Cafe Leon

This past weekend was our wedding anniversary, and so we went out and had a little fun in Ishikawa-cho. We didn't plan the night but sort of just walked around until we found something that suited our fancy. We first stumbled onto an really stuffy Italian place with mostly older diners in fancy sports coats. When we were told the place was having an opera party with a set menu, we moved on. 

Then we found ourselves a Spanish bar that served some of the best escargot in pesto sauce we've ever had. But of course it was a bar and it served mostly snacks and small dishes, so to get some real dinner we went to a pizzeria afterwards. The place pleasantly surprised us with an actual brick oven and some really authentic pies like the ones we had in the Italian food haven that is New Jersey!

The play room ^.^

But of course, the main attraction of the night was this Cafe Leon, a kitty cafe ^.^ Hubby is a cat lover. I like cats too, although it takes me much much longer to warm up to any animal, really, since I didn't grow up with any pets in the house. The kitty cafe concept is pretty easy, you come in, pay an hourly sitting fee, order a drink, and play with cats, or dogs, rabbits, what have you. In fact, next door to Cafe Leon is a sister shop, a rabbit cafe! xD

Snack time! There were 2 short-haired little guys that were just the most rambunctious cats I've ever met! They climbed all over hubby to get a bite!

Cafe Leon was our very first kitty cafe! I was really kind of iffy at first, because the thought of mixing animals and any kind of food or drink just doesn't sound very practical to me. And then there's always the hygiene issue, because if you ever own a cat, you'd know that cat hair gets everywhere! Hubby's grandma owns 2 cats. His parents used to have 1. And even though we only visit them a few times out of the year, I'm always shocked to find cat hair in my clothes in Japan! Like, how in the hell did that happen?!? When did kitty sneak into our luggage?

But we were pleasantly surprised by Cafe Leon. The moment we came in, we had to remove our shoes and wash our hands, and with soap! Why am I so impressed? Because believe it or not, a lot of public toilets in Japan don't have soap! They have automatic faucets and doors and even toilet flushing, but no soap! Arghh! 

Anyway, the place is divided into 2 rooms, separated by a glass sliding door. You and yours in one room with floor cushioned seats and your coffees, teas, drinks, desserts, whatever. Kitties and theirs in a different room with all their plush toys, climbing posts, blankies, and beds. Their furniture were spotless and there was no cat hair whatsoever. I was amazed! 

So among the drinks and desserts you can also order a plate of snack to feed the kitties, which was what we did. And man oh man, they know when you've got the goodies. There are 19 resident kitties, although we only counted 13-14 when we were there. The rest must have been hiding somewhere dozing off, after all, we came pretty late, a couple of hours before the cafe closed. The best part was that we got all the kitties to ourselves. The bad part was that they were sluggish and sleepy. Other than the 2 short-haired punkins who chased and pounced at each other all over the room, the rest were pretty chilled.

Aww...no more snacks... T.T

If you are wondering, this is the namesake kitty, Leon, a Scottish fold with a stocky built, short legs, and an adorable stubby tail. Here is Leon with one of his pals, curling next to a vent where warm air was blowing.

Hubby had a blast playing with the kitties. My favorite is Luna here. She has the softest coat I've ever petted and was very chilled. I have a soft spot for orange kitties, but after meeting Luna black kitties now have a special place in my heart too ^.^

Luna was minding her own business here and when -whoosh- everyone and their brothers gathered around xD

Leon taking a nice and long streeeeetch...