Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe
In this post, I’ll share and do a little recap of my experience at the 2023 Attack on Titan (AOT) x Aniplus Cafe. Read on to see what’s improved and what’s new!
Aniplus Cafe is running their Attack on Titan Collaboration Cafe from 14 April 2023!
Today I’ll be sharing a (short) recap post on my visit to the Attack on Titan (AOT) x Aniplus Cafe back in April 2023.
Having finally indulged in my anime cafes and escapades in Japan again after 2.5 years of pining (Posts coming soon!) in November 2022, I thought I would be fine with not going to an anime cafe anytime soon + my wallet needed to recover but well…
Fast forward a couple of months later, when Aniplus announced that they would be running the Attack on Titan collaboration, I immediately caved and got a reservation ^ ^
Fun Fact: My 1st anime theme cafe in 2022 was the Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe. And as it turns out, AOT x Aniplus Cafe was also my 1st anime themed cafe in 2023! How about that? Talk about serendipity!
Actually come to think of it, I’ve now been to minimally 4 different AOT collaboration cafes in the past 5 years! You can read about them here: Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) X Animate Cafe; Attack on Titan (AOT) x Aniplus Cafe. I also managed to visit the ATTACK ON TITAN: THE EXHIBITION in 2022.
Now onward to the actual recap + review!
Page Contents
Attack on Titan Aniplus Cafe 2023
To celebrate the new episodes and new season (well Part III of the final season) of Attack on Titan, Aniplus Cafe ran a collaboration cafe starting from April 2023. This was actually their second time running a collab cafe, with their first AOT collaboration back in 2022.
It was honestly a little hit-and-miss (but I guess they were still at their teething stage) then, especially with the food but am happy to say that they have significantly improved for the 2023 collaboration.
To find out more about Aniplus Cafe, please check out their official website here; and their official facebook page here
AOT x Aniplus Cafe 2023
As always, we were greeted by a familiar neon orange sign-board. ^ ^ And the large sized decals on the glass walls of Aniplus cafe.
I was glad that Aniplus Cafe continued to have these large decals adorning their glass walls for every collaboration campaign they hold. It really does makes a difference in elevating the whole experience of being in an anime themed cafe.
I mean, admit it! I’m pretty sure most of us (okay me) had a little skip in our heart while looking at these decals before entering the cafe.
Interestingly, back in 2022, the decals on the middle windows were Mikasa, Jean and Sasha. Now it’s Levi, Hange and Jean! (I miss Erwin *sniff*)
Hmmm….So where’s Mikasa now?
Why she’s back with Eren and Armin of-course! (We can pretend) And it was only now writing this post that I realized that Eren’s decal was actually missing in the 2022 cafe!
Although it kinda made sense why that was so because the 2022’s collaboration was on the Survey Corps.
Rounding up the wall decals were Reiner and Annie. Although they were seemingly placed at the far end of the cafe, chances are, they were actually the first two decals you’ll see while walking to the cafe. Take that in whatever way you may.
Inside the Cafe
Upon entering the cafe, we are immediately greeted by these life-size cut-out standees of Levi and Eren.
Perhaps echoing the the mood of the final season, both cardboard Levi and Eren are sporting serious face expressions. There’s also this ominous aura and a “don’t mess with me” vibe…which lasted only about 5 seconds after we laid our eyes on the tables inside the cafe.
Talk about a 360 degree contrast! Look at the super adorable table character standees they had on display on every table. OMG! So cuteeeee! And no, you cannot take them home, no matter how tempted you are. ^ ^
Say it with me again… Awwwwwww~ How cute are the chibi AOT characters? (Very!!)
I really liked how Aniplus Cafe decided to go with these chibi character standees for their tables. It’s definitely a marked improvement from the 2022 AOT cafe which only had only a handful of
This might be a small change but I can tell you, it’s always the little things that adds to the overall experience. Oh and never underestimate the powers of chibi decorations. ^^ I can confidently say that your enjoyment, or at the very least, your photos of the food & drink will be elevated with these chibi designed table standees next to it.
As mentioned in my other posts on Aniplus Cafe, you order and pay upfront for your food/drinks/desserts at the order counter. The staff will then serve the food/drinks/desserts to your table. Always let them know in advance if you would like your drinks or desserts to be served later or together with your mains.
Fun Fact: The order counter also doubles up as a “drinks bar” because that’s where your drinks are made.
