Tom’s Cat Cafe Seoul

My visit to Seoul’s dog cafe BauHouse was not a real success. I was hoping that a visit to a cat cafe would be a more pleasant experience.

So one afternoon I climbed the stairs up to Tom’s Cat cafe.

Before entering the cafe, there is a small reception hall where you change your footwear for plastic slippers and get your hands sterilized.
With lots of visitors and cats (some of which are young or weak) the staff of the cat cafe has to take preventive measure to ensure safety for all involved. Makes perfect sense to me.

Once inside you buy one drink (a coffee or tea) for which you pay a higher then normal price, so it doubles as an entry fee. Also makes perfect sense.

You receive a large, white plastic bag to put you bag and coat in.
From then on you’re free to roam around.

There is a large board with info on all the cats of the cafe (in Korean only).
The cafe uses a system with colored, small neckscarves to indicate which cats might scratch you and which cats are too weak to be touched.

Uh…it’s in Korean. Cannot read:-(.

It was remarkable to me, that siamese cats and longhaired white cats were dominating in numbers. It also struck me that many cats in Tom’s Cat cafe are just gorgeous! Not your average European shorthair as we see them a lot in the Netherlands.

To be clear: I always had European shorthairs and I thought they were the loveliest, handsomest creatures on this planet;-). It’s just that the ones in Tom’s Cat cafe are real eye-catchers.

A blue eye and a green eye.

Ultra fluffy furball.

Another important rule is that the cats are not to be picked up or disturbed. If they come to you, that’s fine. And if they are awake, you can interact with them.

Tom’s Cat cafe immediately felt differently then BauHouse.

In the first place it was totally quiet; since cats don’t bark. Duh!

The space was much cozier and looked more like a real cafe. It looked less clinical and did not smell after disinfectant like BauHouse did.

Once again I would like to emphasize that I have nothing but kudos for the BauHouse staff and that I understand fully that that place looks and smells like it does. It has to, otherwise it could not be managed well.

The cafe provides ample resting, sleeping and hiding spots for the cats. Wooden stairs, boxes and walkways high up give them opportunities to escape the people, if they don’t feel for human interactions.

Go away, I’m avoiding the crowds;-)

One step closer and I ll take the high way! Yes, that’s right: My Way or the High Way!

Zzzzzleeeeep!

As you can see they happily use this elevated world.

There are some toys, so that you can try to make them play with you.

Do you see the flattering slippers that all visitors have to wear? And that cat climbed on the gal’s lap.

This small Siamese was about the only of the around 20 cats that was interested in some play.

They may come and sit on your table….

Gorgeous foot fluff!

For the rest you will see them going for a nibble or a sip of water….

Snack bar;-)

….being naughty…..

Hey, I can open this cabinet door.

I wanna check it out too! Me too! Go aside and let me see!

So your bag and coat are in here, right?

They are even making your coffee and answering the phone!

In fact these little siamese were for some reason too weak to interact with people, so they were kept separate in the staff’s ‘office’ which doubles as the cafe’s ‘kitchen’ for drinks.

But to be very honest: most of the time most of the cats are mainly….sleeping. As cats do:-).

Although there was no real fighting while I was there, there were some small intimidation games going on every now and then in order to obtain a good spot to chill. “Ok, so I am gonna stare at you till you leave this rug.”

“I’m licking you as if I am very friendly, but my only aim is to lick you out of your bed so that I can take your spot.”;-)

So they are all chilling, untill…….the delivery guy comes along….. and the deliveries are unpacked….. and the staff places the empty boxes here and there and everywhere on the floor.

Wow mow wow!!! It’s Boxing Day! Boxes Galore. I want in!

I have all hysteric “I have a box and just you dare me!”-eyes.

I is the smallest, so I fit purrfectly in this tiny box.

I is the largest, but I fits purrfectly in the tiniest box too! Ok, I cannot lay down in it, but at least I tried.

I is medium-sized, and I can disappear totally in this tiny box.

Aren’t we one big happy chilling cat family?!

I ain’t in no box, yet I am purrfectly relaxed too.

As always, the favorite places to chill are the first to be taken:-(.
So this fluffy guy (or gal) shagged up next to me, let me caress him (or her) and went into a heavenly dream state. Bliss;-)

Ahhhhhh….I’m gonna sleep. DO caress me, please.

Knock-out.

Verdict:
Spending some time in Tom’s Cat cafe is very relaxing and peaceful. Just don’t expect the cats to be very interested in you. Not to play with you, not to be handled by you. You might get lucky though, you never know. And for a cat lover, watching the cats do their thing, whatever that may be, is already a joy, right? I had a relaxing hour there.

For me I am glad to have visited a dog cafe and a cat cafe, but will most likely not visit an animal cafe any time soon. Although I am a huge pet lover, this formula just doesn’t do it for me.

How about you? What do you think? Would you visit this cafe? Would you go for a dog cafe or a cat cafe?

Adress Tom’s Cat cafe:
3F, 358-125, Seogyo-dong,
Mapo-gu, Seoul-si