Hello everyone!
(Advertisement on Otome Road for "Swallowtail")
This time I wanted to document another adventure I had a while back (and my semi-reoccurring experiences too): Dining at Swallowtail Butlers Café. Japan is known for having a variety of interesting ‘cafes’ including Cat, Dog, Owl, and Maid cafes just to name a few. Perhaps the most well-known are the “Maid Cafes”, where your waitresses literally become your ‘maid’ the second you walk into the café. This kind of café has some variations, but generally, all of the waitresses dress in Maid Uniforms, address the customer as “Master” or “Madam/Mistress/Princess”, and often your food follows some kind of style, be it cute or fine dining. These cafes have seen much success and have been popular in Japan for years.
So in a way, it only makes sense that a “Butler Café” would be the next thing, especially with the popularity of Butler-themed inspired television shows, books, animes, movies, etc. The “Butler Café” has had a hard time starting off, with several of them crashing and burning after their initial openings. Customers complained that it was too ‘cheesy’, Host Club like (Not Ouran Host Club like, Actual Host Club like), or awkward. Finding the correct approach to creating a successful “Butler Café” was a challenge.
(Photo of the entrance from the "Swallowtail" booklet)
“Swallowtail” is perhaps the result of perfect execution in the creation of a “Butler Café”. Why? Well, because it’s not just a “café”, it’s "Fine Dining". “Swallowtail” is located on Otome Road in Ikebukuro, just down from Sunshine City. Honestly, you would likely miss it if you weren’t looking for it or were unaware of its existence (I did several times to be honest). However, it’s likely that this is intended. Before going to Swallowtail, one must make a reservation (likely about 2 weeks prior to said date of attendance). Its secluded location thus is likely to keep from an unprecedented amount of customers coming without a reservation.
(Entrance from a distance)
(Entrance sign)
(And then down the steps you go to the cafe!)
Unlike its female-counterpart, “Swallowtail” instead of the more common, flirty-cutesy approach, takes a more sophisticated and elegant take on how to entertain their guests. Décor within the location is based off of the Victorian Era with some modern updates. In some ways, it reminded me of stepping into the 1
st class section of the RMS Titanic. There are elegant displays of silverware, only the best mahogany wood adorning the walls, beautiful roses and chandeliers, curtains of lace, and the classic old books sitting on the shelves. The lighting is dim, but not hard on the eyes. Perfect. It is quiet save for the hushed conversations between guests as they eat their food and the occasional bell for a butler. When one pictures this in their mind, it’s easy to understand why one needs a reservation. If too many people entered, one could see how such an illusion of time might shatter. (Oh, and no pictures of the inside are allowed, save for of one’s food!)
(Shot of the interior from the "Swallowtail" booklet)
The first time I went to Swallowtail, I went with my friend Katey. Going together, we went down the steps to the entrance, waited outside for a moment before going in and being greeted by our waiters, who were of course now, our butlers. Their greeting was “Welcome back, Princesses” (English translation) with a humble bow, and it was about the only similar thing to it’s Maid-Café counter part. (Believe it or not, they ask for what one wishes to be addressed as when you make a reservation; princess seemed like a good option). After this occurs, bare in mind, we are here trying to keep straight faces and not blush beet red, not because it’s funny, but because really, how does one respond to that?
They take our coats and lead us into the main area, which is stunning. Upon seeing it, I remember thinking ‘I want to shoot costumes here’ because it was just that beautiful. We’re led over to our seats and are given two menus, both in English and in Japanese. When our Butlers finally leave us be, we can breath a sigh of relief that we can giggle slightly at what we have gotten ourselves into. I remember the second time I went, our butler spoke some English as well which was very helpful too. So if you're not fluent in Japanese and feel more comfortable with English, feel free to request a butler who speaks some English.
A bit now about the food. It was the best food I’ve ever eaten in a long time. One meal here is about 50 USD, so you better believe that it better be good and it was. For that you get a 4 course meal, each plate coming out elegantly and in perfect display of each dish. Fish, chicken, vegetables, soup, salad, parfaits, the list goes on of what there is for each Dinner Set. Each Dinner Set is named using names like “Elizabeth, Catherine, etc.”. They serve a variety of Juice, Tea, and Wine. And of course, desserts, which were by the way, simply divine. Needless to say, their menu, while expensive, is worth every yen. It is another part of why Swallowtail must be so successful.
(Shots of some of the menu choices from the "Swallowtail" booklet)
As your mouth waters a bit from the various options above, let me go on to discuss another reason, and perhaps the main reason why “Swallowtail” is so popular. Their butlers. Their butlers are the difference between dressing up like a butler and being a butler. They do not merely put on a tailcoat bought from a second hand shop, slick back their hair, wear a pair of costume store gloves and call themselves butlers. Each and every one of their tailcoats are made of high end material, are tailored, embroidered with the Swallowtail Emblem (a butterfly), and worn neatly, respectably, and properly. I was even impressed to see the beautiful stripe down the side of their pants. Every part of their outfits was beautiful and stunning. To top it all off, they were all well groomed men. What I mean by that is that they made sure that their presence was impeccable. They keep their faces from showing any signs of weariness. They stood with the grace of one waiting upon a queen. And for goodness sakes, it must have taken them all at least half an hour to get their hair to be so neat and incredibly stylish, reserved, and perfect.