Oh and I have to say that I really like this long “poster” displayed on? below? under? the order counter. (Don’t call the grammar police on me! ><) It’s eye-catching, it’s bright, and I really like the “clean” look the poster has. I tried to get a shot where you could see everyone but alas I couldn’t, so you’ll notice that the photos above are either missing Eren or Reiner. I wonder if it was intentional, placing them at the ends of the poster.
As it was a weekday evening and the campaign had already gone on for a few weeks, the cafe was pretty quiet. At one point there was only us (1 table filled) and so it had seemed like we had booked the entire cafe for ourselves ^ ^ Good for us but probably not so much for the cafe. (So do go and support if you can during weekdays!)
Attack on Titan Food and Drinks
The highlight of every anime cafe is always its food and drinks, so without further ado… here’s what we ordered during our visit ^ ^
My friend ordered Hange’s Potato Stew, which as the name suggested, is a bowl of stew with potatoes carrots and chunks of beef. The stew is served with a side of toasted bread.
According to my friend, this potato stew was actually pretty decent and she liked the flavours. It came piping hot too, which is always a plus. (There are some places that, believe it or not, serve lukewarm stew. *shudders*) Portion was a little smaller than what she would have liked for the price but hey, we kind of knew what its generally like for food in an anime themed cafe, so it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Side-note: Detective Conan Cafes in Japan is the exception for anime cafes because their food collabs with actual proper cafes generally are delicious and worth the price-point.
Oh! Remember how I had earlier mentioned that someone was missing from my photo of the chibi table standees?
Well, that person is no other than Hange! See how the photo looks more fun with a chibi table character standee next to it!
My other friend opted for the Titan Bento on the menu. This was served in a bento box, with a beef hamburger steak; shabu-shabu beef slices; egg roll; salad and pasta with parmesan cheese flakes.
I assume the “Titan” aspect came from the “large” size of the bento (compared to the other food items on the menu?) and the variety?
Honestly, in terms of creativity and surprise, I actually much preferred the 2022’s version of the “titan” food menu… the Colossal burger, which was, as you would expect from the name, was a huge burger that 4 pax could comfortably share with.
In any case, my friend found the bento pretty decent and quite filling. Her only complaint was that the beef slices was overly drenched in sauce. So in this case, I guess it’s a taste VS creativity scenario.
Sidenote: I have tried several versions of Aniplus Cafe’s bentos with different anime/game collaborations and I found them to be pretty decent as well. If you are looking for something more bang for buck, the bentos are usually the safest bet at Aniplus Cafe.
Now for the desserts and drinks… or better known as Mikasa’s time!
Why Mikasa’s time? Well, simply because we kind of ended up ordering everything Mikasa themed on the menu! We ordered Mikasa’s themed drink, which was just called Mikasa (hahaha) and it was a pretty-looking red-velvet latte with a generous serving of whipped cream .
And if you were wondering what I had ordered at the AOT cafe, well.. it’s this dessert plate, “Mikasa’s Flashback!” It’s a chocolate larva cake, served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and strawberry.
Truthfully? It’s pretty but the chocolate larva cake was rather dry and the chocolate center, which should have been oozing out when cut, remained firmly within the cake.
Not sure why this was named Mikasa’s flashback though, maybe they were going with a bittersweet memory concept with the chocolate and the vanilla?
Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe 2023 Menu
For those interested, here’s the full menu! Prices have generally risen since a year ago (2022). These are priced in SGD. Compared to a year ago where prices ranged between $7.90 to $19.90 (~USD 6 to ~USD15) It’s now about $9 to $23 (~ 7 USD to ~18 USD. ) * Rates are as accurate as of May 2023
What would you have ordered? I was tempted to get the Survey Corp’s Meal but as I had shared earlier, I actually had a full meal before coming by the cafe (oops) so this was a rare case of me just ordering 1 item at an anime themed cafe!
Happy to also note that looking at photos on social media, the food items closely resembled what was shown in the menu. The 2022 collaboration Aniplus Cafe had with Attack on Titan had a dish that looked nothing like what was shown in the menu!! You can read all about my comments here: Attack on Titan (AOT) x Aniplus Cafe
The drinks actually looks pretty decent and sounded/looked delicious. Although I generally base my food/drink orders on the characters I liked (Erwin and Levi), I honestly couldn’t bring myself to pay $9 (~USD 7) on a cup of English Breakfast tea and some small scones/biscuits on the side. (I mean a pot is still somewhat okay but 1 cup?!)
