Do you know the Japanese word 食べ放題 (Tabe hou dai)? It’s a great word to know, and one that all newcomers soon remember. It means “all you can eat” and in Japan such services are very reasonably priced. On a side note (and arguably even more worth knowing) do you know the word 飲み放題(no mi hou dai)? Hint, nomi is “drink”… Yea, it’s all you can drink. That’s alcohol too! If you know no other Japanese, it’s a good word to study before you leave for your trip! But we digress.
Sweets-Paradise is a popular tabehoudai chain in Japan, with a special focus on sweets. For about 1500 yen, and half price for the kids, you get ninety minutes of all you can eat cake, baked goods, ice cream soft serve, soda, tea, coffee, popcorn, seasonal specials and other treats. Besides sweets, they also serve curry rice and pasta.
Ordering is done at the vending machine. The options are,
(Note: a child is deemed younger than middle school, which is about 16 years old).
| Kurabo set | Child Kurabo set | ||
| With special ice cream | Child with Special ice cream | All you can eat special ice cream | Beer |
| Adult | Child | Special buffet | Special buffet (child) |
Sweets paradise (at least in Shinsaibashi) seems to style itself as kind of hip, or club atmosphere. The music is kind of annoying if you’re not into such styles… and it doesn’t make for good background music. Fortunately it’s not too loud though, so you can still enjoy talking with your friends.
Cakes, cakes and cakes.
And then more cakes! It’s all you can eat and the variety is extensive. I hope you came hungry and not afraid of a little (or a lot of) sugar.
But it’s not all cakes. There is some relief in the form off…
Popcorn! Well, I sometimes eat corn as part of a nutritious meal. Is corn a vegetable? I think it is…
But seriously, they do have some more serious foods at Sweets-Paradise. You can choose from a few types of curries, rice and various pastas. If you choose the more expensive buffet choices, they also have things like salads and fried chicken.
Variety, variety, variety! It’s not so much that you can eat an unlimited amount of cake (well that’s great too), but that you can have a little of many different flavors of cake.
I tried to put the cake on the plate in a nice arrangement, but it’s hard to focus with a watering mouth.
This is what an extra 200 yen gets you. The special ice cream is worth every single one of those extra yens. It’s really delicious.
See, tell me that doesn’t look delicious. To be honest I can’t recall exactly which flavors they had, but in this photo we have (probably) vanilla, black sesame, chocolate, matcha green tea, soda and Hokkaido milk.
Have you tried that green soda? I don’t think we can get it in my home country, or at least I never saw it. It’s called melon soda and it’s delicious. It probably has even more sugar than a coke, judging by the taste… but we are so far down the rabbit hole at this point that it’s probably best to just write today off, and go all guns blazing on the sugar. Whatever… I’ll go for a jog tomorrow (p.s. I didn’t…).
What on earth is this?
Cotton candy! Just when you thought Sweets-Paradise couldn’t get any more dangerous. It’s very fun to be able to use the machine and make your own cotton candy. You can make it as big as you want, to compensate the effect of your growth and sense of nostalgia have had on childhood memories.
I hope you will visit Sweets-Paradise in Japan. It’s a very fun experience and being able to just eat without restraint, until you can’t stomach anymore is a lot of fun. Just don’t forget to brush your teeth after… and stay away if you are diabetic!
