HamCup Mini Zoo And Cafe (Pet Friendly) — Restaurant in George Town

I was lost in penang when I saw hamsters on a sign--i immediately stopped--i love hamsters! after confirming that hamster are indeed inside I told the beautiful lady that I'll come another time. Today I went in and uaa it has this rustic-cozy-family vibe--ordered the fish and chips, hashbrown and coke. Waste no time and went straight for the hammies--there's like 12 of them, 2 guineas, a rabbit, a chinchilla and a rat : the handsome guy there let me play with them, petting them and om om.

I got to play with...i think it was the orange pumpkin, a grey hammie, a baby grey Syrian, a small grey dwarf and the red-eyed rat--she was so smart. Got to pet the grey thỏ and chinchilla's too.

Later on the food came and wow its a pleasant surprise. OK, so, usually, when a store has a gimmick--like a cat cà phê--their main focus would be the gimmick and the food is the second focus. Fortunately, that is not the case here! The food is actually better! I had been to places that exclusively made western food and this place kicks it out of the ballpark. I actually ordered more because most places I went to had smaller portion-to-cost ratio but this place actually sells you the right amount! I now have too much food lol.

The vibe is good too because they don't treat it just like a 'place to eat'. You actually wanna stay around and just pet the hamster all day : especially with that Howl soundtrack.

Ok so the negative part would be parking--I did not have this issue but what I can see, anyone driving a car would need to be parking a bit further than normal and walk the rest of the way. Also, since the restaurant fosters a more...'homely' environment, if you came at 5pm, expect to stay all the way to 9pm because you would not want to leave--unless you dislike hamster, you dirty dog! ok another thing is that the hamsters needs more bedding...way way way more so they can burrow. but its not my hamster so I'm just thankful that they get a beautiful family to take care of them.

I'm going to visit again to pet...

A nice pet-friendly little cafe with a bunch of cute animals to play with for a few minutes while you wait for your food to be served. There appears to be hamsters and guinea pigs and yes, even a duck in a cage placed in the back section (for customer and animal interaction). A few cute and friendly cats prowl around and curiously come up to customers for a quick pat and cuddle. Food wise, portions are huge and the taste is nice for a pet-themed cafe. Chicken chop, pasta and mushroom soup were served freshly prepared. Satisfying cafe style food. There's a nice selection of beverages too, ranging from mocktail type drinks to milk tea. Good to visit if you love small furry animals and cats as pets!!!

Revisited on 21/06/25. HamCup has moved to its new location at Jln Irving, a few streets away from their previous location. Now set up in a more spacious old townhouse, with beautiful heritage carved panel screens, setting off a nice ambience for this cafe/mini zoo fusion establishment. Glad to find that the food quality remains high, with portions as generous as ever before. For today's brunch, we enjoyed the delicious Creamy Tomyam Seafood Pasta (fusion yummy perfection), and the Crispy Cheesy Burger (which featured a tender fried chicken chop sandwiched within a bun, and served with golden fries). The mini zoo is at the back section, and the animals from the previous location have been brought along to their new home. Good to see the white duck from the previous place and the addition of a cute baby goat and a few friendly pedigree cats roaming around or resting in the mini zoo section. Drop by for a visit. Perfect cafe and tiny indoor petting zoo for animal lovers and foodies who love fur...

I took my children to visit and see some animals and the shock of seeing how the animals were kept left my son and I in tears. While looking at the cats all crammed in the small cages, a duck with no food or water and a dog sitting in his cage with lots of poo along with and the meows coming from multiple cats left us not even wanting to go back into the animal room. The smell was so strong when you walked in the doors, i doubt the cages get a proper daily clean, as we left we told a staff member to clean the dog poo and he said he would when it was cleaning time, you should't wait until cleaning time if you can see plenty of poo and as it was on opening i wonder if it was from the night before! While i was there i asked how often the animals get let out, the dog didn't get a walk and it seemed they were waiting for customers to ask rather than rotating to let them out of cages. I have been to many cat cafes which don't lock up cats and are free to move, i asked to get a few cats out ( as i felt sorry for them being stuck in a cage) and they seemed very shy and skittish, one meowed and didn't seem to feel comfortable jumping down. Cats should be left out of cages and defiantly only a few cats are needed with better care. AVOID THIS PLACE...