The world oddest places to eat and stay: the magic of the cat café, open and closed

Problem
Can't be bothered to go out. Bored? Depressed? Want to entertain children, the elderly, foreign visitors, have a memorable romantic date?

Answer
The internet and TripAdvisor and full or odd restaurants and hotels. I've been to quite a few. Trouble is, many of the best just disappear fast. I have written previous posts on the magi hotel and restaurant. I often look longingly at treetop hotels, and pop-up ice hotels, cafés featuring unusual usable toilets, or toilets as decoration. The more usual and widespread and enduring ones are forest or oriental scenes and guitars (Hard Rock) and waterfalls and aquariums in theme parks and Disney resort hotels and parks.

Story
The Magic Restaurant, San Francisco
Alas closed. Open the wardrobe door and see a cow and start a recorded message telling you to come to dinner.

The Magic Restaurant, London
Alas, closed. Entry door hidden behind a bookcase. Menu appears on white hanky used in a vanishing trick by the person serving you.

The Rainforest Restaurant, Piccadilly
The one in Singapore disappeared under redevelopment of the block near Orchard Road but the one near Piccadilly in London is still there. A real parrot or a parrot video or a parrot mural or fake parrot on a perch always entrances me.

The Cat Cafe in Bristol
The idea behind this is that cat lovers cat curl up surrounded by cats and if they fall in love with one of the cats then adopt a cat needing a home. Unfortunately, I found links to a site saying that the local cat rescue centre did not favour the idea.

Meow Cafe
Denmark Lane,
Bristol
England
UK

http://www.youandmeow.co.uk
https://shop.trycelery.com/page/

Tips
Watch out for the opening of The Cat cafe in Bristol. It was supposed to open in January 2017. I discovered it when I clicked on a BBC article on breeding poisonous frogs (why would you?) which was reported in a Bristol newspaper, then spotted the link to an earlier article on the cat café.

I went to the website and there's still no phone number or email for me to check if there's a firm opening date. However, I found some amusing cat themed jewellery and scarves.

Not everybody wants cat theme items just because they like cats. I have a friend who has a cat and she says her friends inundate her with cat theme gifts and she has more than enough. She likes real live cats, not 2D cats. So, maybe check before you buy, subtly if you want your gift to be a surprise. If you are buying for ourself, you don't have that problem.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.See my profiles and posts.. Many more posts and blogs on this sites and others. Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. Please follow, like and share.