I went not just around central Tokyo but all the way out to Chiba. I was doing the legwork out to Chiba to get good furniture even a little cheaper. Minami-Funabashi, where the IKEA is, isn’t as far as I’d expected, but there are so many other places to shop besides IKEA that I was ready to drop from exhaustion.
The lunch menu at the IKEA Restaurant & Cafe
The first thing we did on arrival was eat. The restaurant-cum-cafe on the second floor works by loading whatever you want onto a tray and paying for it all at once. I took a bit of everything since I wanted variety, and some of it was decent while some was just so-so.
Pretzel
It’s bread, but the taste falls a little short of expectations.
Dessert
Maybe because of the size, it feels like they put more effort into the dessert than the mains, but well, this one tastes just so-so too.
Lasagna
At least it was still warm, so it was edible..
Salad
You just help yourself to a bowl.
After a quick lunch I had a look around IKEA, and there was plenty of nice furniture. But once you buy it, sometimes it doesn’t fit as well as you imagined, and you spot better furniture somewhere else. Splurging on everything in one go isn’t always a good thing.. After doing the rounds of IKEA I had a little time left, so I went to LaLaport right next door. It’s a huge shopping mall and there was a sale on, so there was plenty worth buying. There’s even a specialist exercise equipment shop, where I ended up buying a kettlebell.. Then I stopped by Vivit Square next to it as well and looked at the furniture at ROOM DECO. ROOM DECO has a rather different feel from IKEA. That day there was a red Italian leather sofa I liked, and I do end up buying it later. It’s a convenient area with all these big shopping malls gathered together.
Once I’d more or less finished shopping I headed back to IKEA. I checked off the last things to buy, had them delivered to the house, and then took a short snack break. The delivery fee was cheaper than I expected, which boosted my satisfaction with IKEA enormously.
50-yen drinks
For 50 yen you can drink as much as you like, but the drinks sold out there are all bad for your health, so water alone is enough for me.
Sausage
It feels like a shame to come all the way to IKEA and not have one.
Soft serve
You have to have dessert to round it off.
The most disappointing thing is that there aren’t many good places to eat in this neighborhood. Though lately the shopping malls have some seriously tasty places in them. Anyway, the shopping went well and I was able to get most of the furniture that day. Though with IKEA furniture there’s still the assembly after it’s delivered.