The “Food Sample Making Café” in Asakusa is definitely a must-visit for travelers to Tokyo.
A special experience awaits, where you can not only craft your own food replicas but also enjoy the same dish as the sample you made!
Try your hand at making your own omurice food replica!
Food samples, model replicas of a restaurant’s menu items, are often displayed at storefronts in Japan. These are quite convenient for tourists who don’t understand Japanese, as they can get a realistic visual representation of what the restaurant serves.
Their intricate, realistic designs has garnered attention overseas, becoming known as a unique Japanese cultural phenomenon.
The Food Sample Making Café, where customers can craft their own replica dish, is a big hit with both local and international tourists in Asakusa.
The samples you can create include omurice (omelet rice), spaghetti with meat sauce, crepes, and jelly parfaits, among many others.
For omelette rice, the rice and ingredient pieces are pre-prepared, so no advanced skills are required.
Even if you’re unsure about something, the cafe staff will guide you through the process, so there’s no need to worry.
So, with their reassuring guidance, let’s get to it and make a food sample!
First, cut the synthetic resin chicken pieces for the omurice using scissors. To achieve an authentic omurice look, it’s recommended to cut them into large pieces.
Aim for about four cuts per piece. The task requires some strength, as the material is quite firm!
Omurice “ingredients”
Next, color the rice, carrots, and cut chicken pieces. Add food coloring to a cup, mix in all the pieces, and stir with chopsticks (not the spoon provided, as it will later be part of the sample).
Adding color to the omurice
Once the coloring is evenly distributed, it’s time for the final stage.
Fill the pre-prepared omurice base part with the colored rice.
Rice is packed into the base model
You can let the rice spill out from the crevice or focus on positioning the carrots and chicken neatly. This is where you can showcase your creativity!
One tip is to place the chicken pieces on top of the rice to evoke an authentic omurice aesthetic.
Feel free to use as much or as little rice as you like until you’re satisfied with your creation.
Packing rice into the opening
You can also integrate the provided spoon into your design—either by embedding it into the omelette rice or presenting it as if it’s scooping rice. Get excited while imagining the completed sample!
To complete the decoration, use red food coloring to draw ketchup patterns or write text on the omelet. As the clay ketchup is quite thick, test your design on a separate surface before applying it to the sample to ensure the best results.
Once you decide on a design, draw pictures or write text to create your original omurice.
Finally, heat it in an oven to set it, and you’re done!
The entire process takes about an hour. While there aren’t any particularly difficult tasks that might provide a welcome challenge, you can still thoroughly enjoy the fun of creating a food sample and leave completely satisfied!
Take a commemorative photo of your food sample along with the actual dish
The cafe offers a course just for food sample crafting, but the recommended option is the “Food Sample Making Experience with Meal,” priced at 5,600 JPY (tax included.)
(left) food sample, (right) actual omurice
After completing your food sample, you’ll be served a real dish matching your creation, which is perfect for a memorable side-by-side photo.
You can personalize the served dish as well, for example, by breaking the omurice egg or drawing a design with ketchup.
It’s hard to tell which is the food sample and which is the real omurice!
The Food Sample Making Café is a one-of-a-kind destination where you can enjoy the fun of crafting, photographing, and eating.
While there are places to experience food sample creation, this cafe is probably the only one where you can also taste a dish that looks exactly like your sample.
Of course, you can take the food sample you made home with you.
Exterior of Food Sample Making Café
With up to 10 sessions available daily, the cafe operates on a reservation-only system. Weekend slots often fill quickly, so booking in advance is recommended.
With plans to expand their range of food samples, the cafe’s popularity is likely to grow even further in the future!
Information
| Store name | 食品サンプル製作体験カフェ Food Sample Making Café |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-13-13 Hanakawado, Taito-ku, Tokyo
|
| Access |
Asakusa Station 2-minute walk from Asakusa Station North Exit
Asakusa Station 4-minute walk from Exit 5
Asakusa Station 9-minute walk from Exit A1
|
| Phone number | Unlisted |
| Reservations | Accepted TableCheck |
| Payment |
|
| Service charge/Table charge | None |
| Hours | 10:00-21:00 same day reservations are only accepted until 17:00 |
| Closed | No fixed holidays Unscheduled holidays |
| Seating | 15 table seats |
| Smoking | All seats are non-smoking |
| Official website | https://foodsamplecafe.com/ |
| Other information |
|
※Menu contents, prices, store information, etc. are current as of December 2024.
