pay for your stay and sometimes it exceeds ¥3,000 for an hour. Here, the staying price is only ¥500 for an hour. Drinks start at ¥530 so if you want to have a typical Japanese maid experience, you can enjoy yourself without having to pay too much. Also, you can have a Polaroid picture taken with the maids and keep it for ¥500.
I think it's a great experience for anyone. I was a little worried at first that such places would only be visited by men, but the customers were mostly girls enjoying the cute universe and I've been warmly welcomed as a lady too. This is definitely something you can only find in Japan, and it's not so expensive either, so you should try it when you stop by in Osaka!
