I had some errands to run this morning up in Cedar Park. On my way back, I decided to stop at Lakeline Mall to see what they had to offer. I was not disappointed.
However, I was indeed disappointed by their “Japanese” fast food restaurant in the food court. It was kinda sorta Japanese food, but just barely. I had a chicken bento, and while nothing in it was particularly bad, it was just not of any quality at all. Basically, Japanese food of mall quality. I’ll pass.
So after that, I decided to take a walk through the concourses. I found a “pokemaniac” store, with lots and lots of pokemon paraphernalia. I bought a little pokeball plush. I found a store called “Cool and Eclectic” – which lived up to its name. Very few specifically asian items, but there were a few racks of plushes, where I’m sure you could find something of interest if you looked.
But the mother lode was a store on the other side of the mall, on the first level, called “Gift World“. There were figurines – actual anime figurines. There were plushes – whole racks of plushes. Shelves of Japanese gifts. And a couple of racks of kimono-style robes that were quite beautiful, I thought. There were so many kawaii things that I could barely choose which one I wanted – I finally settled on a hamster holding a little waffle. And I bought a royal blue kimono-style robe.
This is a place that never showed up on any google searches, and I would have walked right past it if they hadn’t had the kanji in the window. If you are at all a fan of Japanese gifts and trinkets, this is a must-see stop in Austin.