(Shot of the butlers from the "Swallowtail" booklet)
But perhaps even more amazing was that their butlers not only looked the part, but they acted it too. They were charismatic. They were knowledgeable. They were professional. They were gentlemen. It was not like a host club where the waiters’ job entailed that they hit upon/flirt with the women. They were there to wait upon and allow their guests to be at ease and enjoy a quiet, relaxing meal. All of this allowed myself and my friends to enjoy our meal, chit chat amongst ourselves, and at the end, be given a beautiful fairwell (and get a nice cake to go too!).
(Shots of the cake from "Swallowtail" both with and without candles)
So how does Swallowtail work for the English customer? It’s not too bad. The English menu is excellent. Their butlers are not all fluent in English, but they try when they can to help the customer. Sometimes, you do have to just take a guess at what they are saying though. They speak somewhat formally, so even with my Japanese I did have some trouble understanding them at times. But otherwise, it was still a smooth and enjoyable dining experience (especially the second time around when our butler knew a good bit of English as well). Perhaps the most difficult part is just making the reservation online. While they do have a guide in English, I still recommend using Google Chrome's automatic translate to assist you if you are not familiar with Japanese.
Now let's say you can't make it to the cafe. You only have a limited amount of time in Tokyo, but you want to experience it, if only a bit. Since opening, Swallowtail has opened numerous small shops around Tokyo (some are even small cafes, minus their butlers though). Across the street from the café, Swallowtail also operates a Gift Shop with CD Albums, DVDs, Tea, Cakes, Scones, etc. available for sale. It generally has one or two butlers on staff and is the only store I know of where they do so.
(The outside of the Swallowtail Gift Shop located directly opposite the Cafe itself)
(The inside of the Gift Shop from the "Swallowtail" booklet)
Swallowtail has also for some time had a little stand, known as "Patisserie Swallowtail" outside of the Ikebukuro "Tokyu Hands", located on Sunshine City Street (通り) on the way to Sunshine City from Ikebukuro Station. It's primary function is for selling cakes and desserts.
Another stand that is attached to the Swallowtail franchise is in the new Radio Hall (Rajio Kaikan or ラジオ会館) in Akihabara. This one is new to my knowledge as Radio Hall just recently re-did their entire store which they had been growing out of for quiet some time. It is on the second or third floor I believe within K-Books. If you are googling where it is on your map, type it in Japanese because you probably won't find it if you type in "Radio Hall". To give one an idea though it is outside of the Akihabara Electric Town Exit on the left side across the street.
(Patisserie Swallowtail in Akihabara)
My favorite outside of Swallowtail itself however, is the cafe run in Shinjuku's Marui Annex Department Building on the 6th floor. If you're a fan of gothic or steampunk styled clothes, you can browse around at the clothing stores on that shop and then grab yourself a scone from the cafe which is located to the right of the up elevator (if you are coming up it that is, not down towards it). While you can sit down inside of you want, you can also get things to go ("mochikaeri" - 持ち帰り), though I don't recommend eating what you buy as you look around on that floor.
(Patisserie Swallowtail Annex - Shinjuku)
(Cute little Scone from the Annex)
Finally most recently the Swallowtail line has expanded into the cosplay supply market, popular within Japan, with both online shops as well as several in person shops through out the country including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Kanagawa, Hyogo, Hokkaido, and in Chiba. I can't say much about these as I have not been to them, but their online shop has an impressive selection of wigs, colored contacts, shoes, and other cosplay supplies. You can visit that shop here:
http://swallowtail-wig.com/ (warning though, it is all in Japanese and they only accept yen).
Appropriately it would seem then, Swallowtail is also known for doing collaborations with other major well known brands and pop culture shows. Most recently, it's collaboration menu was with the "Black Butler: Book of Murder" anime (Kuroshitsuji / 黒執事 : Book of Murder) including a Phantomhive dinner option as well as several desserts available at their various smaller shops. The collaboration menus change about every two months give or take and they have various specials that they change as well. Overall though, their products are general a nice way to take a piece of Swallowtail home with you or indulge a bit something you find enjoyable (chocolate, am I right?).
(Left: Collaboration Menu Poster, Right: Chocolate Top Hat Cake Set)
(Chocolate Top Hat Cake; image courtesy of Swallowtail)
(Bromide that accompanied the cake)
In conclusion, I highly recommend visiting Swallowtail. It has perfected the art that is a "Butler Cafe" and is worth the visit. For those interested in Swallowtail, you can check out and reserve a table on their website here:
http://www.butlers-cafe.jp/ (note: the website is in Japanese, BUT, if you open it in Google Chrome, you can hit the translate button in the upper right corner and it will help you significantly if you don't know Japanese). It is a fabulous experience and one that will not disappoint, my number one favorite place to dine in Tokyo.
(Swallowtail Pamphlet)
Till Next Time!
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