Bunbogu - the Stationery Cafe

Have you ever wanted to eat while surrounded by pencils, paper, and other pieces of stationery?
 Well golly gee, I've two pieces of news for you! One, you're a bit of a dork! Two, I might've found you're second home in Tokyo. As far as eateries with a theme go, some have a pretty wild, general appeal that draws in the curious, and others are pretty obscure and really just appeal to a certain niche. Bunbogu, the stationery cafe, is blatantly part of the latter.

Faber Castell's limited colors.

 The idea is simple, but neat and effective in application. Customers order, and get to look around the cafe, which doubles as a stationery shop, for what ever pencils, pens, coloring pencils and the like they want to try, and bring them back to their table and try them out. You won't hear anyone screaming joy and excitement, but it's a good distraction while waiting for food to arrive. I'll admit it's kind of fun. That's as much pleasure as you'll get from Bunbogu. Unless you're a stationery fanatic.
 If you are, the rabbit hole goes a little deeper.
 It doesn't take anyone savvy about stationery to figure out that the staff here really know their shit. Given a chance, they'll gladly let you know that the shop is in possession of Faber Castell coloring pencil shades that are no longer in production, for instance. If you're the least bit interested in this kind of thing, you'll have yourself a field day.
 Bunbogu also offers a membership service where members are given a key to the drawer of the cafe's tables (which are effectively desks.) Inside these drawers are exclusive pieces of stationery that only members have the privilege of using. Members are also invited to member parties, and are given a typical 10% discount on the menu. Welcome to hipster paradise.
 As for the food itself, well, it's quite alright? I can't say I was impressed by the pasta, but it wasn't bad by any means either. There's unfortunately little to choose from in the menu - a small selection of appetizers, salads, mini-pizzas and pastas pretty much sums it up. They do have a couple of original cocktails, though! The highlight of which is their "Sketchbook" cocktail, which comes with a coloring pencil in it (not a real one) so that you can stir the drink.
 If this all sounds fun to you, check out Bunbogu near Omotesando. Yeah, I know it's pretty niche, but hey, given that some of my readership graduated from art school with me, this might just be the thing that pushes some over the fence for a Tokyo trip.