And I have lots of tea at home (Peppermint; Earl Grey; English Breakfast Tea; Paris Breakfast Tea; Lemon and Ginger Tea; Australia Afternoon Tea; Moroccan Mint Tea.. etc) – yup, totally not flexing my tea muscles. ^ ^
So if I had to choose a drink from this list, it would have been Jean’s drink (which interestingly, I chose Jean’s drink as well back in 2022). The Kiwi Banana Smoothie looked and sounded delicious! Alas, I ended up not ordering a drink because I was under strict orders then not to take in any cold drinks for a few weeks. (That order has been lifted now, yay!)
However, my friends did and therefore I had that lovely photo of Mikasa’s red velvet drink. ^ ^
Menu Novelty Gifts
Happy to see that Aniplus Cafe has upped their menu novelty gifts from 2022. Their first collab with Attack on Titan were stickers and a postcard. (Not going to lie, it was a little disappointing) Fast forward to 2023, the menu gifts are now coasters and hologram postcards! How neat is that?
And here’s our gifts! ^ ^ Between the 3 of us, we managed to get 4 sets of gifts! The Hologram Postcards were pretty nice but alas our camera phones were not that great at capturing the hologram effect, so do please excuse the photos.
Personally, I would love to have the coasters or postcards to be that of the chibi standees design (so adorable!) But I guess they went with the anime designs.
Oh! I am also happy to share that Aniplus Cafe has changed how their menu gifts can be collected. Every SGD$15 (~USD 13) spent in a receipt would entitle you to a set of menu gift!
This is definitely a marked improvement and an incentive for you to spend/order more! Back in 2022, they only gave you 1 set of menu gifts with a minimum spend. This means that no matter how many items you ordered on the menu in a single receipt, you only get 1 gift. Now, they practice an accumulation format so that you can get x sets of gifts per x spent.
I can’t help but wonder if my reviews were a source of this change hahaha ^ ^
Although I still preferred the 1 gift per character-themed item ordered from the menu that’s more common in Japanese anime cafes, this is still a positive move by Aniplus Cafe. (You can check out my comparison of Animate Cafes and Aniplus Cafe here; and a general guide on Animate cafes )
Merchandises
Apart from the food and drinks, a large part of the anime cafe experience lies in the exclusive merchandises you can get your hands on.
For Aniplus Cafe, you do not have to dine at the cafe to buy merchandises (unlike most of the anime cafes in Japan). *Walk-ins to buy merchandises are usually fine, as they have other anime goods for sale that are not related to the collaboration campaign.
*If it’s a super popular collaboration, they may restrict merchandise buying to dine-in customers only, so always check out their facebook for updates!
For this particular collaboration campaign, we see badges, mini acrylic stands, acrylic nametag keychains, pens and files with the chibi designs. There are also selling badges with the coaster designs as well.
It’s a slight improvement from 2022’s range of merchandise but it would have been nice if a little more effort was placed in sprucing up the merchandise corner to distinguish them from the other anime goods being sold.
I do appreciate that the acrylic stands are not packed in blind packaging so that we can select the characters we want to buy.
Final Thoughts
And that concludes my visit to the 2023 Attack on Titan x Aniplus cafe! Thank your reading till the end of the post! ^^
All things considered, the 2023 Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe was a much welcome improvement to the 2022 Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe collaborations. Although there could have been a better connecting theme (either do a full-blown chibi concept or sticking to the anime/manga designs), rather than a 1/2 and 1/2, everything else was pretty good.
Taste-wise, the food and drinks at Aniplus Cafe are very much improved! It’s still pricey but most anime cafes or themed cafes around the world are like that. >< However, creativity of the menu seems to have taken a slight dip with this second iteration of the cafe collaboration. Nevertheless, it’s good to see that everything we’ve ordered from the menu looks like what was being depicted. Thankfully there was no repeat of 2022’s fiasco where a dish looked nothing like what the menu visualized for us.
All in all, I still had a fun time with my friends at the cafe. I’m always a strong proponent of visiting anime cafes whenever you can, so happy to note that more and more anime-themed cafes are now popping up around the world!
Have you been to the Aniplus Cafe? Or the Attack on Titan x Aniplus Cafe? Let me know how your experience was in the comments below!
Till the next post! 🙂
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I’ve also done up a few guides on purchasing anime goods/figurines and the list will continue to expand. Do check them out as they might be useful for your own fan- collection journeys!
- Geeky Goods Spotlight: Forwarder, Buying Service & Proxy Bidding (Anime Goods)
- Nendoroids – A Guide on Buying Nendoroids
- A Kuji Guide: All You need to know and more!
- Figuarts Mini VS Nendoroid: A Comparison Guide
