A new Gundam theme cafe has just opened in Akihabara on Saturday, which is fittingly called Gundam Cafe :o
A brief summary of what Gundam Cafe is about quoted from Ngee Khiong from his post:
Gundam Cafe welcomes beginners as well as avid Gundam fans. It will a place for entertainment, as well as information center on latest Gundam products and work. The cafe has an area of 144.2 square meter, and has 60 seats.
The specialty of the store is "Jaburo Coffee", brewed from South American coffee, and "Gunpla Ware", with motif of the first 1/144 scale Gundam RX-78-2 plamo, only released as take away item.
Vendor machine of Gunpla-Yaki, which I think is a taiyaki molded in a 1/144 scale RX-78-2 Gundam model. They are for takeaway only.
A picture of Gunpla-Yaki. Comes in two flavours: Ogura jam from Hokkaido for 190 Yen, Bacon mayonnaise for 220 Yen, or 1 of each for 400 Yen.
Goods and souvenirs can be purchased in the cafe. This ranges from food like cakes and coffee beans to ashtrays and coffee coasters.
And yes, of course, the food. Each dish will be named after a character or have some reference to Gundam. There are desserts, drinks (cocktails), and hot dishes. I must say that I really like the little carved out signs of Federation and Zeon logos there ^^
Gundam Cafe as seen on its opening day. As one can see there are two queues there - one on the left is to go into the actual cafe area, while the one on the right is for the Gunpla-Yaki!
Another shot of the Gundam Cafe with the queues from ちびトロ, who is known for making a lot of custom figmas. On a side note he has stated that he has watched the Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi movie for the tenth time recently. o_O
Logo of the Gundam Cafe as seen at night, again taken by ちびトロ
Location of Gundam Cafe will be in front of Electric Town exit at JR Akihabara Station as seen on the map. It should be pretty easy to spot I believe.
Opening times
CAFE TIME
Mon - Fri: 10:00 - 17:00
Weekend: 8：30 - 17：00
BAR TIME
Mon - Fri: 17：00 - 23：00
Weekend: 17：00 - 23：00
Closes at 21:30 for holidays (I think)
GUNPLA-YAKI
Mon - Fri: 11:00 - 21:00
Weekend: 9:30 - 21:00
More pictures can be seen from Ngee Khiong right here and here.
Interesting, very interesting. Would love to check it out even just for the atmosphere, and I would like to try out the Gunpla-Yaki for sure! Definitely going to be on my to-go list on my next trip to Tokyo~
Official site in Japanese:
http://g-cafe.jp/index.html
Official site in English (coming soon):
http://g-cafe.jp/english/index.html
Pictures from GUNDAM.INFO, Moeyo, GA Graphics, Gundam Cafe official site, and ちびトロ's blog 地球座日記
I... dont know what to say... O_o. Gunplayaki ftw O_o. Does that mean they have ZazaBars and Zakool-aids? XD
ReplyDeleteI really have to ask as google is not turning up anything... what exactly is Ogura Jam from Hokkaido? If anything, it looks more like red bean paste.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to visit this place next year when I go to Japan and hopefully it'll still be around. I think "Gundam cafe" is a bit uncreative of a name though... G-cafe sounds better xD.
Wheeeeeeeeee~! It's right outside the Station too! Must go to Japan right after I graduate! But first... practice Japanese ^_^
ReplyDelete@ K:
ReplyDeleteHaha... Haven't fully looked at the menus yet, but I did spot things like Jaburo Coffee, Haro Latte, Red Comet spaghetti, as well as ice cream of various mobile suits ^^;
@ Z:
As far as I know, it should be red bean paste made from azuki beans specifically from Hokkaido. Just like normal taiyakis in many ways I think.
Gundam Cafe should hopefully be around for quite some time; I can't imagine it going down unless we hit another economic crisis in the near future. I agree with you that "G-Cafe" sounds more catchy there - in fact that's what the website's URL written!
@ robostrike:
It's definitely worth going for Gundam fans like us! I gotta prepare for the Japanese too before I go... Haven't used it for such a long time o_o;;
Oh i actually like the overall style of the coffee.It has a nice futuristic vibe.
ReplyDeleteFirst time I dont mEcha at all ^^;
@ Blowfish:
ReplyDeleteOh nice! I think the cafe is designed so that it welcomes big fans as well as people new to Gundam. It's not necessarily throwing mecha directly at you so you can enjoy the environment there. Well I have to be there at least once to know it myself, but it looks promising from what I've seen on the Internet so far!