Minimal Cafe — Restaurant in Da'an District

Unique cat-lover-cafe, but hygiene...

The cafe is crowded with a clowder of cats - I estimate between 20 and 30 of them. If you don't like cats, don't particularly care for them or are allergic to them, you will hate this place! If you're a cat-owner though, for all of my later comments about hygiene, you'll likely see it as a great place to relax. If you're not a cat-owner, you will likely be less discerning, so take note.

The cats are treated as importantly as the customers (perhaps more so) and they roam everywhere. As I ate, a couple of small cats jumped up on to my table and started licking my plate (fortunately after I'd just finished but I wasn't about to start scraping the left-overs). Cats sit on the bar surface, next to piles of rolls, on plates, stacked cups, a guy brought out some cat food and started feeding a few on tables people would later be eating on, a couple of kittens walked all over my keyboard and one small cat fell asleep on my table, enjoying the heat from my laptop and the tungsten lamp on the wall.

Being a cat-lover myself, I'm generally okay with all of this (although I know many people would be disgusted) and as long as the cats are kept clean, free of fleas and trained for indoors, I'm fine. Unfortunately, there seems to be a big spraying ginger tom in there and as soon as I entered the place, he squirted all over the power socket I'd just plugged my laptop in to (not just unhygienic but dangerous). A couple of hours later, he sprayed all along the wall just by where I'd moved myself and promptly jumped up on the bar stools and started peeing all along where your legs would go. I pointed it out to the staff and they ran around with tissues and a spray bottle. I suggested to the girl they toilet-train the cats and she said it's not possible to teach them (hmmm…). Also, the smell of the place is definitely 'catty' and at one point I did register a 'brown tone' coming from somewhere. Ultimately, cat-lovers will probably say that it's similar to the level of hygiene they would have at home with their own cats. So, the place could be useful if you're considering getting a cat and want to know what it would be like first.

As for the food and drinks - you'll also either like them or hate them. They serve a weird kind of cornflakes with white slop and a small amount of vegetables as a 'salad' with every dish - the staff reckon it's delicious but I'm not sure about it. The main dishes are a bit on the fatty side and portions are smallish but prices are cheaper and quite reasonable if you add a drink. Their slushies half-stick out of the glass and are quite interesting. Two rounds of food/drinks came to 500-600NT.

Strangely, the bathroom has a pair of 'his and hers' toilet seats right next to each-other - so if you feel like moving your bowels, you can do it alongside a friend or loved one. Okay…

Other things - there were plenty of places to plug in a laptop, staff seemed okay, although one of the girls sneezed into her hand just before she was about to handle my food and I was disconcerted that she didn't immediately wash her hand. The air-con was also turned on at my back and ended up slowly freezing me.

So if you like cats, are not too fussy about hygiene and can recover from the disgust of a tom taking a whizz near your feet, then you'll probably like this place. However, I do think maybe they need to reconsider their policy on a few of the things mentioned - even in Taiwan, something's gotta give and if someone gets ill and complains, the hygiene officers will arrive and do a double-take, thinking, 'Where the heck do I start?'

Before that happens though, do check it out if you're a cat-lover and if you like photographing cats (or even just photography), you'll probably also take pleasure in this...

My family and I went to this cafe today while visiting the area. My husband found this cafe online and thought our 3 kids would love it so we made the journey there. It says that it's good for kids but it's really not. Our oldest kid is 5 and they have a minimum drink requirement, one per person, which was not stated on the menu or signs that I saw. I have never gone to a restaurant or cafe that requires you to purchase drinks for your children. We were only planning on making a very short visit, maybe 10-15 minutes because my husband has allergies and my kids can only sit for so long. Anyways, we ended up buying 3 drinks and staying for at least 45 minutes to finish all 3 mediocre and expensive drinks. Another thing is that they have a time limit and they kick you out when you reach that time limit. I'm not sure what the limit is but the lady at the table behind ours was asked to leave when her time was up. My experience, as a family, was definitely not great. I'm sure if you're not bringing kids, you'll enjoy it.

Point of the review is that the owner says it's good for kids but it's really not...

Quaint and quiet little cat cafe hidden away in a side alley along the university district of da an district of Taipei. Good food and good smoothies. If you’re a foodie then this don’t a place for you But if you’re a cat lover and a kids friendly environment. This is the spot. Friendly service and friendly staff. And mostly friendly cars. But like most cats they just can’t be bothered by human presence One more thing the dark/black chocolate cake is pretty good and chocolaty. More like a brownie but shaped like a cake. They made a a special Oreo coffee smoothie aka slushee aka frap aka icy caffeine sugar goodness. ...