Cafe Neko & Energy Bars
Last week I have visited Cafe Neko („Neko” meaning cat in Japanese), one of the first cat cafés in Europe, and the first one in Austria. Takako Ishimitsu from Japan opened this cozy cafe in May 2012. Do you know what a cat cafe is? It surely was new to me, and being a cat lover myself, I was planning to pay „Neko“ a visit since its opening, but never managed until last week.
I like the concept of guests interacting with five cat hosts (Mortiz, Luca, Sonia, Momo and Thomas) while enjoying coffee (Rösterei Mocca Brasil) or japanese tea, or cake (homemade) or matcha ice cream. All cats were adopted from Viennese animal welfare association (Wiener Tierschutzverein) and I do think it is a good option to give homeless pets a home.
About food: We have ordered vanilla sponge cake with vanilla cream filling (served in form of a cat- cute idea :)) and matcha ice cream. Both tastes good. I can highly recommend the ice cream. Wonderful creamy with a strong matcha flavour!
Here are some impressions:
Let me finish this post with a short recipe for energy bars. I am making these bars often, they make a wonderful snack at work, they are not overly sweet and taste great. I often leave out the sugar as the dried fruit is sweet enough for me, but if you have a sweet tooth, please add sugar or other sweetener up to your taste!
After posting a picture of these bars on my Facebook page yesterday, many readers were asking for the recipe, so here it is:
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups rolled oats
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or honey
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds or walnuts
- 1/2 cup dried figs (optional: dates, raisins, cranberries)
- 1/4 cup seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, black sesame)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups skim milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350 F.
- Mix dry ingredients.
- Mix wet ingredients.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients.
- Pour into a 20x 25 cm baking dish lined with parchment.
- Spread to edges and press down with a spatula to even off the top
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Lift by parchment paper onto a cutting board.
- Slice into bars or squares. Wrap individually to store.