I’d walked past this place probably a dozen times since it opened without going in. Every time I told myself I’d stop by “next time,” which is a lie you tell yourself about the touristy-looking spot in the middle of a shopping centre you’re always rushing through. I’d ordered a couple of the cakes as takeaway before this, a Kuromi one and something with a My Melody face piped onto it, and neither was particularly good, which put me off actually sitting down and ordering properly for even longer than the queue did.
Where It Is and What It Actually Costs to Get In
It’s on Level 1 of Melbourne Central, right near the La Trobe Street entrance, more or less opposite JB Hi-Fi if you know that side of the building. Open every day, 10am to 8pm. Walk-ins are fine and there’s nothing to pay just to look around, though if you want the Sanrio high tea set or you’re rolling up as a bigger group, it’s worth booking ahead. High tea alone reportedly needs about a 25-minute lead time once you order it, so it’s not something to plan around if you’re in a rush.
The Four Zones
You walk in through the pink section first, big Hello Kitty cutout right there, and there was already a small queue of people waiting to get their photo with it, which honestly should’ve told me what the rest of the visit would be like. We didn’t bother waiting and just kept moving.
The Cinnamoroll room is where I actually slowed down. Pale blue, cloud shapes overhead, and it’s noticeably quieter in there than up front, less phone-waving, more people just sitting and eating. My partner said it reminded her of a hospital ward that had been redesigned by a five-year-old, which sounds harsh but she meant it as a compliment, and honestly I got what she meant.
There’s a smaller nook further round with My Melody on one side and Kuromi on the other, sweet versus edgy, and we ended up sitting almost exactly on the line between the two because that’s the table that was free. What actually caught me off guard was the mural wall past that, the Friends Garden one. It’s got the Shot Tower painted into it, the real one, because the café sits right next to it, and for a second I thought it was just a coincidence in the artwork until I looked up and realised the actual tower was visible through the window behind it. That’s the bit I didn’t expect going in, everything else is standard Sanrio merchandising, that wall is genuinely built for the building it’s in.
The Food and Drinks Were the Actual Surprise
I went in fully expecting to be overcharged, because that’s usually how these places work, you pay double for a coffee with a cartoon face piped into the foam. It wasn’t like that. We got a bento box each and a couple of drinks, and when the bill came I actually double-checked it because it seemed too normal. Water was $4. The other drinks were $7 or $8, which is just regular CBD café pricing, not themed-café pricing.
The drinks were genuinely the best part of the meal, which I did not see coming. I’d had a couple of their cakes as takeaway months ago and wasn’t impressed enough to bother going in, so I went into this visit with fairly low expectations for anything beyond the decor. Turns out the thing I’d written off was the thing that was actually good.
The Gift Shop
There’s also a shop attached selling merch you genuinely can’t get anywhere else in the country, tees, keyrings, a handful of plush toys, with new designs apparently dropping every few months. We didn’t buy anything this visit, but I did stand in front of the Cinnamoroll plushies for longer than I’d like to admit.
When to Go
If you’re planning a visit, weekday mornings will be your best bet for an easy table and decent light for photos. We went on a Saturday early afternoon and it was busy enough that a couple of the popular photo corners had a small line forming behind people waiting their turn.