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I went down to Cosafe with Windbell and Loki not long after I arrived into Singapore. It was a really good opportunity to meet the owner herself and to actually have an interview with her. We had a nice chat and she’s really a nice person. So here’s first hand information from the owner herself. And thanks to Loki for taking down the notes.

The Owner:
Ferlyn “Yoshimi” Tan, 16, has just finished her “O” Levels and is one of the owner of the cafe. The other owner, Julia “Laurent” Teo, 21 is currently a student at Temasek Polytechnic.

How It All Started:
They were selected to represent Singapore at the World Cosplay Summit 2006 @ Nagoya, Japan after beating other contestants at a local cosplay event – “Cosfest V : The Reunion“. During their trip, they happened to patron a maid cafe and from there, they get to experience this unique culture, speak to the owners and learn the ropes at the same time. Upon their return, they decided to set up this cafe, hoping that they can promote cosplay in Singapore. It was suppose to be located at Far East but now it resides at CHIJMES.

The “Maids”:

16 out of 200 applicants are chosen by Yoshimi and her brother, Floyd. The maids are not to make any comments, nor post in a local forum, Sgcafe.com. They are all 17 years old and above and are proficient in English and Chinese. Being able to proficient in Japanese/French/German is a bonus for them. There are quite a few strict rules for them such as they are not to have physical contact with customers and no photography of them is allowed so as to protect their identity. The “maids” will also move their current blogs, or start a new on at the official site when it’s up so that customers and check out on them. Of course, these maids to have “special talents”. I was honored to hear one of the maid play the piano for us and it was terrific even though there are other better ones.

The Costumes:

For now they have a black & white costume that cost about SG$100 a set. They are launching a new set of attire in pink & white.

Services:

Private functions can be done and be booked in advance. The “maids” are polite and offer good services. They are still a little bit inexperience but experiences can be gain as time goes by. Special events such as the “Geisha Night” and “Butler Night” will be available in January. The Geisha Night is whereby the “maids” will dress up as geishas and they do have real geishas guiding them. The Butler Night will be a male version of a Maid Cafe but this time Butlers will be there to entertain the female customers which is something like a Ladies’ Night. Special theme nights like School Girl Nights, Cosplay Night and such will be planned in the near future too.

There’s also a special event called, “Date A Maid”, where customers are allowed to choose a “Maid” to serve them for the evening and interact with them as well. However, the maids are refrained from (and the customers will be told not to) exchange any particulars or anything too personal of the “Maid”.

Food & Beverages:

Some nice recommendations from Yoshimi are the “Cosafe Signature Baby Back Pork Ribs”, “Japanese Curry
Rice”, “Cuilean Seared Codfish”, etc. The cheese cake was also good and a smoothies like the Raspberry Kiss was nice.

Personally, this is what I had.

Japanese Curry Rice (Beef) and Raspberry Kiss.

And something they might want to do to the cup. Look at this.

I like the menu since it’s nicely done and perhaps they could add some illustrations of their recommended dishes. Overall, it was good.

The Customers:

Targeted at 18 years – 60 years. Current patrons are our locals, Eurpeans and Japanese too. They are mainly males though. 

Problems Faced:

Management department didn’t really understand the concept of the cafe. One had a thought of something sleazy at the thought of it. Hence understanding the culture of a Maid Cafe was hard.

Stalkers on the rise. Yes. There are stalkers that lurks around the place to spy on the “maids”. Some men get touchy when they are drunk. So there are plans to hire bouncers to deal with the matter.

Singaporeans are skeptical and don’t really accept the ‘Moe’ concept so it’ll take some time to introduce this part of the culture and refine this ‘Maid cafe’ culture in Singapore.