[Report] Cute edible bears take a bath in a delicious Japanese hot pot!

If you are a TikTok user or an Instagram user, you might have seen these cute bears sitting in a Japanese hot pot. The bears are one of the recent trends on social media, which has recorded over two million views on TikTok.

They are signature menu item at a Japanese hot pot restaurant called Hokkaido Menkoi Nabe Kumachan Onsen 北海道めんこい鍋くまちゃん温泉 (Hokkaido Cute Japanese Hot Pot -Teddy Bear Hot Spring-). Menkoi means “cute” in the Hokkaido dialect.

I visited their Shibuya Miyamasuzaka Store in Tokyo to meet the cute bears! This is their second branch which just opened on December 10th.

Report 1: Choose the color of your bear and hot spring

When I arrived at the store, the seats were almost all taken. According to a staff member, for the time being, the restaurant was only open to customer who had reserved in advance, so please make sure to book in advance.

Photo by Mochijapa

At my seat, there was such a nice wet napkin and a paper apron.

I opened the menu and was so excited by these adorable bears! There are seven soup options and the color of your bear depends on the flavor of the soup.

The flavors are:

韓国コチュジャンスープ Kankoku Kochujan Sūpu (Korean Gochujang Soup)
鰹だし Katsuo Dashi (Bonito broth soup)
豆乳スープ Tōnyu Sūpu (Soymilk Soup)
坦々スープ Tantan Sūpu (Dandan Soup)
鶏コラーゲンスープ Tori Korāgen Sūpu (Chicken Collagen Soup)
純米吟醸味噌スープ Junmai Ginjō Miso Sūpu (Japanese Rice Wine & Miso Soup)
季節の湯 Kisetsu no Yu (Season limited, ask staff for detail)

It was really tough to choose one, but finally I chose the Junmai Ginjō Miso Sūpu. My companion’s choice was Tantan Sūpu, which was the orange-colored bear as seen below.

Photo by Mochijapa

Report 2: Choose your ingredients & sauce

Next, I chose my ingredients. There were six kinds of sets: beef, beef tongue, pork, mutton, chicken & minced chicken balls, and 特選めんこいセットTokusen Menkoi Setto (Special cute set: beef, pork, chicken, and minced chicken balls). The Tokusen Menkoi Setto is the recommended set, so I chose it. All sets come with vegetables and the choice of one additional topping from boiled dumplings, ramen noodles, or Tteokbokki (Korean rice cake sticks).

Photo by Mochijapa

You can also mix your own sauce from this sauce bar. I chose honey & lemon sauce and the original white sesame sauce.

Report 3: Meet your cute bear!

Right after I came back from the sauce bar, the moment finally came…

Photo by Mochijapa

Ta-da!

Wow! I knew it was going to be cute, but it was incredibly cute! Look at its pretty eyes and the perfect teddy bear shape!

The bear is made from collagen and fiber. So, it shakes sometimes and it is incredibly adorable.

The shop staff member was very kind enough to tell me “After you take your pictures, I’ll light up the gas stove so let me know.”

When I asked her to light the fire, the table looked like this.

Photo by Mochijapa

My white bear seems to be really enjoying his bath. How peaceful!

Photo by Mochijapa

Well-balanced and cute food. This is a really perfect dinner!

After staring my bear for a while, it suddenly fell over! I was worried, but I remembered the instructions from the staff, “When the bear falls over, it’s your sign that it’s a good time to eat!”