This summer the tearoom can be found in Ropecon’s Café 5!

Saturday 11 am to 20 pm & Sunday 11 am to 17 pm

Without knowing about each other, we set off to time travel from the past and future. During our journey we collided and a time paradox was created, an alternative dimension, from which we didn’t find our way back anymore.

It is here at last – Tearoom Aisu! Tearoom Aisu is a café concept especially tailor-made for Ropecon. Cafés such as Aisu have arrived in Europe from Japan and have a strong footing in the local pop culture.

What is this tearoom?

The café customers are served by a team consisting of waiters of which each take care of one table party at a time. These waiters are not like any other waiters though – each waiter has their own, predesigned character role they are immersed in, and they focus solely on their table and its customers. The café waiters work the same way as in any other café: they bring the menu and the orders to their customers. At the end of the café visit the waiters bring the bill and accompany their customers out of the café while wishing them a happy convention.

The café offers the attendees of the convention a calm space and a chance to take a breather in the midst of hectic Ropecon. Each waiter is immersed in their character and while they are serving you one can also engage in small talk or play small games with them. One can get to know the characters beforehand so it is possible to request to play card games with a droid or to discuss the concept of time with a dragon! At the end of the visit the customers also have a chance to buy a polaroid picture taken together with their designated waiter. The waiter can by request decorate the polaroid with ink and stickers.

How does it work?

One doesn’t need to know anything in advance before arriving at the café. The waiter will the entire time explain what is happening and one can ask them anything regarding the practical arrangements. If a customer wants to get more out of their visit, it is recommended to get to know the story and theme of the café from this website. The café saga continues during the summer, when the waiters´profiles are also published. 

Although the waiters are immersed in their roles, the customers can choose whether or not to get immersed in the situation as well. If one wants, it is possible to also discuss or play small games with the waiters – or just enjoy the servings in peace. In any case, one waiter takes care of one table at the time and it is good to remember that a waiter standing idly on the side is not necessarily unoccupied, even if they weren’t doing anything at that very moment. 

Tearoom can be found from Ropecon’s Café 5. There is a reception desk by the café entry, from which one can ask for help and advice for getting a table or about anything related to the café. 

Should I make a reservation?

Reservations aren’t mandatory to enjoy Teehuone Aisu. You can spontaneously arrive at the cafe or make a reservation beforehand at Café 5 in Teehuone Aisu. If reservation is made, the reservation will start on the hour and last around 45 minutes. Reservations can be made for a maximum of four people.

• Reservations for Saturday from 12 o’clock to 17 o’clock can be made from Saturday 11 o’clock onwards
• Reservations for Saturday from 17 o’clock to 20 o’clock can be made from Saturday 16 o’clock onwards
• Reservations for Sunday from 11 o’clock to 13 o’clock can be made from Saturday 16 o’clock onwards
• Reservations for Sunday from 13 o’clock to 17 o’clock can be made from Saturday 16 o’clock onwards

Tearoom Aisu’s background story

Past – future – one time machine, two cafés. What could possibly go wrong?

In an imaginary 18th century Tearoom Aisu there were steam engines brewing and cling clang of metal echoing in the café. The team of Aisu had decided to exceed themselves and build their long-time dream: a functioning time machine. The machine did not start working, though, and was just letting out steam and spinning its cogwheels. The team desperately tried to get the time machine to work, but to no avail. People  were working in the factory week after week brainstorming, but nothing made the machine work. The hard work lasted for many years, until one day all the café members decided to sit down for a coffee break around the machine and put their heads together. Then the coffee flew. While getting up, one of the Aisu team members accidentally spilled hot coffee on their colleague’s lap, which made them quickly jump up from their seat and accidentally bump the machine. The stator inside the time machine whirrs, all the while the rotor spins intently, and so the machine tears a hole in the time dimension and the entire café disappears out of sight. 

In the same time dimension, in the year 2077 in the future, the people of Tearoom Aisu have found a peculiar machine that looks like a strange wagon or sleigh. Aisu people are astonished by the strange ancient machine. While cleaning the dust off of it, it suddenly wishes and the lights turn on. One of the Aisus missteps out of fear, but then leans on one of the many levers of the machine for support. However, the lever gives in and starts the machine engine. The most energetic waiter of the café storms to the scene to see where the strange noise is coming from and, true to their character type, stumbles, takes two colleagues down with them and spills coffee all over the place. The stator inside the time machine whirrs, all the while the rotor spins intently, and so the machine tears a hole in the time dimension and the entire café disappears out of sight. 

And what happened then?