Hi everyone, I’m Nimbus the Cat. I love to walk, sit, and sleep on the keyboard, especially when my humom (human mommy) is beating a deadline. For a change, I’ll try to use this for its actual purpose: writing about myself. Or is this for posting my photos online? Because I plan to do that as well.
Anyway, for my first post, I’d like to tell you about my trip to Whole Pet Kitchen: Pet Deli and Bark-ery. You see, I’m obviously not a dog (Not to our tiny Pomeranian at home, though. The silly thing thinks I’m just like him. Incredulous!). Unlike them who love hopping in the car and enjoy looking through the window while their tongue dangles (ew!), I stayed, balled-up, in my carrier, still skeptical as to why my humom brought me along to work. Of course I know why: I’m more behaved than any of the dogs. I don’t pee when I get too excited. But why should we go to this pet restaurant? My tuna-flavored kibbles at home are fantastic. And I’m not comfortable going to a place named “bark-ery”. Don’t you think that’s pretty ‘speciest’? I think “meowstaurant” is a better fit.
So after a long but pretty chill drive we arrived at 349-D Recto St., in San Juan (I’m a smart cat so I can haz Googled that). I looked through the tiny peepholes of my crate and I figured it was a small space which was mostly green and white. Not my favorite colors, but it was cute, methinks. I also was surprised how it smelled! When you, unfortunately, share a house with dogs, you’d really expect the worst. But wow, this barkery did not stink! Not at all.
Not long after, my humom placed my crate in a corner. And then OMG (oh my Garfield), a giant Golden Retriever approached and sniffed my carrier! “Who’s that, Jack? Who’s inside, Jacky?” his mommy asked him. I live with dogs and I was pretty sure this dog obviously hasn’t seen a cat. He stared at me (amazed, I’m sure) for a long time! His mommy thought that Jack is scaring me so she escorted him to stay behind the counter. Phew! I was finally let out to look around and do my job. “Sorry Jack, this is official business,” I meowed.
My first impression was correct. The place was pretty spotless, dog scent-less (not be speciest here, but really, dogs are smelly!), and cute (except for the biased choice of artworks. Wait ‘til the owner of this place see my scratch-works at home. That is art!). I browsed through what’s written on the blackboard menu. My humom said we’ll get to try some of them in a while.
Giannina Gonzalez, Jack’s mom and owner of the place, was quite friendly and was obviously interested to know more about me (as everyone is, duh!). While I hopped to and fro the tables (I was testing its durability), my humom asked Giannina why she opened such a place. Apparently, Whole Pet Kitchen is Philippines’ first gourmet pet bakery and café. According to her, she loves animals and she has been cooking for her pets for the past several years already. “Jack eats 100% homemade food. To make his food, we make it in bulk, freeze it, then heat before serving,” Giannina answered. She wanted to share her dog-friendly recipes to other pet parents and thought of opening a pet café. “All our food are made with human-grade ingredients and are developed with the aid of a veterinarian and research about pet nutrition. Our canine taste testers try them. Our vets test them. Then we do sampling to ensure that our food appeals to more pets than just our circle,” she added.
Amazed, my humom asked Giannina how she comes up with the recipes because, well, she’s not a dog to know what dogs like, right? (If she asked me, I’d tell her that dogs are funny creatures and would eat anything that fits their mouth!) Giannina then related how she started with her research: “I began serious research on pet nutrition back in 2010. I bought different kinds of high quality pet food. I was buying dog food at 200-300 per can for research and was buying extra treats for the dogs at home at 350-900 per bag. I always thought, why couldn’t quality natural treats be more affordable? So aside from making the dogs’ food, I decided to try and make some natural treats on my own using some dog-safe & healthy ingredients like eggs, VCO, meat and vegetables…and it was an instant hit for the dogs at home and the quality was way better than the treats & food that I had bought.”
After saying this, Giannina’s assistant brought out my meal for the day: Grain-Free Salmon and Sardinella Cake drizzled with yogurt. I wish my humom told me that Giannina will serve me this because I wasn’t hungry at all. I shouldn’t have eaten all my breakfast kibbles like crazy.
But just so I wouldn’t look snobbish to our host, I sniffed then licked it before I decided to rest beside it. I’ll save this for later and share it with Bob the Cat when I get home. Unlike dogs, I can contain my excitement for when I'm truly hungry.
Lalalasagna
This pet café also serves food to pet parents, so Giannina also made my humom try some of her specialties. She got a hefty serving of Lalalasagna (P258)— a plate with layers of pasta, bolognese sauce, spinach, white sauce and cheese. I think she loved it because she wiped it clean in no time.
Pork Balls and Pickles Sammie
She also got some Pork Balls and Pickles Sammie (P248), Whole Pet Kitchen’s take on the famous Asian sub. My humom kept on saying it was like bahn mi, with Asian porkballs and homemade pickles with a bit of pate and veggies on baguette. Again, I saw she was pleased.
To cap off the meal, Giannina served my humom some “woofles” (At this point, I was sure that Jack had a hand in creating this menu). The Double Choclit Waffle (P208) ala mode looked impressive! The homemade waffle had chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream atop it. My humom, a dessert monster, loved it (I’ve seen her empty bags of cookies by herself at home).
Double Choclit Waffle
By the time my humom finished eating, Jack whined and begged his mom to let him out. That dog was itching to show off his tricks! I stayed at the far end of the room while he balanced treats on his forehead. I don’t get why my humom is impressed. Really? A kibble on your forehead, Jack?
After Jack’s mini show, my humom placed me in my carrier. I thought, “hurrah, we’re going home in time for my favorite TV show!” She also bagged some gourmet treats for the house dogs. Oh, they sure did go crazy for that when we got home.
My final meowsing? Pets, especially silly dogs, will love Whole Pet Kitchen: Pet Deli and Barkery. Sure, the place is pretty biased to dogs, but they (even Jack, I must admit) sure made me feel welcome in there. If only they can add more in the cat menu and feature kitty artworks on its wall, Whole Pet Kitchen would've been perfect.
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Author's profile: Nimbus is a 10 month-old blue Persian cat who co-habits with his "humom" (and a future crazy cat-lady), Trix Deseo. When he's not asleep, he can be found watching TV, bugging his humom, or scratching "art". He's a mild-mannered, picky eater, who will not drink water unless it drips fresh from the faucet.
