With Ari joining me and Ted in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, it’ll only be a matter of time until we get Anthony to join in our addiction as well. We can’t help it: it is, quite frankly, the best Final Fantasy released in recent memory. And that’s not putting it lightly, given that we all know that at some point you’ll have to pay a monthly fee to continue experiencing certain parts of the game.

Tomorrow Pasela Resorts will officially open the Eorzea Cafe, a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn themed restaurant modeled after Carline Canopy in New Gridania that’s filled with Moogles, reproductions of weapons from the game, as well as stations where – you guessed it – you can continue that Atma grind you’ve been so wanting to continue from last night. Unfortunately for you (and for us here on the site), this is a Japan only venture. Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, was on hand tonight to open the restaurant to the press and he mentioned a few interesting tidbits about the restaurant and the game itself:

• Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s Chinese beta currently has a character population that’s north of 3.6 million.
• He wants to keep Eorzea Cafe open for at least a year, but said he wants to continue it as long as possible.
• Yoshida said that the concept behind the dishes were inspired by actual crafted meals found in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, as well as players’ comments about the game. For example, the Ifrit Radiant Plume pizza was made to have tons of salami because players would call out Ifrit’s plumes by exclaiming “Salami! Salami!” every time it would pop up.
• The concept behind the Eorzea Cafe is that he wanted to provide a place for fans of the game to communicate, dine, and interact with each other in real life.

The feeling of being in Eorzea

In addition to having a unique dining experience, Eorzea Cafe can “level up,” depending on how many people get Grand Company stamps from eating at the establishment. There are currently three different levels, with certain levels unlocking various things like employee uniform changes, presumably changing them to represent one of the three different Grand Companies in the game, to new menu items, with more levels being added later on. But I’m sure you’re more curious about what the place looks like, so here’s some choice photos courtesy of Radio Kaikan.

What’s on the menu?

Now that you know what the place looks like, here’s a sampling of the menu which allegedly has more than 60 different Final Fantasy XIV themed menu items. Also, I didn’t have breakfast today, so these all look good to me:

Moogle Mini-Honey Toast

La Noscean Toast With Orange Spread

Mandragora Bagel Sandwich

Smoked Raptor

Marmot Steak

Vegetable Quiche from Bentbranch Meadows

Bomb Suicide Croquette

Gilgamesh Tonkatsu

Ifrit “Radiant Plume” Pizza

Titan “Weight of the Land” Burger

Leviathan “Tidal Wave” Soup

Bahamut “Giga Flare” Curry

I am secretly hoping that these menu items will somehow magically show up at the Final Fantasy Fan Festival in Las Vegas as actual purchasable meals, but given that Pasela isn’t even a known quantity here in the United States, the likelihood of this happening is pretty close to nil. Still, it’s nice that there’s now a place for people to eat and talk about their favorite game series. There’s also a Biohazard (Resident Evil) Cafe in Japan as well.

And just because you were so patient and actually read through the entirety of my article, here’s a coaster with a new concept art for Shiva, appearing in patch 2.4:

If a restaurant themed after your favorite video game popped up for a short time in your city, would you go?

Original Source:
http://kotaku.com/tokyos-new-final-fantasy-cafe-is-beautiful-1613179423

Official Website (Japanese):
http://www.pasela.co.jp/paselabo_shop/ff_eorzea/

Google Translated Articles:
Radio Kaikan’s coverage
Game Watch’s coverage
Famitsu’s coverage

Food photo credit:
https://www.radiokaikan.jp/press/?p=107414

Shiva coaster photo credit:
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201407/29058106.html

Featured Image Credit:
https://twitter.com/Tofu_speed/status/494009024518438914/photo/1