Hello Kitty Cafe opens, Asia Live coming later this year and all the recent culinary happenings at Westfield Valley Fair
I love malls. The crowded and chaotic energy invigorates me, and it’s so fun perusing shops and selecting a place to eat. As a kid, my go-to spot at Valley Fair mall was always Boudin for its fig and pear grilled cheese with its ultra crispy Parmesan crust or the Fiery Chicken sushi burrito at Sushirrito. In my opinion, the food court has gone downhill since then.
Still, Valley Fair is carving itself out as a major dining destination, introducing popular brands like Eataly and Din Tai Fung. Most recently, Blue Bottle and Alamo Drafthouse have entered the scene, and other exciting projects are on the way, including a Michelin-recommended Japanese restaurant and an Eataly-esque concept for all sorts of Asian food.
This week, intern Anya Motwani rounded up Valley Fair’s new eateries, plus ones that are in the works. Meanwhile, I talked with Woodside resident Pooja Gorthy, who owns Calligraphy Wine, on her newest project – a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Los Altos – and Yusuf Karadogan, whose family is behind fast-casual eatery Pita Gyros, on his new full-service restaurant Bahche.
Stay tasty,
Adrienne
From the Hello Kitty Cafe to Alamo Drafthouse, Westfield Valley Fair has an assortment of new food and drink offerings – plus plenty more to come
Within the last few months, Westfield Valley Fair has unveiled a movie theater with local brews on tap, a Hello Kitty Cafe serving afternoon tea and a Mongolian barbecue spot in its food court. Later this year, a food complex celebrating pan-Asian cuisine and a Michelin-recommended Japanese noodle restaurant are expected to open.
A Los Altos store ‘for the curious palate,’ taste the Mediterranean in San Mateo and new Chinese restaurants in Daly City
- A downtown Los Altos store opening later this month will sell boutique and canned wines, coffee beans and imported spices.
- Bahche, a new Greek and Mediterranean sit-down restaurant and wine bar, soft opened in San Mateo Friday.
- Less than a year after debuting in Redwood City, omakase restaurant Nagai Edomae Sushi permanently closed Monday, according to a recent Instagram post.
- The Bay Area Aloha Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the San Mateo Event Center.
- Hunan Szechuan Cuisine has replaced Ocha Tea Cafe & Restaurant in Mountain View.
- Salad restaurant Mixt will open its first Peninsula location in San Mateo in the fall, according to a recent Instagram post.
- Daly City has two new Chinese restaurants: Dumpling Place has opened in the former Red Circle Dumpling, and Garden Kitchen has replaced Fat Wong’s Kitchen.
- Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park is hosting a wine dinner featuring Rhys Vineyards Saturday from 6-8:30 p.m. with a three-course prix fixe menu.
- Maverick Jack’s will offer its classic diner fare during weekend pop-ups at Coyote Point Recreation Area in San Mateo beginning Saturday.
- Zareen & Umair Khan, founders of Zareen’s, will host an author talk about their first cookbook at the San Carlos Library Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 6 p.m.
Afternoon tea at Hello Kitty Cafe
It’s been almost a month since Hello Kitty Cafe opened at Westfield Valley Fair, and there’s still a mega line just to get your hands on its doughnuts, cakes and specialty beverages.
At the back of the cafe is the Bow Room, where Hello Kitty fans and dessert lovers can make reservations for Evening Delights, which includes one drink and one dessert ($30), or afternoon tea ($70), which is what I opted for. (With mandatory gratuity and sales tax, afternoon tea ends up being $89 per person.)
Paying just shy of a Benjamin for a few bite-sized morsels isn’t ideal (and unfortunately becoming more common in the Bay Area), but anything with a theme is always more expensive than need be. To its credit, the ambiance is very pink and screams Hello Kitty. Everything on the table had Hello Kitty represented in some way, including the menu, napkin, plate, tea coaster, teacup, teapot and three-tiered serving tray.
The only thing I didn’t like about the ambiance was how the window faces into the mall instead of outside. Consequently, the view is the wall of Eataly and escalators, which takes away from the cutesy ambiance.
Unlike other afternoon teas I’ve been to where you can sample multiple tea flavors throughout the experience, the Hello Kitty Cafe limits you to one drink per person. There is a good selection of tea, with 14 hot tea options, including black, green, caffeine-free and the Birthday Tea blend, which the server said was a mixture of all three tea types. Cream and sugar are not offered. For those who don’t want hot tea, three flavors of lemonade and three flavors of iced tea are also available.
Each guest is also given a glass cup filled with strawberries and topped with chocolate whipped cream with an outline of Hello Kitty’s face in cocoa powder. The strawberries were perfectly ripe and sweet, and the cream did taste chocolatey.
On the tier, the best item by far was the egg salad bite served in a waffle basket. The waffle was crisp, slightly sweet and speckled with black sesame seeds. It was a perfect textural contrast to the egg salad, which was well-seasoned and tasted quite good.
My favorite dessert on the tier was definitely the apple pie tart with brown sugar crumble. The tart shell was buttery and crisp, and they were not stingy on the apple filling, which had a cinnamon flavor and wasn’t overcooked so the apples retained their crunch.
The particularly bad items on the tier were the chicken salad croissant, scone and strawberry shortcake. The chicken salad itself tasted great, but they only piped the croissant about a quarter full with the salad. The scone’s texture tasted like gummy cornbread, and it was served with butter instead of clotted cream. The strawberry shortcake wasn’t shortcake at all, but rather a tart that tasted overwhelmingly of white chocolate.
Afternoon tea at the Hello Kitty Cafe is not about the food – it’s about the cutesy decor and theming. I think it works especially well for a kids’ birthday celebration or for anyone obsessed with Sanrio, but if you’re expecting high-caliber culinary, it’s not the place for you.
To watch my experience at the Hello Kitty Cafe, follow @peninsulafoodist on Instagram.
Hello Kitty Cafe, 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 2280, Santa Clara; 408-320-2576, Instagram: @hellokittycafesantaclara. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Afternoon tea served Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Why Mochi Waffle Corner in Mountain View is a spot you need to try
Owner James Ho is serving up a popular snack from his childhood in Vietnam along with a plethora of other goodies
FROM THE FOODIST
When you support local journalism, you support the Foodist
The Peninsula Foodist is proud to be a sister publication of Palo Alto Online, and as an independent and local news organization, we rely on reader support to bring you 100% original content focusing on the places where you live and work — and of course — eat out. Your support is needed now more than ever. Help sustain local journalism and the Peninsula Foodist by becoming a member. >SUPPORT US TODAY
About the Peninsula Foodist
We cover the dynamic, under-the-radar food scene around the Peninsula through articles, interviews and eating excursions. Pass along tips, comments and recipes to PeninsulaFoodist@PaloAltoOnline.com.
Are you looking to reach locals interested in food and dining on the Peninsula? Learn about advertising in the
Peninsula Foodist newsletter.
Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved.
*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*
Our mailing address is:
*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*
You can update your preferences and manage your groups, or if you really never want to hear from us again, including other emails from us you may have signed up for, you can totally unsubscribe from this list.
View this email in your browser
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
