Food with a feline fusion

Famed Japanese feline Hello Kitty, Sanrio’s cute cat with a red bow, takes her merchandising career one step further with the opening on Friday of Thailand’s first Sanrio Hello Kitty House Bangkok in Siam Square One shopping mall. 

While there are franchised cafes already up and running in such cat-loving haunts as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia, Thailand’s is the first to combine coffeeshop, spa and gift shop all under one roof.

Bangkok’s Kitty House is operated by food critic Rapeepan Luangarmrut and her friends, all of them Hello Kitty fans since a young age.

“I’ve always loved Hello Kitty but my parents refused to buy me the toys,” says Rapeepan. “So I decided to make up for those childhood longings by opening a Hello Kitty theme cafe. Sanrio recognises the potential of the Thai market and so gave us the rights to put together a cafe, spa, function room and gift shop in the same place.

“And making it more special for our Bangkok branch, Hello Kitty wears a laced bow on ear to reflect uniqueness of Thai culture.”

Rapeepan and her partners have invested Bt100 million in the 800-square-metre space, which is spread over three floors and resembles a luxurious English mansion. It’s home to a spacious dining space, function room, seven spa treatment rooms and a souvenir shop stocked with a wide selection of licensed merchandises from around the world.

It’s also very pink. The 150-seat coffeeshop is furnished with leather chairs and banquettes in pink, white-painted tables, and stained glass with a Kitty motif on the ceiling. Life-like fibreglass sculptures stand in different postures in the corners.

“We’ve used only the highest quality materials all over. Even the floors are made of marble. And of course everything is pink,” she says.

While a few savouries including sandwiches, salads and snacks are available, Hello Kitty’s main focus is on sweet treats. Again, only premium ingredients such as butter and flour from France, chocolate from Belgium and strawberries from Japan and Korea, are used in the cakes and pastries, with more than 30 kinds of desserts available every day.

They include a DIY Tiramisu set (Bt280) of Kitty-like butter cakes, sliced fresh strawberries and mascarpone served with strawberry jam and espresso syrup, a Lemon Tart (Bt280) with soft cream and chocolate sauce that’s decorated with raspberry, strawberry and marshmallows and Apple Stew Pot Pie (Bt280) that’s steamed with sugar and vanilla and served with Thai tea sauce.

Among the cakes is a colourful layered Rainbow crepe cake with strawberry sauce for Bt150 and a soft Rose Apple Mousse Cake coated with red jelly and filled with apple for Bt190. 

There’s also a sinful Seven Layered Cake (Bt190) filled with dark chocolate ganache, crunchy brownie, chocolate and caramel mousse, coffee, green tea mousse and raspberry sauce as well as the Double Chocolate (Bt95), a soft sponge is filled with chocolate and decorated with chocolate frosting, brownie and light chocolate cream and a coconut cake.

We sample the Smoked Salmon Salad (Bt200), which features vegetables and salmon wrapped with Vietnamese-style rice paper and served with a sour-and-spicy Chao Phraya dressing made from olive oil, spices and lemon juice, which Rapeepan tells us was once served by the palace to welcome foreign visitors.

The coffee menu includes an excellent iced cappuccino (Bt150), hot espresso, latte and Americano, all of them topped with steamed milk in a Hello Kitty pattern. Created by a veteran barista, the recipe calls for a blend of Arabica coffee beans from Spain and Jamaica.

The younger crowd can opt for Iced Pink Milk with whipped cream (Bt90) or check out the non-alcoholic Virgin Strawberry Mojito, a blend of strawberry and lemon juice, mint syrup and soda and Tornado Twist, a cranberry-based juice with lemon and ginger ale. Both are priced at Bt100.

“Our spa will open next month and we will be offering treatments using apple to pamper the skin. I am also planning to add a few new dishes to the menu including tom yum koong and Phra Ram Long Song (blended pork with peanut sauce and Chinese spinach in sweet curry) soon.” Rapeepan says.

Those planning to visit often would do well to stock up on one of the 20,000 limited-edition member cards priced from Bt2,500 to Bt10,000.

 

 

CUTE CUTS

>>Sanrio Hello Kitty House Bangkok is located in Siam Square One. It’s daily open from 10am to 10pm. Call (02) 115 1335 or visit HelloKittyHouseBKK page on Facebook.