THE VERDICT
-
Setting & Atmosphere
-
Food
-
Service
-
Value For Money
Summary
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step inside of your favourite comic book (or manga?). Wonder no further because now you can do just that at Tokyo’s new 2D Cafe!
Setting & Atmosphere
alling all boba and manga fans alike – have we got a fun-filled cafe experience for you!
For those that don’t know, comic book culture or “manga” is intensely popular in Japan and, given Tokyo’s penchant for all things novelty, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when we found out a 2D Cafe had opened up in Tokyo just before our trip! Hooray!
Located in Shin-Okubo aka Tokyo’s Korea Town, the 2D Cafe first opened its doors in August 2019. Stepping inside this cafe is like stepping into the pages of a manga. Everything inside, from the furniture to the walls, is painted white and outlined with black, hand-drawn sketch lines, making for both a trippy and extremely believable manga experience. Not to mention it’s incredibly Instagrammable.
Given the cafe’s novelty and instagrammable-ness, it’s not surprising that the crowd here is rather international with tourists from Europe, South-East Asia, America, Instagrammers (hey they really are a breed of their own), and of course, us Aussies ;) In fact, I think there was only one table of Japanese girls! Despite this, the cafe was fairly empty when we arrived around noon, which made for a pleasant experience and allowed for some playful photo opportunities. With the comic book setting of our surroundings, choosing to wear bright colourful clothing really made our photos pop.
You might be wondering, ‘if this cafe is so mind-blowing, why didn’t it get a perfect 5 star score?’ That my friends is an excellent question that has to do with Tokyo’s 2D Cafe predecessor, Cafe Yeonnam-dong 239-20 located in Seoul. But first, enjoy pictures from Tokyo’s 2D Cafe:
Tokyo’s 2D Cafe VS. Cafe Yeonnam-dong 2339-20 (Greem Cafe)
There’s a lot of confusion online between Tokyo’s 2D Cafe and its famous predecessor; Cafe Yeonnam-dong 239-20 (now called Greem Cafe). Pictures of Greem Cafe will often appear in blog posts about Tokyo’s 2D cafe, and I’m here to set the record straight. There are some key differences between the two cafes which makes Tokyo’s version score just a little less than its Korean competitor.
Put simply, Greem Cafe steps it up a notch. Unlike Tokyo’s 2D cafe, where the floors are simple white tiles, Greem Cafe goes the extra mile with hand sketched floorboards and serves all food and drinks using sketched outlined plates, cups, mugs and yes – even cutlery. This attention to detail helps to elevate the 2D effect immensely and in comparison I couldn’t give Tokyo’s 2D Cafe a perfect score.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Food
e gotta be honest with you. This score is solely based on our boba tea experience. Bubble tea has been in Sydney for quite some time, even before the recent viral trend taking over at the moment, so I have to say we’re quite the connoisseurs.
Apparently, the boba obsession is also the latest trend in Japan and to cater for this, Tokyo’s 2D Cafe is primarily a bubble tea cafe while also offering a selection of fruit juices, coffees and shaved ice desserts (Kakigori) and cake as the only food options. If you’re looking for a hearty meal or something savoury this is not the place. In saying this, the vivid colours of the fruity kakigori’s look stunning against the stark white and black backdrop of the cafe and are a great way to add more fun to your photos!
But back to the boba tea. I ordered the 2D Black Sugar Assam Bubble Milk Tea and Siree ordered a Cappucino.
Let’s start with the bubble tea. If you happen to take a gander at the menu below, you’ll see there is only ONE milk tea that has “2D” in the title. So naturally Siree and I were like ‘oooh, why is this called 2D? Maybe they serve this tea all special in a 2D looking mug or cup’ and we ordered it. To our disappointment, we received a regular looking bubble tea that looked exactly like all the others. Why the hell is it called ‘2D’ when it doesn’t have anything special about it???? We we’re kinda bummed.
While the flavours of the bubble tea were really nice, the pearls were unfortunately hard, which is a big no when it comes to bubble tea. Pearls are supposed to be sticky, chewy and almost gooey balls of pure joy (lol). Siree’s Cappucino was well received and had the ‘barista quality’ taste she misses from Sydney. Apparently a lot of Japanese cafes, particularly the chains, sell coffee similar to the instant coffee you buy in supermarkets and she very much enjoyed her coffee here.
Service
he 2D Cafe does not have table service, so there is very little interaction with the staff except for when you order. Staff were friendly and after you pay for your order, you are given a pager.
When the pager buzzes, you pick up your order from a separate counter.
The best thing about the cafe is that you’re never made to feel rushed out, you can stay as long as you like and just enjoy.
Value For Money
have to say, I think the prices here are pretty pricey compared to bubble tea prices in Sydney. But I’m told that in general, bubble tea is a little more experience in Tokyo with prices starting from 500 yen. The 2D Cafe has bubble teas starting from 600 yen, with the Assam Sugar Teas starting from 650 yen. It is also an additional 50 yen to add toppings.
With the quality of our bubble tea not being great, we deem this UNJUSTIFIABLE!!! haha.
The Cappuccino however was served in a large sized mug, which at 550yen was very good value for money, especially since coffee sizes are usually quite small in Japan.
2D Cafe Tokyo – Shin Ōkubo
1-7-5 Hyakunincho, Shinjuku-ku Za Building 1F
Tel. 03-6457-3032
Monday– Sunday: 11AM – 11PM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2dcafe_shinokubo/
Check out some other trippy experiences in Tokyo: