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We chow down on the un-pearably cute food at the brand-new Funasshi café!

Casey Baseel Sep 4, 2014
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There just doesn’t seem to be any stopping Funasshi, the anthropomorphic pear who serves as unofficial mascot for the city of Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture. Funasshi’s mix of cute looks and hyperactive gyrations have won over fans both in Japan and abroad, and now Japan’s hottest piece of fruit is ready to capitalize on its popularity with a new café in Tokyo’s fashionable Shibuya district.

We decided to pay a visit to the Funa Café on opening day, and couldn’t think of a better RocketNews24 delegate than our very own Mr. Sato, who it turn couldn’t think of a more appropriate outfit than his very own freaky Funasshi cosplay getup.

The Funa Café opened on September 2 inside the Parco department store, where it’ll be occupying a space on the fifth floor for the limited time it’s scheduled to be in operation. We were so excited that we showed up at 6 a.m., a full five hours before the doors opened. And if you think that’s crazy, we still weren’t the first ones in line!

As time passed, the line continued to grow longer and longer behind us. We’d say 90 percent of the Funa-fans were women, and Mr. Sato seemed to catch the eyes of several of them, although we’re not sure whether it was because they found him handsome or terrifying.

Ordinarily, the Parco complex doesn’t open until 10, but the staff cut us a break and let everyone who was waiting for a seat at the Funa Café line up inside starting at 9:40. This act of kindness came not a moment too soon, since the Tokyo skies were clear and we’d been staring to sweat standing around in the sun.

So we stepped into the building with the other 100 people in line, and enjoyed soaking up the AC for the next 80 minutes. Finally, at 11, the wait was over, and we were ushered to our table.

We were a little surprised that Funasshi didn’t make a personal appearance at the grand opening, but there were plenty of stuffed versions of the popular mascot in the gift corner, as well as its picture plastered on the walls.

▼ We’re not sure if Funasshi actually has a gender or not, but we have to say, that apron is quite fetching.

Hardcore fans will probably be satisfied by the interior design and Funasshi-shaped foods alone. As a matter of fact, the café looks so cute we were worried they might have forgotten to put much effort into how the food and drinks taste. Thankfully, though, it turns out the Funa Café takes flavor as seriously as presentation, as every single thing we tried was delicious.

If you only order one item, make it the 980-yen (US$9.70) pear juice soda. We saw more people sipping one of these than any other beverage, thanks to its pleasing tartness that was a perfect pick-me-up after waiting for hours outside in the morning heat.

▼ Relaxing and refreshing

▼ Not quite so much

There’s also a pear and banana Funasshi smoothie for 780 yen.

▼ We’re kind of surprised they dropped the ball by not calling it the “Funassmothie.”

▼ The 1,280-yen Funasshi burger

▼ OK, it’s cute, but it’s got nothing on our homemade Pikachu burger!

▼ Funasshi cannibalism!

▼ For 1,580 yen, the tantan-men noodle set seemed a little underwhelming, until we found out that you get to take the Funasshi mug home with you!

And of course, what would a Japanese café be without a collection of cute desserts?

▼ The 1,080-yen pudding parfait comes with an edible word bubble of Funasshi’s trademark “hyahi” laugh.

▼ The “illusion mousse” costs 1,280 yen, but justifies its slightly higher price with some awesome presentation.

▼ The display case of Funasshi cookies

If we’re being completely honest, we were a little surprised at the prices, which were a higher than we’d expected from a character-themed café. Since the quality was above and beyond what you’ll usually find at these kinds of restaurants, though, in the end it still felt like a fair deal.

Aside from making sure to bring a little extra cash with you, there’s one other piece of advice we feel we should mention. We left the restaurant just as the peak lunch crowd was starting to roll into Parco’s restaurant area. Remember how we said the Funa Café is located on the fifth floor? As we walked out, we noticed that the line now stretched from the café’s entrance to the stairwell, and from there all the way back down to the second floor. So make sure you come early, because that Funasshi is one seriously popular pear.

Restaurant information
Funasshi Funa Café
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 15-1, Parco Part 1 7th floor
住所：東京都渋谷区宇田川町15-1 パルコパート1 7F
Opens at 11 a.m., last food order at 10 p.m., last drink order at 10:30 p.m.
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