The Cat Cafe @ The Rail Mall [Singapore] #catcafesg #animalcafesg

This stretch along Upper Bukit Timah Road is familiar to me as I used to drive along this stretch before I scrapped my car almost 5 years ago; however, I can count, with one hand, the number of times I have actually visited The Rail Mall on the side, which is realistically just two rows of shophouses.

Purpose of visit this time; the cat cafe. Yes, that's the exact, simple yet to the point name, of the animal cafe. It's like going to a dental practice called the dental practice or the supermarket known as the supermarket. 

While my last visit to a cat cafe was with two friends, it's the company of Jovyn that I would be enjoying this visit. Nowadays, we prefer to gift experience rather than present during Christmas and Jovyn is rather an animal lover, just like her uncle.

Stepping in; the cafe area in front where there were a few tables and chairs, and the inner area where the felines roam freely. I do like this concept which is similar to the Big Dog Cafe in Bangkok; those who are not interested to pay extra to play with the animals / or are allergic to animal fur still have the option to enjoy the cafe experience. 

Rack filled with cute memorabilia; the old me might have paid for the ultra-cutesy floor mat! On second thought, I think I would still be keen but I would check if the same item is on taobao. 

Drink and food menu; the standard rate for playing with the cats is S$16 for first two hours, complimentary of one soft drink, which you can top up to a tea / coffee / chocolate / orange juice etc. 

By soft drink, it refers to the ones housed in the above fridge. Of course I would gladly pay extra to top up, especially when it's not even noon and I didn't have my cup of coffee yet. 

Remove your shoes before you step into the 'restricted' area.

Interior; compared to meomi cat cafe, the area at the cat cafe was a lot more spacious. It's a fact that even Jovyn picked up as she had been to meomi cat cafe before; not with me though. 

Hand sanitizer next to the entrance.  

Proper seatings; for those who are okay with being cross legged and those who are not. Latter is more for those with knee issues, especially the older generation who might find it hard to stand up after sitting cross legged for an extended period of time. 

I was wondering how come there's no rules and regulations before stepping into the feline area. Turned out it was pasted on every table; not sure if anyone would read though as the focus was more with the cats once cat lovers are in feline paradise. 

 

Corner at the end of the left passage was hoarded up as a "private space" for the felines. It can be frustrating and stressful to be the receiver of so much love and that space would be where they can escape from humans. Shall show more pictures about it later. 

If I ever keep a cat, the possibility of me installing overhanging cat walk would be quite high although the thought of cleaning and maintaining them could be a strong deterrent. 

Jovyn's orange juice (top up S$3.00) and my caramel latte (topped up S$3.50) that came with a biscuit. The silicone cup covers are required for a simple reason.

The cats would flock towards you and hope for a chance, no matter how slim, to steal a sip, a lick and / or a bite! Human food and drinks are just too irresistible! 

This handsome boy apparently adored cream and milk and upon seeing my latte; it quickly jumped onto my table. Pity for him - I was faster and managed to cover my latte. Okay, I guess it's time for the deluge of photographs showing the cats in the cat cafe. 

A total of eleven cats in the cafe and if you have realized by now; none of them are pedigree cats. Whatever the case, they exude a friendlier charm and to me, I really don't care about whether a cat is pure breed or not. 

Cat toys were available if you to need to entice the more playful felines to come to you. Unlike some cat cafes in Bangkok, the cafe doesn't sell cat snacks. They did in the past and I heard that aside from putting on weight, one greedy cat eventually had to extract some teeth too due to high-sugared snacks! 

Badly scratched cardboard - this is a reminder to me if I were ever to keep a pet. It would mean a home that might be shred to pieces and am I really willing to accept it?!

Having worked in a pet shop for a few years, I knew of hairballs in cats although I had never seen it before. Until my visit to the cat cafe! Looked more like vomit than a hairball and I was expecting a lot more fur!

The litter box; always a private place. 

With a donut (the nicer way of saying it's the cone of shame) preventing her from licking her wound, this particular feline captivated the hearts of many with her adorable expression. Her name? Mama! 

More photographs of the others! 

What's the best time to visit the cat cafe? It's when your visit coincides with their feeding time! In our case, it's scheduled at about 11.00 am and the felines were fully aware as they were all crowding around the doors! 

