I’ve
always wanted to work at a cosplay café.
I know my husband gave me the same look when I told him. @_@ Then again I’m one of those people who loves
Halloween and loved cosplaying back in my university days . . .sigh . . . To have a job where you can dress up in all
kinds of crazy costumes (and not have to read lines in front of a camera = scary~~), would be a dream job for me!
True, you meet the occasional weirdo, but then again I met some pretty
strange people just working at a women’s clothing store (regular clothes, not
costumes ^_^).
So
when I saw on the news that Taipei
had its very own maid café I turned my adoring, pleading eyes towards my
husband. And when that didn’t work, I bargained and negotiated
to make him go with me. (Letting him
pick the movie for our movie night for the next three weeks is a small price to
pay!!) He had to go with a buddy because
he didn’t want to seem otaku (read-
super geek) by himself and after dragging a somewhat suspecting (vs unsuspecting!)
friend along, we were ready to go!
 |
| Otome in action! |
The
café – Good Smile Café
Location – This cafe is right next to
Taipei Main Station Exit Z2. It’s very
easy to find if you know where Mitsukoshi (Shinguang Sanyue) is. Facing Mistukoshi, the building to your left
looks like an average office building, but on the fifth floor is none other
than the maid café!
Atmosphere – This café’s current theme revolves
around the anime/game Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, which I’ve never seen or
played, and many of the character artworks and action figures there all come
from that series. Inside the café was
much larger than I’d first thought, very spacious with anime posters (of Madoka
Magica) hanging from the ceiling. The
entrance was a clear wall filled with shelves of action figures from some of
the more popular anime and games in Taiwan. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed
when I realized the focus of the café was on an anime I hadn’t seen before, but
still everything was very cute and there were lots of fun things to see.
 |
| Isn't that the cutest curry ever?? >.< |
The food – I went in expecting expensive
food and not very high quality, but I was pleasantly surprised! Although, the food was expensive (in Taiwan at least, average for the US) it all
tasted very good. There were some
anime-themed meals as well as drinks, and my husband was thrilled to be able to
eat curry (because I’m allergic we don’t eat it often) and even better the
curry was sooo cute! *^_^* It seemed a
shame to eat it, but we were hungry and just took lots of pictures. I had a delicious meal of soup (with a
smiling face ^m^) and bread. The drinks
came in anime-inspired colors and flavors and were also pretty tasty.
The service – The maids were super
cute!! The costumes were pretty simple
though and I had somewhat expected elaborate cosplay (though I’ve found another
maid café in Taipei
that I’m dying to try that is even more otaku-centered . . . more on that
later). But the girls were very
professional and sweet, even allowing me to take a picture with them! (Although there was no getting called
‘master’ and ‘mistress’ much to our friend’s disappointment! Hee hee!)
 |
| Very spacious and chic, ne? |
After our meal,
we walked around the café, whose guests had increased from when we first walked
in, and looked at the various artworks, signed the guestbook (with our sad
little drawing), and looked at the small gift-shop. All in all, we had a wonderful time (even my
husband!!) and now I am planning our next maid café adventure!
