'aibo Afternoon Tea' is an official event collaboration between Sony's aibo team and the Hyatt Centric Ginza hotel held from 1st October 2025 to the 31st October 2025. The event was essentially a more up-state version of a collaboration cafe, held in the Hyatt's restaurant 'Namiki667' on the 2nd floor. Served as a set menu - 6958 yen for weekdays and 7590 yen for weekends/holidays.
Menu
The set menu included a 2-course meal set accompanied by toast drink (strawberry milk) and a follow up drink of your choice. The main meal was a small 'aibo' branded hamburger with tomato and lettuce plus chunky chips and tomato ketchup side. The dessert was arguably the main selling point - a platter of 6 desserts representing each special edition aibo colour + a bowl of aibo crisp. The plate was decorated in edible chocolate aibo circles.
The dessert platter included:
Caramel Brûlée
Tri-colour Chocolate Creme Puff
Black Sesame Ice Cream
Mitarashi Bean Paste, dusted with Kinako
Milk Mousse and Strawberry
Espresso Creme and Nut Tart
Hands-On Experience and Review
Being held in the Hyatt, I had higher exceptions for the meal than I would for a normal themed cafe. At a set price of 6958 yen, it wasn't cheap compared to other themed cafes I had visited in the past, so the experience had a lot to live up to. The first thing I should mention is that the collaboration was held in the Hyatt's Namiki667 restaurant which is used by the entire hotel, so it made it difficult for the organisers to do any theming in the environment. So from that standpoint it felt lacking.
There wasn't really any bonuses for ordering other than a coaster, which is standard for these kind of cafes. I would have liked the option to purchase merchandise alongside my meal as a better keepsake.
The meals themselves were quite tasty and beautifully presented. The burger was really good and the tomato slices tasted sweet and fresh. The chunky chips were overly salted to the point it was too much - which is a shame because the chips themselves were great. I wish the burger was bigger and dessert was smaller because it was delicious.
The dessert platter was a lovely selection of flavours and none tasted cheap. I think surprisingly my favourite was the kinako Mitarashi Bean Paste skewers followed by the Espresso tart. Both felt more unique in flavour compared to the other offerings. The Aibo Crisp biscuits were a nice touch on the side. If I was to have one small complaint it is that the main meal and dessert are served at the same time. This left me utterly confused because one of the desserts is ice cream, so it forces you to eat the burger and chips fast otherwise the ice cream will have melted before you got to eat it. I feel that the dessert should have been timed to come out later - but I think they were prioritising customers being able to photograph everything together for SNS.
There was only one themed drink - Strawberry Milk and unfortunately it tasted quite cheap. It lacked flavour compared to other strawberry milks I've had, so it was disappointing. There was also no theming in its presentation so it didn't really add anything to the experience. You got to choose another standard follow up drink that you could pick from a selection, but I would have rather had 2 special drinks for the price.
Overall the food was good for the experience, but in my opinion holding expensive food events like these (this collaboration and the Fan Me events in particular) without giving more open alternatives paint aibo as a luxury brand rather than something more accessible for the masses. It conflicts with the brand message of being a part of the family and Sony's other efforts of marketing aibo to families. The food here isn't the problem, it's the setting. Even though the Hyatt is nice, I think this food event should have been held in a standard collaboration cafe with a lower entry fee so more owners (and even the general public) could enjoy it. A dedicated collaboration cafe could also provide a better themed environment, photo opportunity areas for aibo and merchandise.
