We Visited The Gudetama Café And It Wasn't Very Egg-Citing
One of the most unlikely marketing success stories of the past decade belongs to the cartoon yellow blob with a butt and a huge case of ennui called Gudetama. It's an egg that hatched but is too lazy to become a chick (the name Gudetama loosely translates to "lazy egg" in its native Japanese). The eccentric mascot was born in 2013, the second-place finisher in a contest by its parent company Sanrio to create a new character modeled after food to join the ranks of Hello Kitty and Keroppi. Sanrio hatched a line of Gudetama products even though it didn't win (the first place winner was a little guy with a salmon filet for a head called Kirimichan). The company quickly realized that Gudetama products were vastly outselling those of Kirimichan's and went all in on promoting the lazy egg. It has its own Netflix animated series, an official Gudetama cookbook (alongside many other pop culture cookbooks), and now, its own café located in Buena Park, California.
The Gudetama Café isn't Sanrio's first foray into aligning its characters with North American dining. Hello Kitty has dedicated cafés across California, Las Vegas, and Vancouver. You can also visit the Hello Kitty food truck as it pops up in various locations around the United States. Osaka, Japan hosted a Gudetama Café from 2015 to 2019. However, the Buena Park location is the first location in America dedicated solely to Gudetama. I decided to indulge my fandom and go to check out the Gudetama Café for myself. Alas, unlike Universal Studios' Butterbeer, the food left a lot to be desired.
The Gudetama Café looks cute but has lazy food
The Gudetama Café is a short drive from Knott's Berry Farm, the theme park famed for its annual Boysenberry Festival. The Gudetama Café's design is an Instagram-ready triumph. Every surface is covered with images of the blasé egg, from the selfie-ready statues to the tables to the bathroom door, on which Gudetama sighs, "Can I go now?"
The brunchy menu features egg on all its sandwiches. After discovering that the Sleepy Sliders (made with Wagyu beef and quail eggs) were sold out, I opted for the Gude Katsu, Egg, and Cheese, a fried chicken sandwich on a brioche bun with American cheese, spicy chili sauce, and an over-easy egg. The bun is stamped with Gudetama in a chef's hat lounging in an eggshell. The egg yolk on the sandwich bears Gudetama's face as a cute edible sticker.
The sandwich sacrifices taste for imagery. Traditional katsu sandos are artfully cut, stacked on slices of milk bread, and simply topped with cabbage and Kewpie mayo. The chicken gets lost in translation when added to a fluffy bun and layered with egg, chili sauce, and cheese. At least the Crème Brûlée Cold Brew was tasty, though so sweet that it took the rest of the afternoon to finish.
If you're an enthusiastic fan of Gudetama, it's worth seeing the café and taking a million pictures. You can purchase merch unique to the café, Japanese shrimp chips, even a special Gudetama Otamatone. But grab a coffee to go and have your meal elsewhere.