Holly Miles shocked to be eating in the presence of Gudetama Photo Credit: Joseph Dunkerley

A 5-star review of one of the U.K.’s only character cafés.

By Holly Miles

Commonplace across Japan is the widespread variety of character cafés. These cafés often take well loved characters from T.V. shows and popular culture, and design whole experiences based around them. The aim is to immerse all those who enter, into the fantastical world of the character in question. Hot on the scene is Brighton’s newest Art Box Café which opened in August 2019 becoming one of the U. K’s newest additions. It opened with the well-loved social media cat Pusheen. The character took off immediately and spread the message of the café far and wide through the winter months up until mid-February when the newest character took residence. That character is Gudetama.

Gudetama is a Japanese creation by the company Sanrio. The character was created shortly after Sanrio designer AMY’s graduation from the Joshibi University of Art and Design. She claimed she had the inspiration late one night whilst making eggs, when she noticed that “the yolk looked cute because of its droopy demeanour”. She said that it reminded her of the exhaustion that many millennials feel about modern life and thus set about creating the now famous character. The character now known as Gudetama, takes its name from Gude Gude which is a Japanese phrase that indicates laziness and Tamago which means egg. Thus, it is roughly translated to The Lazy Egg. Since then, the popularity of the character has grown exponentially with the egg gaining interest across the world in belonging to Japanese food culture and Japanese Kimo-Kawaii (gross-cute) subsections boosting the characters popularity. My partner and I went to see how Gudetama has taken the Artbox Café by storm.

Immediately upon entering the café one feels completely at ease in the bubbly pop coloured take-away and shop area, that stocks several items of merchandise, which are both specific to the character in residence, Gudetama, as well as of several other iconic characters. Amongst them is the long-standing and iconic Sanrio figure Hello Kitty. The kawaii pastel aesthetic of the whole place has the authentic Japanese character café charm and the interior and merchandise available certainly reflects this cutesy vision in equal measure. On sale on this ground floor of the café is: clothing, accessories and all sorts of homeware. Perhaps the strangest find was a musical singing Gudetama that wiggles its butt merrily to the music it plays. The shop stocks a lot of authentic traditional Japanese themed merchandise as well, selling miniature tea sets and chopsticks encrusted with the mascot’s face and rear. The ground floor take-away sells a variety of hot and cold drinks as well as ice creams.

Gudetama Café Menus Photo Credit: Holly Miles

At the bottom of a pastel perfect stairwell, you will be greeted by a member of staff dressed head to toe in kawaii, pastel themed maid costume who will escort you to a table on the first floor of the restaurant, whereupon you may peruse their dedicated character menu. All of the items on the menu are vegetarian whilst some are even vegan (especially impressive for an egg!), really making it an immersive and inclusive experience for all those who wish to visit. The menu itself, includes a wide variety of options from diner style mains of hot dogs and burgers, to a multitude of desserts and drinks. With the purchase of every drink, the café gifts you a free cardboard Gudetama themed coaster and although it would be instantly destroyed by the water from said drink, we kept ours as souvenir art prints which serve us quite well now as home decorations and souvenirs. The food although expected to be somewhat of a gimmick with its quirky character theme, was actually surprisingly well prepared, tasty and in large enough portions for a reasonable price in the Brighton area. The final stop before we headed back down to the gift shop and out of the café (after making some unadvised purchases using our small collection of funds), was the toilet area, situated on the 2nd floor just above the café area. There were two separated bathrooms with cute little images of a bare-butt Gudetama on the outside and inside the loos themselves, we found ourselves acquainted with more cutesy pastel graphics on the mirrors. The toilets were ungendered and added yet another touch of inclusivity to this fantastical, characterful wonderland.

Joseph Dunkerley eats food at Gudetama Cafe Photo Credit: Holly Miles

Joseph Dunkerley shocked to see the butt of Gudetama Photo Credit: Holly Miles

Whilst it may seem as though I am far too enthusiastic about a café themed around an egg for a woman in my mid-twenties, I would, without a doubt, have to give this place a raving review. The sense of childlike wonder and contentment I felt in this place, is as yet only matched by entering Disneyland whilst singing carols at Christmas time. The food was reasonably priced, highly delicious and astonishingly cute. The staff were friendly and went beyond the needs of their job to make sure everyone was having a great experience, and whilst some of the merchandise was rather expensive there were more affordable options such as the coasters that we were offered for free with our drinks. The memories are sure to stay regardless of any purchase you make. The character theme of Gudetama is in residence until June. So, if you have the time, pop down to East Street Brighton (just along the lanes from the water’s edge) and see what you make of it yourself.