Lit from within by a neon purple sign, Black Cat Cafe is a new favorite haunt for anime lovers and a vibrant spot for bar-hoppers looking to start their night out with something a little different.
Located on the first floor of the Grand Plaza Hotel in Tumon, Black Cat was inspired by Japanese “concept cafes,” where patrons can enjoy drinks in a lively themed environment.
Black Cat is a riff on Japanese maid cafes and patrons will find staff dressed in costume after 4 p.m., as anime plays cheerfully in the background.
“People that don’t know, they just walk by and kind of peek in … if it’s not busy, one of us will open the door like ‘come in!’ They kind of hesitate a bit, but once they come in, they’re like ‘oh!,’” said Yu Tanabe, Black Cat’s owner.
The inspiration for the Cafe came to Tanabe during the pandemic.
“I run a dive shop, I’m a dive instructor. The pandemic kind of halted all of my operations. My wife and I were thinking for like two years…we figured that what doesn’t close is hospitals and clinics, mom and pop stores, supermarkets and (food and beverage). We always wanted to do a cafe kind of thing.
“We wanted to do it a little bit more Japanese. Nobody does it here,” Tanabe said.
Tanabe said he talked to staff about how they felt about the idea of the concept cafe and donning maid’s outfits.
“They were all down for it. Almost all of our staff is into anime or cosplay,” Tanabe said. he added said that his staff is also involved in experimenting and helping to develop the cafe’s menu.
While the cafe offers standard bar food like pepperoni and margherita pizzas, they also specialize in Japanese fusion.
“I like to get everybody’s ideas. Our main food is the pizzas, even with the pizzas we’ve been doing a lot of experimenting. Our first Japanese concept pizza was tuna, mayo and corn. We started with that and now we have a mentaiko pizza — that’s cod roe. We have ebi mayo, which is shrimp and mayo,” Tanabe said.
He said that patrons of all ages and backgrounds have flocked to Black Cat for frappes during the day or cocktails at happy hour.
“The age range is all over the place because my mom will bring her friends, they come during the afternoons for afternoon tea. Or they eat lunch here. They love the lemonade! I think they drink most of my lemon syrup,” Tanabe said.
His homemade lemon syrup is the star of the signature Black Cat lemonade, a cocktail also featuring vodka, X-Rated, and a splash of grenadine. The hot pink drink hits the right notes of sweet and sour.
Black Cat also boasts a selection of Japanese whiskey and the java chip frappe is a favorite for coffee connoisseurs.
Tanabe listed Geek Out, Tropical T-Shirts and Mac Tech as popular spots for Guam’s anime community.
“They don’t have a place to hang out on the weekends and at night, especially. Now they have a place to come,” he said.
