Checking Out the Hello Kitty Cafe in Uptown Mall!

Attention, Hello Kitty fans! 😀

My friend Cate invited me to check out the Hello Kitty Cafe in Uptown Mall in BGC. I grew up on Sanrio, so of course, I said yes!

This is the currently open Hello Kitty Cafe in the Philippines, and it is located on the third floor of Uptown Mall, near La Lola Churreria. It’s the first Hello Kitty Cafe branch (not counting the pop-up cafe).

There’s another branch in the works to be located in QC, and the unique thing about these Hello Kitty Cafes is that each branch will be different. This Hello Kitty Cafe in Uptown Mall has Hello Kitty wearing a unique heart-shaped bow. The food concept for this branch is French-themed, so expect the next branches to feature a different food concept.

The Hello Kitty Cafe is actually still on soft opening right now. They opened last July, and they are still on soft opening. All their menu items need to be approved by Sanrio Hong Kong, so the grand launch will happen hopefully very soon, when they have a full menu already.

Check out the colorful seating:

THE FOOD

Okay, so let’s get down to the food! The Hello Kitty Cafe currently has a big selection of desserts. You can see their current menu at their Zomato listing.

Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup with Truffle (P265) – well-seasoned and really flavored with lots of portobello mushrooms.

Shrimp Bisque (P265) – one of my favorites of the dishes we had. The shrimp flavor is balanced out by some tomato, I really liked this soup. It is served with 2 little sandwiches filled with some cheese and bacon.

Shrimp Scampi (P440) – This is just a very light pasta dish. It’s okay. I think it’s a bit expensive at P440 with only 2-3 pcs of shrimp. Although to be fair, the shrimp pieces are on the bigger side.

Spaghetti Bolognese (P365) – it’s the cutest bolognese pasta I have ever seen 😀 Aside from being too cute to eat, this dish doesn’t really stand out for me. It’s standard bolognese, and it’s okay. Still quite good to eat.

Salad Maison (P395) – most beautifully presented salad ever! It’s a chicken and lettuce salad with a vinaigrette, presented like a bouquet of flowers 🙂

Salad Marius (P365) – another favorite of the night. The dressing is honey mustard and is a bit on the sweet side. This salad also has some fruits, candied walnuts, and blue cheese. I love it! I generally like sweet and fruity salads so keep that in mind. If you like something more sour, try the Salad Maison instead 🙂

Burgeresse (P495) – for me, this is just a typical cheese burger with some breaded onion rings.

Pork with Herbs de Provence (P525) – for the hungry diner! The pork is tender, seasoned with rosemary, etc… and served with some gravy, mashed potatoes and sauteed French beans and cherry tomatoes.

The pink, blue and yellow bow things are actually made of cream and butter, and they have started to melt from the hot pork 🙂

For drinks, I had the Matcha Green Tea (P295):

For dessert, we had Profiteroles (P50-P70 each, depending on flavor) – the flavors available are Oreo, Chocomint, Pistachio, Salted Caramel and Blueberry.

I recommend the Chocomint.

This Mango Charlotte (P520) is just too pretty to eat! The flavor is light and mild. Don’t expect any strong mango flavor.

Finally, we had the Crinkles Biskies (P195) – these are two very chocolatey crinkles cookies used to create a cookie sandwich filled with chocolate cream, and some Maltesers-type balls. This is one of their bestsellers for dessert.

SUMMARY

I love the Hello Kitty Cafe just because I was a Sanrio girl. My dad would give me Little Twin Stars and Hello Kitty toys and kits when he got back from a trip abroad. It will always have a place in my heart. I love how cute the whole place is. I love how cute the food is presented. I mean, seriously – the food presentation is really awesome and worth the visit! Everything is INSTAGRAMMABLE!

As for the taste of the food – some are really delicious, some dishes still need some tweaking, but most of the dishes I tried were generally okay. I liked the Shrimp Bisque, the Salad Marius (fruity salad with honey mustard dressing), and the Pork with Herbs de Provence. The Crinkles Biskies was also good – a chocoholic dream. The flavors of the food are generally light.

They are still on soft opening, so expect more when they finally, officially launch.

Price-wise, Hello Kitty Cafe is on the high side. However, considering the effort they put in the presentation, and the novelty of Hello Kitty, I can understand why the pricing is the way it is. The profiteroles, at P50 – P70 each, actually seems affordable, though.

Hello Kitty Cafe is somewhere I would visit as a novelty at first, but I also really enjoyed the ambience and the nostalgia. Seeing Hello Kitty everything reminded me of happy days when I was very young, and for me, that’s worth the price of a visit once in a while 🙂

Hello Kitty Cafe
Third Floor, Uptown Place Mall, 36th Street Corner 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Facebook: Hello Kitty Cafe Philippines
Instagram: @HelloKittyCafePH