Drenched in the yellow hue of its yolky animated hero, Gudetama Cafe, based on Sanrio’s lazy egg character, will open its doors in Buena Park on Saturday, May 4.
Menu items will include sandwiches like the A(meh)zing Double Egg and Cheese (featuring a brioche bun, two large eggs, American cheese and spicy chili sauce), Gude Katsu, Egg and Cheese (made-to-order chicken katsu, large egg, American cheese and spicy chili sauce), Sleepy Sliders (Waygu beef sliders on brioche buns) and the Whatever Avocado Toast (diced avocado on sourdough bread topped with herbs and two quail eggs). Sides include two types of tater tots: regular and bacon-cheese. And beverages range from coffees (drip, cold brew, affogato) and juices (lemonade, apple) to a sparkling mango drink and passionfruit yogurt smoothie.
The new eatery’s interiors will feature branded walls and counters with yellow tables and seating for guests. Murals of cartoon bacon, egg and Gudetama characters wrap around the walls, with an appearance of the titular hero saying “Can I go now?” on the bathroom door. A lethargic Gudetama uttering “meh” can be found painted on the building’s facade.
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A portmanteau of the Japanese words for lazy (gude gude) and egg (tamago), Gudetama, created by Sanrio in 2013, is just that: an anthropomorphic, lethargic egg. Initially created for the adolescent market — similar to other characters in the Sanrio-verse like Hello Kitty or Keroppi — teens and adults took to the eggy cartoon. Small wonder as Gudetama has come to represent a identifiable feeling of existential malaise in an era of overstimulation.
Gudetama, gender-free because it is unfertilized, can only be seen or heard by people who feel listless. Soy sauce is its preferred food, which is one of the few things that can make it motivated.
“Our fate is to be eaten, I think,” said the famous yolk in the “Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure” show on Netflix.
The Buena Park cafe opening marks Gudetama Cafe’s first foray into Southern California, joining other Sanrio-themed eateries like the Hello Kitty Cafe location in Irvine and the Hello Kitty Cafe truck in Los Angeles. Gudetama Cafes have appeared in Japan, the U.K. and Singapore.
Gudetama Cafe takes over the former Grange Hall space inside the Buena Park Place shopping center.
Find it: 8340 La Palma Ave, Buena Park
