If I hadn’t been in the Christmas spirit before, I certainly was now after attending Maids of England’s (MOE) last event of the year; “A Very MOE Christmas”. Held at Cafe Necco (cat in Japanese); a modern Japanese café hidden in the depths of Exmouth Market which specialises in desserts and traditional Japanese bento and curry dishes.
Tickets were £9 and included a festive Christmas cracker, a chekki (decorated polaroid photo) with a maid or butler and a raffle ticket to a prize draw to win items such as melty kiss chocolates, chekki photo album and the grand prize of a maid/butler experience – a chance to learn and become a Maid of England member at a future event. Those unfamiliar with maid café culture or want to find out more about Maids of England I recommend reading my interview with the cast here.
The Maids of England event was divided into two slots. The first focused on an idol theme and the celebration of Maid Miyu’s birthday (forever 17). The second which I attended, was Christmas themed to fit this the serving cast wore Santa hats and covered their usual maid uniforms head to toe in Christmas accessories. On a sadder note, the session was also the graduation of long serving Butler Kouki who was leaving the MOE mansion to travel the world and share all his stories he had collected.
On arrival at Café Necco, I was greeted by Butler Lexie who escorted me inside and introduced me to my serving maid, birthday girl Maid Miyu. She took my order of a matcha green tea latte to warm up, briskly bringing over the creamy green coloured drink which had been topped with red and green sugar sprinkles for that extra Christmas touch. I am not sure if it was Maid Miyu’s magic spell on the beverage inside the chic cat patterned tea cup, but It was just what I needed for my sore throat! If I had been feeling better I may have been tempted to get one Maids of England special cold shakes, a mocktail style beverage that your maid/butler will make infront of you. A customer on my table had a Sailor Moon style shake.
As I sipped my drink, the maids and butlers rotated around the room so that each table would have a chance to converse with every member of the serving cast. Our table took selfies with Butler Lexie and pulled christmas crackers with Butler Kouki who we tried to explain the punchlines of the jokes to, meanwhile trying to think of some maid cafe themed christmas crackers of our own. Do you like what Butler Kouki came up with?
Why do MOE live in London? Because they were Made in England….
Those who are familiar with Maids of England know that they are natural performers, holding a LOVE Concert last year and forming a MOE idol group which performs at conventions around the country such as Hyper Japan, so naturally during the session the serving cast showed us their moves with Butler Kouki performing his last ever dance.
Having set up their own established musical group and cafe, it seems MOE are branching out into the world of retail. The maids told of a future online shop they were launching selling brand and indie accessories. They bought some of the items which you could purchase to the event including some very cute biscuit purses!
Out of the existing maid cafes in the UK, Maids of England are the most true to form in replicating popular maid cafes from Japan such as Maidreamin with the French maid like uniforms, distinct personalities and performances at events.
I look forward to what Maids of England have in store for us in 2015!
