The manga Vesta de Cooking, an isekai cooking series based on the VTubers of hololive, is currently doing a collaborative cafe in Japan. I happened to be in the country recently (albeit not in time for 7th fes), and the chance to do something Haachama-related was too good to pass up.

The event has been going on since January, but the location moves every few weeks. Currently, it’s in Shinjuku at the Dish Up Collab Cafe space. It can only be attended by making reservations through the Sweets Paradise app, which is fortunately available outside of Japan.

Vesta de Cooking stars Akai Haato (aka Haachama), Tsunomaki Watame, Shirogane Noel, and Shiranui Flare. The food and drinks served are meant to either be re-creations of dishes found in the manga or reflective of the four hololive members. I ended up ordering the Haachama-related items—the spicy hamburger and the Shirley Temple—plus Watame’s pudding a la mode. 

The burger and fries actually had dried peppers placed across the dish, perhaps as a way to let the customer decide how much spice they wanted. The burger itself was decent enough, the Shirley Temple was refreshing and had bits of fruit, and the Watame dessert was mostly good except that the donut was mediocre. You can’t expect amazing food at these cafes, so I wasn’t surprised, though I did ultimately come away from a satisfied belly. In hindsight, however, I do wish I got one of the manga re-creation dishes.

As per the gimmick of a collab cafe, I got some random coasters—the idea is that in order to get everything, you have to keep spending money. Fortunately, I managed to get a Haachama coaster, so I consider that a win. I also spent way over the minimum 200 yen needed to get the clear place mat depicting all the girls’ mascots. Of course, the food and the coaster gacha weren’t the only ways to make the fans part with their money, and the cafe included a store to buy related merch. I decided to get a little cloth bag filled with a chocolate chip cookie, as well as a metal cup. Because I also bought some items for friends, I spent enough to get some illustration cards, i.e. “bromides” in Japanese. Pictured below are the items I got from the store, as well as some other things I picked up at the hololive shop in Tokyo Station and from a trip to Tower Records.

The cafe was decorated with various panels from the manga series, with sections roughly divided by character. TV screens displayed music videos from the girls, though curiously, the songs playing over the sound system did not match up with those MVs. There were also some life-size cut-outs at the entrance that were partially covered in notes and signings from the participating hololive members.

I noticed that Haachama had not written on her own standee (though there were comments and doodles from the others on hers), and I think it might have to do with her currently being on break to help recover mentally.

7th fes just wrapped up a few hours ago as of this post, and while Haachama could not participate this year, I think she can make another comeback. In the meantime, I will bask in the memories of this cafe and hope that the next time I’m in Japan, I can do something else fun in connection to her, as well as hololive as a whole.