BT21 Themed Cafe - Artbox Cafe in Brighton review by Kai

Kai ^^
Aug 1, 2021
4 min read

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. As you can guess by the title, today I will be reviewing a very popular and Instagramable cafe "Artbox Cafe" located in Brighton, UK which at the moment is decorated in BT21 characters.

For those of you who don't know what BT21 is let me explain. BT21 characters were created in collaboration between Line Friends and BTS (Most famous Kpop band and if you haven't heard about them even once you must be living under a rock :) ) to represent each of the BTS group members.

We've got:

- Tata - a character created by V

- Mang - a character created by J-Hope

- Chimmy - a character created by Jimin

- RJ - a character created by Jin

- Koya- a character created by RM

- Cooky - a character created by Jungkook

- Shooky - a character created by Suga

There is also one more character called "VAN" that was created by the Line Friends designers to represent ARMY (BTS fan club).

Artbox cafe is character themed cafe located in Brighton,UK. Their displays change I believe every few months. I first heard about them when their displays were full of Pusheen the cat but I'm glad I visited it now when they had BT21. They also have a boutique shop located in Covent Garden in London.

For more information about the cafe keep reading :)

As you may or may not know I am a huge Kpop fan and I am a big fan of BTS. That is why when I saw that this cafe is in the UK and I don't have to travel to Korea to see it I asked my parents to take me there. I am super grateful to my parents as it took us 2.5h just to get there and I am sure this isn't their way of spending a day off ^^

Before you travel I would definitely recommend checking how long it will take you to get there but also give yourself enough time to find a parking spot. Brighton is just by the beach and even during Covid (not as many tourists) all the parking spots were packed. Especially during weekend.

I have pre-booked the table so when we got there shortly after we were allowed to go in.

First you walk through a mini shop (I will talk about it a bit later) and up the stairs to the cafe.

We were seated by the window which had BT21 characters on it. Which made me very happy as I could take photos :)

The interiors in the cafe were super cute ! I loved it :) No wonder it's such a popular Instagramable location.

You can even find the BT21 characters in the bathrooms :)

The menu was simple it only had 9 foods/desserts. But as you can imagine it's more about the place than the food there :) The cafe is Vegan and Vegetarian and offers Gluten Free options which I think is great !

I have decided to go for the "Shooky choccy waffle"

It looked amazing ! Just look at it :) Taste wise it was very nice but very sweet so I couldn't finish it :(

My mum ordered the same and my dad ordered the "RJ Omnomnom curry". It looked too cute ! Taste wise he said it was okay but definitely not a portion that would serve as lunch.

With every hot drink you also get a free BT21 coaster of your choice

*subject to availability

The staff at the cafe were super friendly. When I asked if I can record and take photos they allowed me to do so even at an empty table on the other side of the room. Super grateful for that and honestly I would give them 100% for customer service.

Now let's talk about something not everyone likes to think/talk about and that is price.

Of course we all should expect to pay more because it is this type of cafe where you pay for the looks of the cafe and how popular it is than for the quality of the food but I believe it's worth for a special occasion.

I have ordered 1 Shooky Waffle and a hot chocolate and payed: £12. I do think it is a little expensive but for a trip with friends or fellow "Army" or to celebrate it is definitely worth it.

We had our table booked for 1h slot. When the time was up we needed to go so we went downstairs to the shop. They have too many things with the BT21 characters :o From pillows, mugs, pencil cases, notepads, keyring etc. As it's all official merchandise it is quite pricey but I couldn't resist and buy something for myself.

I have chosen a Shooky mug (it's soo cute and look at the lid !) £22

and a pin to remember this trip by :) £9

Overall I am super happy I went :) It was definitely worth the visit (at least for me ;) )

So if you are a BTS fan living in UK and you like the BT21 characters you should definitely visit :) THE CAFE IS CHANGING IT'S DISPLAY IN AUTUMN 2021 SO HURRY UP IF YOU WANT TO VISIT WHILE THEY STILL HAVE BT21 THERE ;)