A Peek at Gudetama Cafe

Dome booths

If you've always wondered what it's like to loll around in a giant egg, park yourself at one of the four dome-shaped booths in the cafe. Each booth fits a party of six, and you get to be entertained by Gudetama doing a wobbly dance (okay, a cute giant cutout of him on the wall, in the act of wiggling his golden butt). Think of the booths as private pods where you can tuck into your food at leisure, and snap selfies and #foodporn photos without random strangers wandering into the frame.

Hard-boiled egg chairs

These customised hard-boiled egg chairs with a yolk cushion are manufactured by Sanrio's suppliers. They're paired with `fried egg' tables. Sure, the tables are a tad small, but this is the only spot where you can skip the blah hipster wooden chairs and sit on a, um, hard-boiled egg.

Egg tray table

Who knew a giant tray of (Gudetama) eggs can double up as an adorable concrete and glass table that seats eight? But this writer finds it a bit unsettling to gaze at Gudetama's helpless face while chomping down on its brethren. Oh well, eggs are meant to be eaten, right?

Gudetama statue

Be prepared to queue for your turn to take photos with this oversized Gudetama statue at the entrance. Fun fact: the Gudetama in every licensed cafe around the world has a unique touch to it. Singapore's version depicts the egg clutching a baby mint leaf, which co-owner Anna Lim says is meant to "cool down Gudetama" in our hot weather.

Garden cafe

Most folks go straight for the cheery main cafe space, but there is also an extended `wing' next door decked out like a greenhouse (with air-conditioning). This is where you can grab a cup of Cappuccino ($6) decorated with Gudetama stencil art and nua (Hokkien for laze) at a wooden fried egg table.

Gudetama Lobster Onsen, $16

A soft-boiled egg (with Gudetama's face pasted on using rice paper) housing a runny yolk floats in a bread bowl brimming with existential angst - which tastes like bland, slightly diluted lobster bisque. On the bright side, there's a generous portion of springy Boston lobster meat chunks in the onsen, we mean soup.

Rib I Don't Care, $28.50

The `Gudetama' here is a scoop of smooth, delish mashed potatoes mixed with egg yolk, with pasted-on rice paper eyes and mouth, perched crankily atop a somewhat tough 200g slab of chargrilled prime angus rib-eye steak. Meanwhile, emo waves of creamy mushroom sauce threaten to engulf him.

Ta-Ma-Go, $17.90

`Sushi' that is really soft, slightly sweet and eggy sponge cake `tamago' on top of a `rice' lump made from rather tasteless cheesecake studded with rice pops. We found the charcoal crepe `nori' strips holding the sushi together meh as well.

Shoyu Ramen, $21.50

This clever dessert fooled us into thinking it was real ramen. The noodles are actually pur‚ed chestnut strands floating in an earl grey jelly `broth' propped up with slices of sponge cake. Oh, and not forgetting a white chocolate Gudetama `egg', orange tuile `chashu' and crushed matcha Pocky `spring onion' bits too. It is served with a side of `tofu' (panna cotta). We found the dessert cloying and the melange of flavours confusing, so order this if you, like Gudetama, don't care about anything besides snapping that chio Instagram photo.

(This story first appeared in Issue 1365, Dec 12, 2016)