Kara Dennison
May 27, 2022 
Anime food is just beautiful. It’s really not fair. There are some great videos out there reproducing tasty anime treats. But the dream is to get to the real place. Short of collab cafés, sadly, we won’t have that chance.
If we did have our way, though, these are a few places we’d like to drop in on. In the interest of fairness, we do note that there are slight down sides to each. So, in the end, maybe it’s for the best that we’ll never get the chance to have a meal in any of these spots…
Western Restaurant Nekoya
Restaurant to Another World blends two of our favorite things: isekai and anime food. Headed up by a skilled chef and tended by the adorable Aletta and Kuro, Nekoya serves up tasty fare six days a week in Tokyo. On the seventh day, they’re closed… as far as our world knows.
In actuality, Saturdays are devoted to serving dragons, fairies, and other fantasy-world denizens. The staff cooks up traditional real-world delights that please the palates of even the most paranormal of patrons. The down side? If you’re a fantasy entity, you can only enjoy Nekoya once a week. And if you’re a human, you will invariably find yourself craving Master’s cooking on a Saturday, when they’re “closed.”
The Spirit World
You don’t need a dragon boy to tell you the #1 rule about visiting a world of immortal creatures and eating their food. (The rule, in case you’ve somehow missed it, is “Do not.”) We can’t fully fault Chihiro’s parents for chowing down on the theme park grub in Spirited Away, though. Studio Ghibli consistently draws some of the most beautiful anime food we’ve ever seen, and this film is no exception. They did kind of miss every sign that something supernatural was afoot… but look at that Cornish hen her mom is going to town on.
Chihiro’s parents got away lucky, by virtue of… well… Chihiro. Unless you have a plucky child willing to take a job and sign away their name to free you from your own divine punishment, maybe give this one a miss. Then again, those crab legs…
Oishiina Town
Need more anime food? How about an entire city of it? Delicious Party Pretty Cure take place in Oishiina Town: a city devoted to restaurants, cafés, and eateries of all kinds. Our heroines hail from families in each of its three sectors. Yui’s family’s diner resides in Japanese Food Street. Kokone’s family owns a fine dining establishment in Western Food Street. And foodstagrammer Ran slings ramen with her family in Chinese Food Street.
Sadly, Oishiina Town is going through it right now. The phantom thieves known as Bundoru are kidnapping the adorable fairies who make food taste good, putting local eateries at risk. (That’s a lot to digest, but it’s pretty standard for a Pretty Cure series.) Your best bet? Do like Ran-Ran and grab your order to go.
Hungry for more? Meet some candy-loving anime stars.
Related Posts
