Gudetama Cafe at Suntec, which opens on  30 Nov Wed, is based on the cartoon character by Sanrio. Sanrio has also created other popular characters such Hello Kitty and Pompompurin which have their own cafes in Singapore.

The unique trait of Gudetama is that it is a lazy cracked egg, not animals like Hello Kitty. It is first created in 2013 and gained an immense following because it is an emblem of existentialism; millennials identify with its crippling malaise and depression. The character often has thought bubbles that say “The future… I can’t” or “Leave me alone” or “I hate being woken up.”

It’s obvious how easy Gudetama can be turned into an egg-themed cafe. Sanrio collaborates with Soup Spoon and Joe and Dough to bring Gudetama to Singapore. The food is styled by our local talent Little Miss Bento, whose bento designs are world-famous. Very proud of her and very happy for her.

Like the Hello Kitty cafe, Gudetama Cafe in Singapore has a garden theme because Singapore is a garden city. (Recently, many cafes have garden theme; I guess this is a fad after the industrial look.) On one side of the cafe, there is lots of wood with “waffles” on the ceiling, and booth seatings. On the other side, it’s the garden with creeping green plants.

What is unique about Gudetama here is that it speaks Singish! It’s nua and bo chap just like the nonchalant lazy egg character.

The menu mostly consists of Western cuisine, taking after Soup Spoon, such as scotch eggs and seafood stew.  The food is freshly prepared using quality and natural ingredients without any MSG and preservatives.

For starters, we got the Gudetama lobster onsen ($16), which consists of a poached egg luxuriating in a thick lobster bisque, served in a bread bowl. This is actually good for a meal on its own. The bisque is gooey, indicating that there is some flour adding to thicken it. I suppose it is necessary so that the bisque gels and doesn’t soak through the bread. But I’d prefer a sweeter, less starchy version.

For mains, the “shiok” pork ribs ($38.50) is expensive and slightly thin; we would like it to be more meaty.

The best dish we had, eggcited Cajun chicken with waffles ($23.90), is well-balanced. The chicken chop isn’t heavily marinated; it’s peppery and mildly savory, which goes well with the sweetness of the buttermilk waffles. Although the waffles is a tad nua–I guess that texture goes with the philosophy of Gudetama–it is overall pleasing. By the way, if you have fries, just dip it in the maple syrup.

The desserts are really fun; they look like savory food, but they are sweet. For example, the ta-ma-go (pictured above, $17.90) mimics the egg sushi but it is cheesecakes coated with rice puffs topped with egg sponge.

We did not taste the ta-ma-go, but we had the shoyu ramen ($21.50). At the bottom, hidden from view, is a chocolate mousse cake. The “ramen” is chestnut Mont Blanc, which is covered with a layer of earl grey jelly “broth.” The “char siew” is represented by orange tuile. It also comes with a “tofu” panna cotta with sweet rose tea.

This is a gorgeous dish, but I thought the flavors are too complicated and do not go well together. The texture is dry and too chewy.

Besides plated desserts, they also have confectionary. We had the citrus tart (which looks like a sunny sideup in a pan) and strawberry mousse (which looks like half a hardboiled egg). They weren’t very good.

In a nutshell, although the food is not perfect, it is the best among all the cartoon character-based cafes we have been. It is also a very exciting space as we ran around the cafe, taking photos. When you come here, you definitely can’t be as bochap as Gudetama.

Gudetama Cafe Singapore
3 Temasek Boulevard, Suntec City Mall #01-361, Singapore 038983
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Food: 6/10
Decor/Ambience: 8/10
Price: 4/10
Service: 6/10
Overall rating: 3/5

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.