80 | October• 2018
ofers traditional dishes made on the
premises. he setting is shabby-chic
bohemiananditcouldbeatypical
Parisian brasserie were it not for the
dozencatsthatmakeittheirhome.
AsacatcafépioneerinFrance,
Margauxhadherstruggles.First,she
needed to establish that the presence
of pets in a restaurant was actually
legal. “I had to wait for anoicial re-
ply from the Ministry of Agriculture
before I could be absolutely certain,”
she says, smiling.
Next she had to deal with animal
welfare worries. She received many
visitsfrommembersofFrance’sani-
mal protection societies. “hey didn’tyou’veseenothercatsapartfrom
me.’ he cats here aren’t mine, but
Ilovethem.”
CHAT MALLOWS CAFÉwas not the
first cat café to open in the French
capital. hat honour goes to Le Café
desChats,whichopenedin2013.
It was founded by Margaux Gande-
lon,apoliticalscienceandinterna-
tional relations graduate who wanted
toputsomesenseofmeaninginto
herworkinglifeandwhosetwinpas-
sionswereanimalsandcooking.
She’d heard of Japan’s cat cafés, but
wantedherownestablishmenttobe
more of a restaurant than a café. It
A Siamese says hello to Marjorie Richard and her daughter at Le Café des Chats