At Kumachan Onsen, you’re in for a different kind of teddy bears’ picnic. This restaurant is the first in Tokyo to serve Hokkaido’s famous ‘teddy bear hotpot’. These super cute shabu shabu hotpot dishes went viral on TikTok for their playful presentation and now Tokyoites can try them, too.
Instead of a typical bowl of hot broth, all the meals here come with a teddy bear-shaped collagen jelly, which turns into delicious broth when hot water is added. If you can’t quite bring yourself to disintegrate your little bear, take comfort in the knowledge that kumachan onsen means ‘teddy bear hot spring’, so just imagine your bear is taking a warm bath. The broth comes in seven different flavours: katsuo (skipjack tuna), soy milk, chicken, Sichuan-style spicy dandan, miso and Korean gochujang, plus a seasonal one.
Next, pick your choice of meat – beef (¥3,500), pork (¥2,780), lamb (¥2,780), chicken (¥2,600) beef tongue (¥3,500), or a little bit of everything for ¥2,980. Once your bear is fully submerged, start dipping the meat in the broth. All meals come with veggies, dipping sauce and your choice of boiled dumplings, ramen or tteokbokki rice cakes as a side.