Down the Rabbit Hole…

June 16, 2010 psychoballerina
Tags: Alice, Cute, Dining, Lolita

Or rather up a lift…in Ginza.

The addiction of Japan to all things cute and fantastical has led to a love of the classic novel, Alice in Wonderland. The nonsensical, dreamlike world of Alice continues to be a perfect escape for millions of people, away from the grey worlds we live in. Nowhere could this be more true than Japan where for many life is defined by an endless loop of commuter trains and the office. Alice – and this is surely why the cultures of Harajuku have embraced the book more than most – represents a world of marvels that fits in perfectly with the teenage rebellion against society.

As an Alice fan myself I was so excited to discover that, thanks to Japan’s love of Carroll, the Japanese applied their quirkiness to the book and came out with a themed cafe, 迷宮の国のアリス (The Maze World of Alice).

The reception area is tiny, resembling the tiny room Alice lands in after she falls down the rabbit hole. Sadly there are no tiny doors in the wall, or eat me/drink me bottles on the table bearing meishi. Instead there is one big door, illustrated with a simple sepia toned Alice design. When our Mad Hatter Maitre D appeared, they led us past this door down a long tunnel-like corridor still decorated with this sepia design that marked the doors to various private rooms. At the end we turned a corner at the giant clock and the maze changed. Everything was now a lush blue with velvet drapes adorning the walls, or glass engraved with playing card suit motifs.

Our small room was in this area, and sadly not in the main dining hall with its great china tea-cup. I would have loved to dine in a giant tea cup! Our room was private though, and the volume level was at a level where we could easily talk.

Our waitress came along shortly after we sat, bearing a box. She was dressed, as were all the waitresses, like Alice, in her famous blue. Smiling and chirpily she took apart one side of the box to reveal both the menu and, inside the box, an adorable scene of Wonderland.The box was so wonderful, so entrancing and so Alice that it took us a while to get into the menu. When we did however we found ourselves spoilt for choice over drinks and food. The drink selection seemed good but we only had eyes for the special cocktails. Over this list we pored, reading the cute descriptions to each other of drinks like the ‘Abunai! Dodo Shima’ (Danger! Dodo Island) with the description ‘A cheerful speech that gathers everyone together. Round and round on the waters edge we go!’ It looks in the picture like a sea with a small, (strawberry) Dodo wearing a crown:

Eventually, we settled on a チェシャ猫のスマイル (Cheshire Cat Smile) and an あわてん坊の白ウサギ (White Rabbit who is always flustered). The name of my cocktail led to my White Rabbit being a little less than White, and instead blushing red with his endless state of fluster.

The food was as wonderful. The Caesar Salad, a familiar offering at any restaurant, made an appearance on our table, as did some tasty fried prawns. We couldn’t not try the themed food though, and were tempted by the tasty – if small – 牛肉と茄子のミートパイ　チーズグラタン風 (Cheshire Cat beef and eggplant meat pie in the style of a cheese gratin). Of course there was also room for dessert and I found myself smiling in happy delight at my marshmallow and ice cream Mad Hatters.

We spent an age in there, just marvelling at everything and giggling with happiness over the cute food and cute drinks and cute waitresses. One even posed for a picture!

Since it’s success in Ginza, the Alice Cafe has spread out a little across Japan in two other locations, Shinjuku and Osaka. They have slightly different names too.

In Shinjuku we have 絵本の国のアリス (The Picture Book World of Alice)

In Osaka we have 幻想の国のアリス (The Illusion World of Alice)

Would it be strange and sad to aim to go to them all, I wonder?

Entry Filed under: Cute,Dining

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