Kawaii for The Heart, Kawaii for The Stomach: Plan Check and Sanrio Collaboration

PC: John Woo

One of my favorite ways to de-stress is by being able to dress up cute with a bunch of friends and go out and eat some good food. Bonus points if the food is cute as well. That’s what gave me the idea to gather a few friends and try the new Sanrio Chococat and Pom Pom Purin special set at Plan Check. Plan Check is a modern burger restaurant that specializes on the comfort food side of a hamburger. Last November, Plan Check collaborated with fellow Sanrio character Gudetama for an eggtastic set featuring the lazy egg! I was not able to try the previous set that was showcased, so when I found out about the Chococat and Pom Pom Purin set (two of my favorite Sanrio characters at that), I had my heart set on trying it!

I met with a few friends at the Wilshire location of Plan Check around the shift change time which is also happy hour (4-7pm). The windows outside displayed the featured characters of the Sanrio Special.

When you go inside, you are greeted by plushies of Chococat and Purin at the hostess desk. Our waitress gave us a special menu just for the current special. It gave a detailed description of every item that was included in the set. As true to Plan Check, these are not your run of the mill menu items, but every item on the set had the deliciously creative twist to comfort food that Plan Check is known for!

PC: John Woo

The first part that was delivered was a vanilla cream soda topped with cream that had Pom Pom Purin dusted on top with cocoa powder. From my first taste, I first thought the cream was actually a layer of pudding (it would be fitting with the said character Purin). The vanilla flavor was pleasant and creamy, but it wasn’t exactly fizzy like how a cream soda should be. I would liken it more to a vanilla-flavored calpico.

PC: John Woo

The next three items came out altogether. A small tray of mac and cheese, freshly fried potato chips topped with togarashi, and a sausage sandwich. I snacked on the chips while chatting with friends to whet my appetite. The chips were perfectly crispy and tossed in togarashi which is Japanese pepper powder. Note to self: add a bit of togarashi to my chips or popcorn as it was a flavorful addition. The portion of mac and cheese was rather tiny though. More so a sample sized portion compared to everything else I would say. When I tried it I wished I could have had a larger portion because it was absolutely perfect! It was perfectly creamy with a cheese flavor that was not overpowering. This mac and cheese was made with a dashi cheese and reggiano mix and topped with bread crumbs and parsley. Every bite made me lament how small the little tray was!

PC: John Woo

I finally moved on to the main attraction of this course: the sausage sandwich that was decorated with the face of Pom Pom Purin. With this being my first time at Plan Check, I was hoping to try one of their burgers they’re known for, so I was slightly disappointed that the set did not feature one of their burger creations. It was almost too cute to with Purin’s face ironed on the bun and his tail on the bottom! My first impression was I already liked how the flavors came together. The sandwich featured a kimchi slaw which stood out to me. The sausage was also accompanied by a special Kewpie cilantro mayonnaise (Kewpie is not ordinary mayo, but a sweeter Japanese Mayo). The pickles on the sandwich were flavored were flavored more like Japanese style pickles and they stood out as a lasting flavor to the sausage. Though the sausage did have a pleasing bite!

PC: John Woo

Once we were nearly finished with this portion of the set, we were brought our dessert! A scoop of vanilla ice cream with a cat-shaped sugar cookie iced topped with fondant and icing to make the face of Chococat! I love French Vanilla ice cream so I was pleased with that addition. I nibbled on Chococat’s ears only since the quite large. I’m not a big fan of sweets that are overly sugary and a sugar cookie is exactly that. I ended up taking it home with me to slowly nibble away at.     

PC: John Woo

Finally, our waitress brought our hats! The hats were a snapback style with the Plan Check logo with Purin and Chococat on the front. I was never much for snapbacks, but this motivated me to rock it when I have a chance. I didn’t get to try on my hat since I had my hair up in twin tails, so I at least took a picture posing with it!

PC: John Woo

Being able to venture out for cute things while being spiritually rejuvenated from the busy demands of life is something I’m always looking for. Plan Check definitely delivered in that category. I’d say my favorite part was the macaroni and cheese and the not-so-fizzy cream soda. I’m still a bit sad that there was no burger in the set as it is what Plan Check is known for. The dessert could have been better than just a large cookie in my opinion. In the end, I do believe the set did justice to both Pom Pom Purin and Chococat as Sanrio characters, but may have been lacking in a few areas to really capture their charm they’re known for. I am most definitely hoping for future Sanrio Character collaboration (here’s me crossing my fingers for a possible Little Twin Star collab). If you want to be able to try this set it’s available Until July 10th at all three locations! I hope anyone who is thinking of going gathers a bunch of friends and goes all together for this experience as I did!

-Paloma (alpacqueen)

All Photos: John Woo

PC: John Woo