They waited and waited; and from one door, moved to the other one. The hunger pangs must be screaming at them but impatient, they were not. If it's a human kid, I bet he/she would have screamed his/her lungs off! 

Lunch was finally served! Each of them had their assigned bowl and peacefulness reigned until the greedier ones were done with the meal and attempted to steal from the rest! Thankfully, the dedicated staff would be on standby to ensure each feline gets the food intake they require. 

Seeing them eat made Jovyn hungry too! 

Our selfie time with the cats! It's so difficult to take photographs with them as they kept moving around and don't think it would be easier to take pictures after their meal. 

Most would escape to their 'private space' to take a snooze! Hence, this would be a bad time to visit, anytime after their food. 

Last two photographs taken outside the cafe, where the 'private space' faces out to. Jovyn mentioned this would be the nearest she had ever been with most the cats, separated by a layer of glass. 

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It was a relaxed yet enjoyable experience for both Jovyn and I at the cat cafe. Aside from the felines, I must commend the staff on duty for their dedication, passion, knowledge and great service. Not sure if the branch at Bugis would be as good and I guess the only way to find out would be to pay it a visit soon! 

Address

392 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, 

Singapore 678046 (opposite from above tree)

Map

As above. 

Operating Hours

Wednesdays - 3.00 pm to 10.00 pm

Thursdays to Tuesdays - 10.00 am to 10.00 pm

Website

http://thecatcafe.sg/

Namecard

As above. 

Pricing

Entrance Fee (First 2 Hours) - S$16.00

Top Up Drink to Orange Juice  - S$3.00

Top Up Drink to Caramel Latte - S$3.50

Clawsome Bag - Jiao Cai Seafood (蕉财海鲜) @ Yishun Park Hawker Centre [Singapore] #yishunparkhawkercentre

Food choices were aplenty at Yishun Park Hawker Centre and deviation from the few favourites we had was quite rare unless something caught our attention; like the time I was seated in front of Jiao Cai Seafood while waiting for my order of BBQ Boneless Chicken Leg from Smokin' Joe.

Poster stating the newest offering on the menu; the clawsome bag which I assumed would be the same as the seafood bag elsewhere! In this case, the S$48 a bag at Jiao Cai would include crab, clams, prawns, mussels, sweet corn and fried mantou! 

Wait was close to 30 minutes! In addition to the clawsome bag, I took the liberty to add a vegetable dish to the meal too. While I am happy eating only seafood / meat, my parents are the traditional kind who prefer some healthy vegetables to balance out the sinful food. 

Four Heavenly Kings - I am presuming that the kings are brinjal, lady fingers, french beans and petai (stink beans). Mildly spicy and stir fried with ikan bilis, the vegetables were tantalizing and provided a nice variety for diners who dislike having too much of one vegetable.

Clawsome Bag - it would be more appropriate to label this the clawsome pot, rather than bag! Not that it matters to me as it's just a different vessel holding the ingredients. Do note that the stall had run out of crabs that day and I was agreeable to their proposal to replace with crayfishes instead.

Frankly, the gravy tasted just like chilli crab and I personally feel that it was one of the better ones; spicy, tangy, thick and gooey, flavourful with a tinge of tomato flavour that made us want to pour it over plain white rice! 

No complaints about the seafood, in general. I wasn't that happy with the corn though; it's hard to enjoy it as they didn't have much 'meat' in the kernels and the cob broke so easily. Gravy was the highlight and it's so blissful to use the gravy as a dip before throwing the seafood into our mouth! 

I so wanted to tabao the gravy back home! 

The fried buns; the oily type I like. As the fried buns I had in the past two instances were tasteless, I wasn't pining too much hope for these ones from Jiao Cai. 

Turned out they were good; the buns were pillow-soft in the insides, lightly crisp on the outside and had a moderate sweetness that's perfect for the spicy, chilli gravy!  

I counted; 4 crayfishes to replace a 500-600g crab. To be honest, I don't know if it's worth the replacement since crayfish, just like lobster, doesn't have much meat in the first place. Nevertheless, the chance is high I would return to have this clawsome bag again; hopefully the stall would have crabs then.

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Address

51 Yishun Avenue 11, 

Yishun Park Hawker Centre, 

#01-39, Singapore 768867

Map

As above.

Pricing

Four Heavenly Kings - S$12.00

Clawsome Bag - S$48.00