Meow Parlour
If you like cats and artisanal macarons, and you find yourself on New York City’s Lower East Side, be sure to stop into the Meow Parlour! There, in their bright, modern space on Hester Street, you can visit with a group of adorable kitties while indulging in café drinks and treats. The Meow Parlour is partnered with the rescue group Kitty Kind, and the cats there are all up for adoption. While waiting for their forever homes though, instead of sitting in cages these sweet cats are lucky enough to be enjoying an airy space filled with feline friendly furniture, an attentive staff and doting visitors.
Cat cafes originated in Japan in the 1990s as a way for people living in apartments too tiny for pets to spend quality time with cats. It’s a model that has caught on and spread around the world, and I was happy to learn that in the year or so they’ve been open, visitors to the Meow Parlour have adopted over 100 cats.
If you plan to visit, reservations are recommended especially on weekends, and there are certain hours set aside for visiting with children. (Though when my middle-school aged daughter and I dropped in on a weekday afternoon we had the place- and the cats- to ourselves.) You can check out the Meow Parlour website here:
