A Wandering Soul Outside of Seoul: Herro Kitty

3.07.2010

Herro Kitty

Korea boasts a wide variety of cafes in and around Seoul. Many are your typical cafes complete with an array of coffee drinks, desserts, and cushy seating with an ambiance perfect for a chat with your girlfriends or a quiet spot to write or read. Cafes at home don't have themes. At least not that I'm aware of. Some Korean cafes have taken the cafe theme concept and ran with it. I have written about the Dr. Fish cafe combining coffee drinks with pedicures performed by hungry little skin eating fish. The wedding cafe allows you to try on ridiculous wedding dresses and take tons of photos with your girlfriends (and sometimes guy friends). There are Internet cafes otherwise known as PC Bangs. There are also pet cafes where dogs or cats roam wild throughout the shop and are even known to jump onto your lap or even the table.

Some girlfriends and I checked out a cafe in Seoul yesterday that was dedicated to one highly popular cartoon character out of Japan. The Hello Kitty cafe in Hongdae is worth a visit. The shrine, I mean, cafe, was covered from head to toe in Hello Kitty decor. The outside of the cafe as well as the walls indoors were painted bright pink. Some of the walls had cut outs in the shape of Hello Kitty. There were Hello Kitty paintings on the walls. There was Hello Kitty memorabilia filling every available in of space inside of the place. The bathrooms were donned with Hello Kitty. The cakes were baked in the shape of Hello Kitty's face. The coffee drinks had Hello Kitty's face sprinkled on top. There was Hello Kitty silverware, plates, and cups. Even the water pitcher was Hello Kitty. It was any 6 year old girl's dream. Probably a larger dose of pinkness than any female should be allowed to take in for one day, but it was a fun experience. I just felt kinda bad for those guys in there who had to have been dragged in by their girlfriends. That's harsh.