Anyone interested in Japanese food, anime or pop culture may have heard about pop-up cafes such as the popular Pokemon Cafe, or Kirby Cafe that offer cute and creative food and drinks resembling characters from the shows and video games. These are of course only two examples among many. If you've ever seen photos from these stores you'll know it's safe to say that Japan does themed food very well!
If you're a regular reader of my blog you may have stumbled upon a Halloween themed food blog post recently that highlighted some of Osaka's cutest and tastiest Halloween themed food. Well, I'm here today with another themed food post!
Christmas themed food in Japan generally starts sometime in November and extends through to December 25th, although individual cafes set their own dates for their limited edition Christmas menus. I always have fun browsing Instagram to find the tastiest looking cutest food, and deciding which cafes I'll visit.
Let's have a look at the cafes I visited in Osaka this year for Christmas themed sweets! Please remember (as usual), these reviews are my own personal opinion, and information given is accurate to my knowledge at the time of posting. Feel free to let me know your experiences with these places in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
Christmas Plate at Tribecca Cafe
Christmas menu start: November 19, 2022
This year Tribecca Cafe is offering up a cute Christmas plate. I'd been to Tribecca Cafe once before and really enjoyed it, so I was glad to find another excuse to pop in for some food.
This cafe actually has some really good canelés. I was on the fence about canelés until I had them here, and since then have become a big fan.
The Christmas plate at Tribecca Cafe this year has a pudding (puddings like this are super popular in Japan) topped with pistachio cream and a star shaped cookie - made to resemble a Christmas tree. The sauce is the usual caramel sauce that comes with this type of pudding, plus some macerated fruit and frozen berries. On the side is a mini chocolate macaron and a meringue snowman.
I actually ordered an extra snowman (for 150 yen) to add to my cafe latte. The extra snowman meringue comes on the side, so you can choose to do with it what you'd like.
I thought this was a super cute Christmas plate! Definitely keeping to the Christmas theme well! I also liked the variety of sweets on the plate.
Tribecca Cafe has indoor and outdoor tables. They don't take reservations, but if it's busy they'll usually have some seats outside where you can wait. Even if you're not in Osaka around Christmas, I suggest popping in if you're in the area anyway!
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Name in English: Tricecca Cafe
Address in English: 〒541-0048 Osaka, Chuo Ward, Kawaramachi, 1 Chome−5−11 瓦町一丁目ビル 1F
Name in Japanese: トライベッカカフェ
Address in Japanese: 〒541-0048 大阪府大阪市中央区瓦町１丁目５−11 瓦町一丁目ビル 1F
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Christmas Toast at Rocks Cafe
Christmas menu start: November 21, 2022
Rocks Cafe is one of the rare cafes in Osaka that opens early in the morning. And by early I mean 9am. Most cafes in Osaka (and Japan actually) don't open until around 10 or 11am, which is the usual time for stores to open.
Coming from Australia where cafes open EARLY - I'm talking 5 or 6am sometimes - having cafes open later in the day always seems weird to me. I wanna drink coffee in the morning, and maybe even grab a little snack on the go.
I actually visited Rocks Cafe in last year for their Christmas menu and thought it was pretty cute, so I decided to go back this year to try their menu for Christmas 2022. The cafe had two options for food this year: a chocolate chiffon cake and a Christmas deco toast. They also had a hot chocolate on the Christmas menu.
I ordered the Christmas deco toast which was 715 yen, plus an iced cafe latte (the price of which I forget, oops!) The toast was thickly sliced, toasted and drizzled with chocolate sauce before being covered in whipped cream, chocolate flakes and berries. Pretty good, but could definitely be a bit more "Christmassy."
Indoor seating only. Take-out available for some options.
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Name in English: Rocks Cafe
Name in Japanese: ロックスカフェ
Address in English: 1 Chome-13-11 Kitahorie, Nishi Ward, Osaka, 550-0014
Address in Japanese: 〒550-0014 大阪府大阪市西区北堀江１丁目１３−11
Christmas Pancakes at Pancake & Books Bibliotheque, Grand Front, Umeda
Christmas menu start: 9 November, 2022
Pancake & Books Bibliotheque in Umeda currently have two Christmas items on their menu. There's the Strawberry and Pistachio Cream, Fromage Blanc Mousse Pancake or the Airy Choose & Raw Butter Christmas Pancake. I went for the latter with a drink set. (I had some issues with the lighting here, so apologies in advance for the poor quality photos!)
The dish comes with two thick pancakes, a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, fresh strawberries, raw butter cream cheese, an almond tuile, and some strawberry milk sauce on the side. I quite enjoyed the saltiness of the cream cheese, as I felt it balanced the sweetness well.
