The Bonobo bar ボノボバー
A jazzy cocoon
In the heart of Harajuku, hidden behind a transparent curtain and a heavy wooden door, lies the smallest cocktail bar in Tokyo.
Fresh fruit piled in large bowls or dancing freely along the bar. Some high stools, four or five, no more, and the music from Bonobo, separated by a door from the cocktail bar, invites you to stay to the other side of midnight. It comes to you in waves, making this little jazzy bar the perfect place to start the evening. Here, time stands still.
You drink from large colored glasses, you enjoy the sight of all these fruits blended before your eyes (800 yen), and when you feel too cramped, just go through the door and enter the Bonobo, a successful mix between a small nightclub with varying musical styles according to the nights (electro to disco, techno and all genre of music, the mix is always very successful), and a bar with a quieter corner.
Equally charming, on the 1st floor in wood and rounded with soft carpets (you have to take your shoes off), there is a small library where you can browse old magazines on rock or Japanese pop art or just let yourself be transported by the amateur DJs come to test the turntables (without scratching!).
When it is not raining, a screened patio allows you to be outdoors and amidst the greenery (there are plants everywhere!). Occasionally, barbecues and other takoyaki preparations (ball-shaped octopus fritters) are organized on the terrace as well as live music in the basement and live painting where there is still some space.
Drinks cost about 600 yen (500 yen for beer, 600 yen for a glass of wine, 700 yen for a highball (mixture of whiskey and ginger ale). You can also snack on sweets prepared in the day (cake and other pastries) but beware, they go fast! The fauna, mostly Japanese, consists of both eccentric thirty-somethings and a melting pot of young (and not so young) people come to enjoy the musical quality and the relaxed atmosphere of Bonobo.