Akiba City Tokyo Your site made by locals
All hail Square Enix, bringer of awesome games and now, food and drink.
This month, the official gigantic Square Enix Cafe opened in the geek paradise of Akihabara. Although they already have a smaller cafe called Artnia which is attached to their headquarters, this mecca for geeks is a much flashier version of that cafe, with themes that will change with Square Enix’s hottest game debuts.
Right now, Final Fantasy XV is the hot topic of the year, with the cafe adorned with images from the soon to be released game, and special menu items that feature food that appears in the game, anime, or movie, like the banana pound cake, which was featured in Ignis’ episode of the FFXV anime series.
The regular food at the cafe features a large array of savory and sweet items, not necessarily themed from any game, but they look ridiculously delish. But don’t forget dessert! Check out this Gaia’s Wrath Mont Blanc, which can be yours for the low price of 900 yen (~$9USD).
Hajime Tabata, the director of FFXV even got in on the fun at the cafe, appearing for photos and interviews last week.
The restaurant is located directly across the street from the JR Akihabara train station, on the first floor of the Yodobashi Camera electronics department store, making it a holy pilgrimage for any gaming fan who is in the area.
I’ll have the vodka martini Phoenix Down, please.
The restaurant also features an electronic tablet ordering system, so if you’re fuzzy on your Japanese skills, you can avoid the awkwardness of ordering by just clicking on pictures and selecting their English language menu. Hooray!
Anticipating hordes of geeks to descend upon them, the cafe has 90-minute seating slots that you can reserve in advance online, or go to the cafe in person to see if there are any left for the day. But if you’re not in town for long, we recommend you don’t roll those dice, since fans have been flocking to the cafe and filling up the time slots since its grand opening on October 1st.
Inside the cafe, you can enjoy the sweet sounds of Final Fantasy background music while you dine, and of course, load up on swag at the two gift shops located inside. The shops feature merchandise from FFXV as well as Square Enix’s other beloved series.
You can get news from the cafe via their official website, as well as their Twitter!
