Capawcino Cat Café is a safe haven for stray cats that you can play with, adopt while eating some delicious snacks.
Their dream is to foster a greater acceptance of stray animals in the city.
“The idea of opening a cat café comes from my love for animals, and the fact that this concept is celebrated internationally made me think there might be room for something like this in Dhaka.
“It also provides people here the chance to familiarize themselves with stray cats, which could lead to greater acceptance of them,” said Rahat Rahman, founder of Capawcino Cat Café.
Food
We started our meal with their grilled chicken mango salad. The masterful combination of red and green capsicum, sweet and sour mangoes, iceberg lettuce, and grilled chicken worked wonderfully.
The salad was equal parts sweet and sour, with a delightful crunch when need be and the luscious mangoes were the cherries on top with some sweet relish creating a masterful flavour and an excellent beginning to our meal as it only had us salivating for more long after we had gorged on the salad.
Their tomato pesto chicken pasta is equally if not more of a stunning dish. Slightly spicy, with a vital hit of both pesto and tomato, this pasta is layered with a whirlwind of flavours.
The chicken is well cooked and tender on the inside and is a good bet for your protein fix. However, the creamy pasta almost works entirely on its own without the added chicken.
Our last course included a honey glazed chicken with fried rice and grilled veggies.
The chicken had a generous honey glaze on it and went hand in hand with both the rice and veggies on the side.
However, the honey glazed chicken was the least impressive dish that we had. The chicken could have been slightly warmer and that would have helped with the texture of the chicken and elevated the taste.
We ended our meal with blue ocean, a beverage that had a mixture of mint and lime finished with syrup, which was refreshing yet mildly too sweet.
The price range for a meal at Capawcino Cat Café is Tk350 to Tk1200.
Ambience
Located on the bustling street of Dhanmondi Road 27, Capawcino Cat Café exudes an energetic and pleasant vibe. The blue and ashen walls with wooden tables have a sophisticated yet youthful feel to it. While on one side people are enjoying their meals, on the other side, behind a glass door, the furry friends wait to be petted by the customers.
Challenges
Opened in 2019, Capawcino Cat Café began with a passion for building acceptance of stray animals and to make people in dhaka.
“The reactions are better than when we first began, but people here still get uncomfortable with the idea of having cats dining around them, which is why they are kept separately and not in the open. This still remains our biggest challenge,” said Ayesha Ariyana, managing director of the café.
They also aim to change people’s perception of stray cats and their adoption process for these cats is free of charge.
“We let people adopt for free. If they want to adopt, that’s a massive step towards accepting stray cats,” said Rahman.
During the covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, they had to shut down temporarily due to the cost for the care of the cats, as the expenses got higher than the income at the time.
“There’s a charge for when the customers want to see the cats or pet them and that’s due to the cost we have to incur to take care of them,” said Rahman. “Some people get offended but it’s hard to make people understand that it’s for the cats themselves,” he added.
Capawcino Cat Café relocated a number of times since 2019. Due to a high demand coming in from customers in Dhanmondi, they have decided to stay in Dhanmondi.
Verdict
Try both their tomato pesto chicken pasta and their mango salad. You will not regret either of those choices. Most importantly, when you enter this cafe, don’t forget to pet the cats and if your heart desires ( we know it will) adopt one if you can. It only takes a few seconds to fall in love with furry beings, and they deserve a loving home.