London: Whiskers and Cream cat cafe

On a rainy day in London we visited the Whiskers and Cream cat cafe.  It is in on the Northern Line very close to Highgate Cemetary so that was our first stop of the day.  As I have mentioned, we were a bit later than intended and rang in the morning to change our booking to a later lunch.  You can see postcards from the cemetery that Sylvia loved and was very sad we lost at the cat cafe.  Fortunately she loved being with the cats so much - and that coffee art was so cute - that the loss was a little easier to bear.

The building  is in a small shopping strip in Holloway Road.  I am not sure if the outside seats are just for show.  Anyone who goes to a cat cafe goes to see cats more than for the food.  And to get into the cat cafe, we had to go through a double set of doors to make sure the cats can't run out.  So there will be no cats on the outside of the cafe.

 

We were seated downstairs, perhaps because of our change of booking.  I would have preferred to be  upstairs with windows and where most of the cats were.  The one bright spot in the downstairs area was Oscar.  He was a small light brown cat who was a self appointed guard.  He continually ran down the stairs, did a lap of the room, checking everything was fine and then back up the stairs.  It gave a lot of amusement and entertainment to all of us downstairs.

When we were seated we were given an overview of the ten cats.  While we waited for our order, we wandered upstairs to see the other cats.  They were pretty sleepy but there was a lot of attention being given to Jack, this gorgeous Maine Coon who was sitting on this chair like he owned the place.

More typical of the other cats was Amelia who was snoozing on one of the ledges set up for the cats.

The options for hot chocolates were impressive.  Not only were there options of white chocolate and mocha but also Venezuela (58%), Ecuador (70%) and Madagascar (80%).  Then there were options for servings such as iced, Baileys, marshmallows, whipped cream and vegan whipped cream.  Coffee culture usually means lots of variety of coffees with just a milky sweet hot chocolate as an afterthought.  I really loved that I could have a darker hot chocolate (Ecuador) with no cream because it was an optional extra.  It came with a cute cocoa cat face stencil on it and it tasted really good (see top photo).  Sylvia also loved her Venezuela hot chocolate with marshmallows.  I wish more cafes could offer more options. 

Then our lunch was ready.  Whiskers and Cream describes itself as "London's luxury cat cafe".  This suggested fine food. 

Our food was hit and miss.  Sylvia loved her sourdough sandwich with tomato basil and cream cheese.  I ordered the "Spicy tortilla chips, tomato salsa, cheddar cheese baked until melted and delicious served with garlic bread and garlic bread sticks."  The presentation was so bad I felt like laughing.  The cheese was melted enough that it was soft and sweaty but not enough to be the crispy golden joy of grilled cheese.  Most of the tortillas and salsa were under the cheese and not that crisp of tasty, the garlic bread sticks were just crusts with some garlic butter on it and looked silly perching on the edge of the bake.  I was annoyed that the sour cream and guacamole were extras.  I had the sour cream but resented another two pounds for the guacamole, and regretted not ordering it.  

I really wanted lunch and would have liked more than options of sandwiches or the tortilla bake for savoury food or a tiered high tea, which looked excellent but was pricey at £35 each - twice what we paid at The Muffin Man - and seemed exorbitant on top of the £18 each we paid for admission and a drink.  I also liked that they catered for different diets such as vegan and gluten free.

This little cat, Trixie slept in the cat tower for a lot of the visit but sat up long enough for a photo.

Archibold amused us by sitting up on the platform by the window surveying the room.

Oscar got tired of guard duty and slept in a cut little box on a wall and could be seen through this cat shaped hole.

Jack the Maine Coon sashayed downstairs to see what was going on down there.  He was so big and floofy.

We ordered a warm scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves to share.  It was excellent but took so long to come (something about a forgotten order) that we were given a free extra 30 minutes on top of our paid 90 minutes.  Usually an extra 30 minutes costs £4.50.

Sylvia was really pleased to have extra time as she loved patting the cats.  One cat, Vanilla, was asleep in a cat tower for a lot of the time.  He doesn't like his back being touched so Sylvia was careful not to bother him but loved that he seemed quite grateful for her gentleness after some rougher kids upset him.

Ollie was one of the first cats we saw, curled in a sleepy ball in a basket.  I am not sure he got out the whole time we were there.

Archibold came down from his high vantage point by the window and sauntered about with Vanilla.

I noticed some of the kids playing with the cats with these toys but I only really noticed this  toy corner on the way out.

Once we finished our scone I didn't feel the need to stay too much longer.  Sylvia could have stayed patting and chatting to the cats all day.  The tote bags were cute but we didn't purchase.  We had been saving our appetites for our next stop at Mayfair Mercato food hall.

Whiskers and Cream
593 Holloway Road
Archway, Islington N19 4DJ
Open: M, Tu, Th, F: 10am-5pm, Sat, Sun: 10am-5.30pm.
https://www.whiskersandcream.com/