Vienna Neko Cafe

written by Marie Gizelle September 21, 2018

^Ballgasse corner Blumenstockgasse – Neko Café Vienna

The last time I was walking these cobblestone streets were – as the watermark provides – 2013. I searched if I had featured here the Neko café we visited, but it seems that I haven’t.

The first time we went, I was not yet into cats, so I don’t know about cat breeds and personal cat space then. ^_^ This visit, I went with the kids and because we already have cats of our own, it was not easy not to pet them – we know about cat space now but we also know how to handle them.

Table of Contents

Location

Neko Cafe is situated just behind the shopping center, Steffl, and a few steps away from Vienna’s main center, Stephansplatz, one can also enjoy going around the streets that lead to the café.

frames, Vienna's Neko Cafe picture frames

Vienna’s Neko Cafe – portrait of each cat

Neko Cafe Cats

There are 5 cats in the café: two male Maine coons, one white and the other ginger. There’s a tiger-striped female, a long-nosed, red male, and a feisty, black female one. These you can also read on the menu, so you get to know which cat is which. We only got to see three of the cats all the time we were there as the others were in hiding. We just say “hello” once in a while. That’s letting them smell your finger and if they like you, they will slide their noses through your finger.

As said, it wasn’t easy not to pet them, I had warned the kids about this…to give them their space as we are not their owners but are coming as guests to their turf.

Ginger Maine coon

Bit of Neko Cafe Info

The cafe is owned and handled by a Japanese mom-daughter tandem. They are very friendly and polite of course, you can ask them freely about the cats. Although the very first one was opened in Taiwan, it was in Japan that cat cafés blossomed, with 58 of them in Tokyo to date.

In many cat cafés, paying is done by the hour, but Vienna’s Neko cafe waived off this option. One can freely come in and stay as long as they want.

House Cake and Ice cream (matcha and strawberry).

Cat-loving kid…enjoying her chocolate cake.

Food served

The café offers a range of tea and other warm drinks as coffee and coffee options, and even chocolate to order from. Cold drinks include water and juices, and even coffee and a special blend of japanese tea.

Food includes bread with salmon and tuna spread, rice balls, inari sushi to name some. Desserts are in abundance since it is a café in the first place, what best way to enjoy coffee or tea but with sweet treats? There’s the Hauskuchen; homemade cake, Vanillakätzchen; vanilla kitten, Erdbeermouse; strawberry mouse to name a few. There’s also ice cream in the following flavors: green tea, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.

No complaints on what we tried during this visit. The cake was good, not the type that’s store-brought and thawed, you can tell it’s a recipe that’s unique to this cafe. The ice cream were ok, too…and I believe I had a cup of tea, green tea to be exact.

House cake…home made, owner’s recipe.

Moritz, a red maine coon…

Cat Space and Vienna’s other must-sees

Café Neko is a haven for catlovers who would like to rest a bit from all the walking. Also, you can buy souvenir items from the café, I unfortunately wasn’t able to look through but I’m sure there’d be loads to choose from. Photo below shows some art and postcards by the entrance.

Vienna’s Neko Cafe picture frames inside

Word of advice: respect cat space when you visit. Leave the cats to themselves, and only touch them when they actually come near you. If you have kids, make sure that they also observe the previous sentence. Do not give the cats your food or any treats, you can buy from the server (I think 1€) if you’d like to feed them some. Meow!