Friday, February 01, 2008

Meow Cafe

It's a small city. Even so, Hong Kong regularly springs me some new surprise.
My latest discovery: Meow Cafe. A quaint cafe where nine cats have a run of the place while you fawn over them and try to take pictures.

I went there last weekend. It was a horrid day, gray and rainy like the backdrop of a thriller around the time when the heroine gets stalked by a serial killer. We went out anyway, which on hindsight, I cannot imagine why.

So there we were, walking amongst the throngs at Times Square, which for those unfamiliar with Hong Kong, is a rehearsal for the Kumbh Mela. Took us a while to find the place - but were we glad we made the effort:
As soon as we opened the doors we were greeted by a bunch of cats!

Of course that's not true. Cats aren't dogs. They they don't greet humans. Sucking-up sucks!

So more accurately, we were greeted by the sight of a bunch of cats, all sleeping and sprawled over the cashier's table - on the chair, over the printer, besides the credit-card machine, between rack shelves - they'd completely swamped the front desk.


Absolute heaven for people like me who'd love to adopt one, but have a house too small and travel too often to do so.

Food and drinks we tried were so-so, but the setting was a respite from the dry, done-to-death decor of Starbucks. I'm so bloody bored of coffee chains! Same old cappuccino. Same sausage roll. Same awful tea. And worse, same no-place-available-to-sit-and-talk.

Here you should easily find a place to lounge. And should the cats not wish to speak with you (likely of course!), you can while away time over board games.

If you decide to visit:
Address:
3D, Po Ming Building
Foo Ming Street
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2710 9953

Directions:
Reach Time square and ask around for Foo Ming Street

5 comments:

sky said...

so they had cats in a place they served food? and the FDA equivalent hadn't shut it down?

don't get me wrong - i love cats. i used to have 4. but was just wondering how it worked in their sanitation testing?

Anuja said...

The cats weren't in the cooking area or being handled by the food staff, so that took care of things. I suppose no different or less hygienic than cooking at home when one has pets.

My concern before I visited was that the place must smell of animals - but it was actually very neat and odorless - not even the whiff of jasmine trying to cover up anything amiss!

Anand said...

hmmm..maybe worth a visit...

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
do you know if the cafe is still in business? I'm going for a holiday this September and would love to visit this cafe!

Anuja said...

Hi Gina,

Am afraid I haven't visited the cafe since! I think it should still be open - best to give them a call at 2710 9953 before showing up.

cheers,
Anuja