There is not much Christmassy about this dish to be honest, except the small Santa placed on top of the pancakes. Actually, in Japan 'Christmas cake' is usually a sponge cake covered in whipped cream and topped with strawberries (said to resemble the colors of Santa), so I guess there's that connection.
Bibliotheque is definitely somewhere I'd recommend to anyone in the area who's craving pancakes. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavour. In addition to sweet options, the store also had some savoury options on the menu that looked pretty good.
If you don't get a chance to visit Bibliotheque in Osaka, they do have other stores across Japan, so be sure to check their website. Indoor and outdoor seating is available at the Grand Front Umeda store, depending on the weather.
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Name in English: Pancake & Books Bibliotheque
Address in English: 〒530-0011 Osaka, Kita Ward, Ofukacho, 4−20 Grand Front Osaka ショップ＆レストランSouth Building 1F
Name in Japanese: カフェ＆ブックス ビブリオテーク
Address in Japanese: 〒530-0011 大阪府大阪市北区大深町４−20 グランフロント大阪ショップ＆レストラン南館1F
Looking for more Japan food content? Suggested reading: Trying Osaka's Best Fish Burgers at Burger Lion | Hommachi, Osaka | Japan Lunch at Optimus Vegan Cafe in Kitahama, Osaka | Japan A Foodie's Guide: Where to Eat & Drink in Sapporo | Hokkaido, Japan |
Christmas Themed Red Velvet Cake at Cafe Seukon
Christmas menu start: 1 December, 2022
Cafe Seukon recently became popular on Instagram due to their Instagrammable cakes, and modern interior. This cafe had been on my to-visit list for a while, and once I saw the Christmas themed red velvet cake become available, I knew it was time to finally visit.
The cakes at Cafe Seukon are beautiful, and make for great photos. Unfortunately I can't say as much for the taste. I was quite disappointed with the cake - the red velvet had almost no flavour, and was bordering on being dry. The frosting was also somehow kind of bland in my opinion. The iced cafe latte was fine, but I came for the cakes, not the coffee.
I was quite disappointed with this cafe. So much so I walked down the road to a nearby bakery and bought a donut to drown my sorrows. A nice reminder that eating with our eyes sometimes isn't enough.
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Name in English: Cafe Seukon
Address in English: 〒541-0044 Osaka, Chuo Ward, Fushimimachi, 2 Chome−2−10 3F
Name in Japanese: カフェスコーン
Address in Japanese: 〒541-0044 大阪府大阪市中央区伏見町２丁目２−10 3F
Christmas Themed Donuts from Krispy Kreme Japan
Christmas menu start: 25 November, 2022
Krispy Kreme Japan love to get in on the holiday fun, releasing limited edition donuts throughout the year.
This year Krispy Kreme have four limited edition donuts. I purchased the Christmas box set, which comes with the Chocolate Snowman, Milk Kreme Santa and Caramel Xmas Bear. Not pictured is the Pistachio Wreath, which must be purchased separately or as part of a larger box set.
I think the Krispy Kreme donuts always look great, although they don't tend to change up the limited edition that much from year to year. I do remember one year there was a very cute reindeer donut, which I'd love to see again!
Flavour wise, they're you're typical Krispy Kreme donuts. I think my favorite flavour this year was the Milk Kreme Santa, as it's a flavour I'm not so familiar with. Anyway, full points to Krispy Kreme for getting into the Christmas spirit with their super cute donuts!
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Name in Japanese: クリスピークリームドーナツ
Available at locations all over Japan.
Christmas Tree Pancakes at Eggs 'n Things
Christmas menu start: 1 December , 2022
After seeing pictures of the Christmas pancake creation for this year I decided to visit Eggs 'n Things in Umeda as my last stop on my Christmas sweets tour for this year. I've visited Eggs 'n Things in Osaka (at their old Shinsaibashi store) previously for their limited edition Christmas and Valentine's day pancakes and quite enjoyed them - especially the Valentine's Day pancakes.
Having had only good experiences at this well-known chain previously, I was really excited to try the Christmas pancakes this year. Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that this the pancakes didn't hit the mark for me this time. There was way too much cream, and very little fruit. The Honolulu Christmas Tree Pancakes (of which I ate only half) cost 1,880 yen, so this was a total disappointment.
The pancakes are drizzled with a berry sauce and white chocolate cream sauce, then topped with tons of green pistachio flavoured cream, in order to resemble a Christmas tree. It also had some pistachio pieces on the top, in addition to some Christmas themed chocolate pieces.
I honestly just felt that everything on this plate was way too sweet together, and I really needed some more fruit to balance it out.
I definitely think this is a cute dish, and if you love cream, you'll definitely love this dish. My suggestion is to go with a friend and split two dishes - a savoury dish (the eggs here are pretty good!), and follow it up with splitting the Honolulu Christmas Tree Pancakes.
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Name in Japanese: エッグスンシングス
Available at locations all over Japan.
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