Cafe de Kitten

We walked in and it smelled like cat pee. I wish it didn’t, because I love this super cute concept, but it did. It kind of smells like that old Aunt you have that has no kids and only has cats. It smells like her house that has pets. We walked in and then I got all creeped out about food being in close proximity to cats and litter boxes and it went down hill from there.
Of what I saw, the place seemed clean andlooks kind of like a family room with lots of tables versus a restaurant, which I think is the look they are going for. The two staff members we chatted with seemed kind.
I love cats and have owned cats most of my life. And it is not that I did not think I would not expect to smell some cat pee and cats in general, but when we walked in for a late day cup of coffee and maybe relax in the calming enviroment of petting a few cats, two things:
1) They do not sell coffee or did not have any that day.
2) It smells like cat pee.
I got a little creeped out… I did. I am sorry kitties… I wish you well and hope you are well taken care of and have nice owners… I am sorry we could not visit.

We were unable to make it out to a cat café while we were in Japan, so we decided to make it up by checking out a cat café in Hong Kong. This is how we ended up at Café de Kitten in Mong Kok.
First of all, Café de Kitten is pretty dang hard to find. Make sure that you realize that it is located on the 7^th floor of the Pakpolee Commercial Centre. While searching for the Pakpolee Commercial Centre, you should also know that it’s not going to have a large sign proclaiming its location. Instead, all you will is the words «Pakpolee Commercial Centre» written in tiny font over an unobtrusive door in the middle of a shopping block.
Once you enter this door, you’re greeted by two lines. Make sure you read the signs and stand in the line of the corresponding color, because with something like 25 floors (I think?), one elevator goes to the lower floors and one elevator goes to the higher floors, so make sure you don’t get confused and take the wrong one, because trust me, the elevators here take FOREVER, and if you miss your floor, you’re going to be waiting an extremely long time for the next available elevator.
Now for Café de Kitten itself.
We went in the early afternoon, and when we entered, there were already three other groups of patrons there. The space is fairly small, and a tad crowded. Also, despite there being three other groups there while we were there, it was super quiet, which I think added a little bit to the awkward atmosphere.
Speaking no Cantonese (alas), we were a smidge confused about what to do, but we awkwardly sat down at a table. There’s about four normal height tables in the establishment with three shorter tables that require you to sit on short stools. At each table, there’s a bucket with some towels in it for kitties to rest in, if they so choose.
An employee came over, handed us a menu, and informed us that we were required to buy a meal set in order to stay in the café. Even if you don’t want to play with the kitties, you still are required to buy a meal set. I think they range from like 70 – 90 Hong Kong Dollars, which isn’t terrible, but still something to be aware of. The food is all ordered from somewhere else, so it takes some time to arrive, but at the same time, it is somewhat comforting to know that they aren’t preparing food in a place swarming with cats.
There’s a shelf with games, such as Jenga and UNO, that I think (?) you can take if you get bored and want to play something. The cats were all super sleepy when we were there, with the exception of one kitty, who was walking around a little bit.
We spent a lot of time not really knowing what to do. There was a lot of awkward hovering over sleepy kitties and petting them.
Despite the awkwardness and insecurity that resulted from the language barrier, with us speaking no Cantonese, and them speaking no English (at least that’s how it seemed), I still enjoyed seeing and petting the cats. There wasn’t much playing on my end, because the one active cat in the café was busy playing with another table (alas).
tl;dr: If you love love love cats, I’m sure you’ll have an excellent time here regardless. If you’re not as big of a fan of cats, but are curious about the concept of cat cafes, I think it’s still worth a look-​see. Just don’t get your hopes up for too much kitty interaction.