Located on the corner of Yoyogi Park, Bondi Café offers a great vibe, accompanied by good food and drink. Its bright and spacious nature mixed with a warm ambient light, makes you feel utter relaxation, further heightened by the background acoustic music.
Bondi Café was founded on the premise of recreating the feel of Bondi Beach in Australia, a beach famous for surfing. The owner Minoru Itani wanted to take the relaxed vibe of the surfing scene and place it bang in the middle of Tokyo. The café’s interior style consists mainly of lovely wooden furniture and flooring. Long tables and benches are used for inside seating, which I found to be the perfect height for a comfortable visit. Outside the front of the café you’ll find further seating in the form of fantastic cushioned sofas.
When arriving, you walk through the door to be welcomed with friendly service, a smile, and then shown to a seat. The menu comes with a broad choice of food and drink spread across breakfast, lunch and dinner, all looking delicious. At the time, I ordered my usual morning cappuccino. It seems standard in Japan for your hot drink to be served with a pattern in the froth (at least with cappuccinos), I love this and it makes everything that bit more appealing.
Bondi Café is an excellent start to the day, pit stop or, end to the day; be sure to check it out if you’d like a relaxing break from the city. Getting here is extremely easy when taking the Tokyo Metro system; the closest station being Yoyogi-koen, literally three minutes up the road. Being opposite Yoyogi Park, you get a lovely view of green whilst sitting down, and afterwards the opportunity to continue your relaxing day by wandering off to explore. The park hosts a number of great features such as the Meiji Shrine and adjoining Meiji Jingu Gardens, all worth visiting. My suggested itinerary would be as follows: Catch a train to Bondi Café, spending a couple of hours relaxing with a drink and some food, followed by wandering over to the Meiji Shrine and gardens for the rest of the day.
