Maid cafes arrive in Liberdade with waitresses dressed as anime maids

As soon as the customer enters the cafe, attendants dressed as maids call the visitor as a master and dance while delivering the dishes, while abusing the mannerisms of Japanese anime and parading with colorful aprons and flowing dresses. Such are the maid cafes, imported from Japan and which are starting to arrive in the Liberdade neighborhood, in São Paulo.

These houses may seem strange to those who enter for the first time, but they usually attract attention on social media.

Maid cafes emerged in Japan in the early 2000s, inspired by manga and anime — that’s where the way waitresses treat customers come from and also the origin of their clothing, which uses references to butlers and maids from Victorian mansions. . In fact, the term “maid” comes precisely from the word “employed” in English.

Despite being popular in a niche of otakus, as fans of Japanese pop culture are called, these cafes have become tourist attractions in Tokyo and have spread to several countries. In São Paulo, two new maid cafés recently opened in the city center and welcome fans of Japanese culture.

One is the Chest of Wonders, which opened in August, with a pink facade and attendants who wear kitten ears. As soon as someone enters the store, he is soon called a master by the attendants. Although maid cafes have only appeared with female attendants, it is already common for men to also dress up to serve their masters there. But the waiters have another name, they are called butler.

But things start to get more exotic when it is discovered that, in addition to food, these masters can also choose the personality of who will serve them. In all, there are 12 types of behavior, all common in anime characters.

The most traditional personality is the “deredere”, the cutest and most loving. But you can also choose the “tsundere”, which is thick, but deep down likes the master. Or the “dandere”, introverted and shy. Butlers, on the other hand, are usually a refined prince, but who can treat well or badly those who arrive at the cafe.

Before having its physical space, Chest of Wonders had been bringing the maid café experience to Japanese pop culture events for eight years. “But the recipes were different”, says Karina Cavalcante, one of the partners.

The highlights of the menu are now the frappes decorated with unicorns and mermaids, which cost R$22. The ones with star and strawberry shapes cost R$20. $17, in addition to savory snacks, such as harusamaid, a typical Japanese salad made with rice noodles (R$22).

But the food doesn’t matter, because it’s when it’s time to serve that the magic happens. The maid or the butler delivers the order, but not only. They make drawings of a teddy bear with syrup or ketchup on the plate and pronounce some onomatopoeias in Japanese, followed by kitten and heart gestures. At the end, they say to the food: “Please make it taste better”.

Even those who don’t seem to fit the scene are taken in by the anime-inspired theater. “When we start talking to these people, they usually start smiling,” says Lumi Kumagai, another owner.

But those who find these moments awkward and not cute can order a coffee without the experience. “The goal is to bring comfort to people,” adds Kumagai.

She also says that the restoration tries to move away from the idea of ​​”sexy maid” and not stimulate the fetish of the customers. “We don’t want to have any sexual connotations. The idea is to be a safe and cute place.”

So there are some rules. One of them says that maids, butlers and masters cannot have physical contact. Another prohibits the client from asking for personal data from professionals.

At DokiDoki, another maid café, opened in February also in Liberdade, there is only one type of personality — the “deredere”, the most traditional and cute. Suellyne Tsunoda says that she had the idea of ​​opening the space with her husband after the two returned from a season in Japan in August of last year.

“In Brazil, people know Japanese culture, but it’s usually an older one, with drums and folk music. It’s cool, but there’s a lot of new stuff appearing there,” she says.

DokiDoki has a room with little decoration and large space between wooden tables covered in a pink fabric. The wall is painted in pastel tones, as if a coating has dripped from it. There is only one counter at the entrance, with the maids always welcoming the public.

While in Chest of Wonders the experience — or storytelling, to use a fashionable term — says that attendants are cats that wake up and transform into humans to serve their masters, in DokiDoki the maids come from the world of dreams.

There, those who want more attention from employees or have them sit at the table, for example, have to pay extra for it. There are packages of 15 or 30 minutes of VIP service, which cost R$10 and R$20, respectively.

The menu, of course, is also inspired by Japan. The omuraisu, an omelet stuffed with fried rice and chicken, costs R$30, while the karê, which costs R$35, has a pink version with chicken pieces. Everything is decorated with panda-shaped rice and the usual hearts.

After all, the idea is to try to attract the public by looking and caring. Or rather — attract the masters.

Chest of Wonders
R. Galvão Bueno, 580, Liberdade, central region, chestmaids.cafe. Reservations on weekends

DokiDoki
R. Galvão Bueno, 351, second floor, Liberdade, central region, @dokimaidcafe