You're invited to a date with the super-cute "Gudetama" special exhibition in Hong Kong – free entry!

Text and photos byXiaohu’s Dream-Eating Web

To be honest, I used to think Gudetama was just cute, but not something I was particularly enthusiastic about. Sometimes I even found its massive popularity a bit baffling. So before coming to Hong Kong, I never even considered visiting this exhibition... Well, actually, I didn’t even know it was happening in Hong Kong until I got here. But since I’ve already taken photos, might as well write about it while it’s fresh, because this article is only relevant up until September 6th... But don’t worry, at the end I’ll also introduce the “Gudetama” restaurant for those planning a trip to Hong Kong.

The Gudetama Cafeteria Special Exhibition — or rather, it should be called the “Sofuto Tamago” Cafeteria. I’m not entirely sure what those three words really mean, but Taiwanese people call it “Gudetama,” so that’s what we’ll go with. By the way, people in Hong Kong call it “Egg King Bro.”

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Langham Place in Mong Kok specially brought Gudetama fresh from Japan and created a series of large-scale exhibits themed around trams, restaurants, and food on the 4/F Sky Gallery. These include a train, sushi, Chinese cuisine, and a bakery.

This special exhibition ran for two months from July 6 to September 6, 2015, and centered around the theme of “Sofuto Town” — a little town made for Gudetama. In addition to the train, Sofuto Town features three cafeterias: Sofuto Sushi, Egg Aroma Building, and Gudetama Bakery.

The most popular attraction upon entering the town is the adorable Gudetama conductor and the railway — a hotspot for fans eager to take photos.

Each attraction in the venue had a showgirl to maintain order and help visitors take photos. Even more surprisingly, the entire exhibition was completely free.

“Sofuto” in Cantonese means comfortable, while the Cantonese word “hea” refers to being lazy or doing nothing. Gudetama (known in Hong Kong as Sofuto Tamago) is one of Sanrio’s most popular characters in recent years. Its lazy personality and quirky facial expressions have captivated countless teens and adults.

The Gudetama conductor strikes a flirty pose, trying to lure visitors into the tram for a photo. Who could resist that?!

The front of the Gudetama tram, with its cute and slightly innocent expression, is absolutely adorable.

The Gudetama Sushi Shop has two tamagoyaki-like nigiri rolls on the outside, naturally featuring Gudetama’s sleepy face XD.

The Chinese restaurant “Egg Aroma Building” has sukiyaki (probably?) with an egg added right at the entrance.

Inside, there’s Gudetama ramen and tofu? curry? ...anyway, they’re all super cute, and lots of kids were crowding around to take pictures.

Each exhibit area has both front and back entrances. The front allows queuing for photos.

The Gudetama Bakery section was the most crowded area besides the train station, and even though it wasn’t a holiday, there was still a line of around thirty people that day.

The Japanese company Sanrio, which created characters like Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Pompompurin, held a food character selection contest in 2013. At that time, Gudetama stood out among other cute food characters but ultimately lost to salmon sashimi character “KIRIMI-chan,” coming in second place. However, due to overwhelming online support, Sanrio broke its original promise to only launch the first-place character and officially debuted Gudetama in 2014.

Looks like it hurts... Also, why doesn’t that cheesecake have Gudetama’s face?

The “10 years old” on this cake refers to Langham Place, not just two-year-old Gudetama. Don’t get the wrong idea!

Ah… Gudetama is getting torn apart… Help!

Aside from the main Gudetama exhibition zones, there’s also a small house in the back of Sofuto Town selling various limited-edition Gudetama souvenirs. Some are given out during events, but we arrived late and almost everything was already gone (sniff).

Fortunately, there’s another shop on the 7th floor selling all kinds of Gudetama merchandise.

They have every souvenir you can think of, but the prices aren’t exactly cheap either... I wanted to buy what seems to be a non-insulated water bottle, but after seeing the HK$280 price tag, I gave up.

Although this exhibition ends on September 6, 2015, future Gudetama fans visiting Hong Kong shouldn’t be sad. There’s a Gudetama restaurant on the 3rd floor of “The ONE” in Tsim Sha Tsui, where you can try nine different Gudetama-themed desserts.

But getting your hands on these trendy Gudetama desserts isn’t easy... When we went, we had to take number 30... We waited half an hour and only moved up to number 5, so we eventually gave up...

No dessert for us, but Xiaohu still dutifully took photos of the Gudetama logos inside and outside the shop for everyone to see.

Even the napkins have Gudetama’s face.

There are also some Gudetama souvenirs for sale on-site.

Aside from the bizarre Gudetama desserts, there are actually some regular Hong Kong-style dim sum options to choose from.

The above are the Gudetama desserts available on-site and the souvenir merchandise you can purchase. For more detailed information on the food and products, please refer to:http://unwire.hk/2015/08/13/dim-sum-icon/hottopic/

Gudetama Special Exhibition: (Free)

★ Shofuto (Gudetama Cafeteria)
Exhibition Dates: 2015/07/07–2015/09/06
Opening Hours: 11:00 AM–11:00 PM
Location: Level 4, Sky Plaza, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok
Tel: 3520–2800

★ Gudetama Pop-Up Store
Operating Dates: 2015/07/07–2015/09/06
Operating Hours: 11:00 AM–11:00 PM
Location: Level 7, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok
Tel: 3520–2800

Gudetama Cafeteria: Shop L308, Level 3, The One, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Address: 100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Business Hours: Monday to Friday 11:00–23:00, Saturday to Sunday 10:30–23:00

"Little Tiger’s Dream-Net Eater
If “eating” is just about filling your stomach, then “food” would be far too boring~~~