Neko no Niwa - Singapore first cat cafe

Curiosity kills the cat. Yet, we risked our (only one precious on each) lives to check out the first cat café in Singapore – Neko no Niwa.

Neko no Niwa means “cat garden” in Japanese. The cat cafe officially opened on 25 December 2013, housing 13 resident cats in total. If you had not heard of it before, (you must be living under a rock. ok just kiddingggg) it is a cat-theme café where customers pay hourly fees, and half hourly subsequently, to play with the resident pets. If you wish (or rather, if the cats wish to sleep), you may simply delight in the company of the 13 cats lazing around the same tiny space  as you while you sip on your drink or enjoy some desserts.

Charges are as below (per website):

Cuddle Charge

1st hour: S$12 per person
Subsequent 1/2 hour block: S$5 per person

Drinks & desserts (optional)

Mineral water & canned drinks: From S$1.00
Bottled drinks & fruit smoothies: From S$2.80
Premium coffee & tea: From S$2.50
Desserts from artisanal bakers: From S$2.00

Cash only. No service charge. No GST.

You may visit the Neko no Niwa website for more details!

The cafe is easily missed if one is not familiar with boat quay stretch or not observant enough.
It's on the 2nd level, with a tiny dog-like signboard, rofl.


*courtesy of mollymia

I felt a bursting rush of excitement as soon as I saw the adorable cat decals on the wall along the stairway! Whee!
Snapping away lol.


*courtesy of mollymia

We visited the café at 4pm, which was a pretty awkward timing as most cats were having their afternoon naps :( Hence, Tip 1: you may wanna visit at a time where the cats are more active (after 6pm?)

Tip 2: Do make reservations before going down as the café allows only a fixed small number of customers at any one point of time. I saw walk-in customers who were turned away due to the small crowd already in the café.

Customers are to take off shoes, wash and sanitize our hands/arms at the “external” part of the café before stepping into the “internal” section where all the cats are at.

The place is so pretty and well-lited! 

There’s a Neko no Niwa handbook that allows you to play the “matching” game whenever you see a new cat getting out of its hole. Match it to its picture in the handbook and ta-da! you’ll find its bibliography and unique characteristics, allowing you to interact better with it :)

Also there are house rules to obey with, which are stated right at the first page of the booklet. I think i’m really a closet cat bully :( Broke a number of rules - laughing too loudly at times, and annoying the cat’s tail while it is half-asleep :X

Cat no. 1

Emma – the most active cat of all! The pure white fur and blue eyes combi makes it seem like almost unreal initially.  But once it starts poking its head into our bags and biting the straps, rofl, I won’t say it’s fake ever again.









M trying to distract it from biting his bag rofl.

Tip 3: Bring nylon bags! In case the cats start chewing on yours.

It was particularly interested in M's bag strap and chewed on it several times. Made us laugh out loud uncontrollably.

I had quite a good workout on my arms while playing mouse-and-seek with it.















(Am I sexayyy?)

Cat no. 2

Kai Kai (brother of Jia Jia) – quite an attention-seeker as mentioned in the booklet, it made an “grand entrance” by jumping off the highest platform it was asleep on, and struts confidently through the crowd of humans when awake.

Cat no. 3

Jia Jia (sister of Kai Kai) – was asleep all the time :/ the pair of siblings were rescued from a flooded canal during Bt Timah when they were barely 3 months old – around the time the pandas arrived in Singapore from China and hence the names! :)









See its hind legs!
Jia Jia is an ombre cat (plus confirm is Kai Kai's sibling)!





How sweet the two of them are! *'.'*

Cat no. 4

Brown Monkey – behaved rather differently from what was described in the booklet. He was predominantly “stone” throughout. We did witness its interaction with Emma though which was very sweet! They snuggled together most of the time when Emma is not out playing and licked each other endearingly. *’.’*

Cat no. 5

Robbie – a cat without tail. Robbie has quite a bit of belly that D thought that it was pregnant cat rofl :X

(are you done shooting? <.<)



(enuff is enuff.)

Cat no. 6

Skittles – a lap cat! Very approachable and sweet :) The booklet says she can open cages and figure out puzzles quickly!

She didn't move even a single bit with all the cat toys around her thou :(

Cat no. 7

Mr White (brother of Dewey) – reminds me of the black stray I had been feeding ^^ I actually find black cats charming despite the “social stigma”, hahahaha.

Cat no. 8

Dewey – I can only remember the awkward position it was sleeping in rofl. throughout the 2 hours we were there -_-

Cat no. 9

Little Miss Muffet (sister of Baloo) – who is no little at all :X a 5-year-old cat who spent most of its time sleeping and watching the world go by. We only saw its eyes opened for a split second (or 2, very honestly).

Cat no. 10

Baloo (brother of Little Miss Muffet) – largest and heaviest of all the resident cats in Neko no Niwa. It weighs 7.5kg according to the handbook! Mostly asleep too -_-

Cat no. 11

Luna – picked up from a coffeeshop where she was found eating chicken rice and drinking coke (omg).

Cat no. 12

Miley – this kitty loves to be brushed! Avoids all form of human touch initially, but warms up rather quickly once the staff showed us how to brush its furs awww. It fell asleep again soon after we started brushing its fur -_- lol.

Cat no. 13

Demi – reminds us greatly of Einstein! Demi has a plush silvery coat and a very active tail (with an unique kink at the end of it) that entices people to keep playing with it rofl. I think I annoyed the staff with that :( So sorrie.

Cat no. 14



LOL.

Pardon for some poor quality photos and even blurry ones cos my phone camera was super laggggg :( Anyway, Tip 4: Have some form of tail/string/fur tied to your mobile phone or camera to get the attention of the cats, then you can have great pictures of them! :)

Neko no Niwa

54A Boat Quay (Level 2)

Singapore 049843

http://www.catcafe.com.sg/

Nearest MRT:

Raffles Place Exit G (400m), Clarke Quay Exit E (450m)

Parking:

Parallel lots along Circular Rd or hourly parking at UOB Plaza or OCBC Building

Telephone

(65) 6536 5319

*Reservations recommended*

Email 

seeyou@catcafe.com.sg

Opening hours

Mondays to Fridays: 11am to 10pm

Saturdays and Public Holidays: 10am to 10pm

Sundays: 2pm to 9pm

Do not bring your own cats.

Children must be at least 7 years old and supervised by an adult at all times.