Highlights
- Tokyo’s Star Wars cafe offers themed food & drinks inspired by iconic characters like Yoda & Darth Vader.
- Decor includes movie stills, Mandalorian illustrations, and a life-sized Grogu statue for a unique atmosphere.
- Reservations come with exclusive bookmarks, and the cafe provides a brief escape into the Star Wars galaxy.
One of the biggest cities in the world, Tokyo has a little something for everyone, including a constantly changing world of theme cafes. While most of the theme cafes are, understandably, based on Japanese anime and video games, sometimes other media franchises also make an appearance. In Japan, Disney is incredibly popular, loved by people across ages, genders, and walks of life. Because of this, specifically, Disney franchises are often chosen for themed cafes, because they are likely to draw a crowd.
Right now, there is an especially unique cafe in Tokyo based on one of the most famous Disney-owned franchises in the world – Star Wars! Drawing inspiration from all nine Star Wars movies along with the incredibly popular TV series, The Mandalorian, the Star Wars cafe in Tokyo is great for a fun outing. It has themed food and drinks, special merchandise, and a specially decorated venue. We were able to visit, and have all the details here to share with you either to vicariously live through us, or to plan a trip there yourself before it closes.
Food and Drink at the Star Wars Cafe
The main focus of any theme cafe is on the food and drink, and the Star Wars cafe was no different. The menu was smaller than many other theme cafes, but the foods were all very well-thought-out in return. The main dishes to choose from included the bread Rey can be seen eating in The Force Awakens alongside a simple stew, soup and bread served in a cup with a cute illustration of Grogu (who loves to eat soup), spring rolls wrapped in paper to make them look like lightsabers and complete with vibrant dipping sauces to mimic the colorful blades, and even a real roasted frog that Grogu himself would love to eat! We went quite late at night, so we chose the dessert option, which was a fruit yogurt printed to look like R2-D2 with a side of sweet bread that looked like C-3PO.
There were a few simple drinks like hot coffee and hot tea, but they were served in a cute Grogu mug that could also be purchased to take home, along with iced tea in a character-printed plastic bottle. We wanted something a little more themed, though, so we ordered both the Darth Vader and Darth Maul drinks. Darth Vader’s was black and milky, whereas Darth Maul’s was a vibrant red juice with chunks of strawberry inside. The menu also offered the classic blue milk seen in various Star Wars movies, and the green milk that can be seen specifically in The Last Jedi. As fans of the classic films, we had to order the blue milk, which looked exactly like it does in the movies and satisfied our childhood curiosity about exactly what it tasted like (like very sweet milk).
Inside a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Of course, you can expect to have themed food and drinks at concept cafes. But everything else is always a surprise! The Star Wars cafe was hosted by a cafe chain called Oh My Cafe, which changes themes every few months, and features different themes at its various locations across Japan. This means that the decor on the inside needs to be able to easily change as well, so nothing is too big or fancy – but that doesn’t mean they don’t try. In the Star Wars cafe, one entire wall was dominated by stills from all the Star Wars movies, featuring nearly every main character at least once. Another row of tables had stills from The Mandalorian above every seat, and the final part of the cafe featured cute illustration art of some of the franchise’s most recognizable characters. The tables were also decorated with a starry print and “May the Fourth Be With You” at each person’s seat, which made a good background for taking food photos.
One of the most fun things to see, though, was a realistic, accurately sized statue of Grogu from The Mandalorian! It took all of our willpower not to touch him, but we respected the sign and kept our hands off. There were also a few cute illustrations of Grogu around the cafe, which makes sense considering he is one of the most popular characters in Star Wars right now, and easy to draw in a “kawaii” style. Pictures were, however, encouraged! To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace (which also returned to theaters in Japan!), there was also a small display of figurines from that title specifically, all of which were also available for purchase.
Visiting the Star Wars Cafe
We made reservations for the cafe, which can be made through the official website (note, this can only be done in Japanese). Reservations are not required, though, and even without them, we would have had no trouble getting in as there were plenty of seats. The benefit of making a reservation, though, is that each one comes with an exclusive bookmark. The bookmarks are made of sturdy plastic and look like a filmstrip, featuring four screenshots from either Star Wars or The Mandalorian. Each reservation costs 770 yen ($4.90 USD), and it is the only way to score one of these special bookmarks.
Throughout our experience, we got to listen to all the series’ iconic theme songs, which were playing on a rotating loop. Additionally, a large TV screen on one wall was playing everything from movie and TV clips, to scenes from the latest Star Wars Celebration, and even footage from the video game Jedi: Fallen Order. Though the menu may have been pretty limited in what was available, the Star Wars cafe tried its best to take visitors into a galaxy far, far away and give them a memorable experience. All tables are available for a maximum of 80 minutes, but our food and drinks came fast enough that it was plenty of time to enjoy what the small cafe had to offer.
The Star Wars cafe can be visited at the Tokyo Solamachi branch of Oh My Cafe in Tokyo, Japan until June 9th, 2024.
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