Paris Update What’s New in Paris
KITTY-CAT CAFE & CHIC ARCADE
Customers can pet and eat at the same time at Le Café des Chats.
Do you get bored sitting around in cafes? If so, two new spots in Paris offer activities that will keep you well occupied. The most unusual by far is Le Café des Chats (16, rue Michel Le Comte, 75003 Paris; tel.: 09 73 53 35 81), a place so popular that you have to reserve in advance just to have a coffee (lunch and dinner are served as well) and at least a week in advance for a weekend visit. The 12 housecats, who live in the basement, are free to roam around the café soaking up love from the cat-worshipping (why else would they be there?) customers while they eat and drink. The kitchen is the only place that is off-limits to felines. The other day, I met a visiting couple from California who were there because they missed their own cats, while others just go for the therapeutic effects of petting a purring pussy. The owner seems to have taken every precaution to ensure that the cats are in good health and that the café is hygienic.
The foosball machine gets a workout at Le Fantôme.
For an entirely different kind of entertainment, non-cat lovers might prefer Le Fantôme (36, rue de Paradis, 75010 Paris; tel.: 09 66 87 11 20), a big, trendy café (from the owners of chic nightclub Le Baron) with vintage furnishings and a number of retro arcade and bar games like Pac-Man, pinball and foosball, to be enjoyed with a beer or creative cocktail in hand. Heidi Ellison
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