Tainan’s “Konomokuken” Pet Café – A Little Paradise Where Fur Babies Make New Friends

Text & Photos /Orange Dog Loves Candy

The release of the movie *Twelve Nights* revealed the cruelty and hope that life can bring, and it’s said to have sparked an adoption craze. I think it’s predictable that a successful film can create follow-up effects, but I just hope it doesn’t lead to another wave of abandonment after adoption—there are too many precedents for that.

But the movie is beside the point. Although this article is titled as a food review, it’s really about pets. Even if you have cats or dogs at home, people still need social and recreational activities—you can’t just stay cooped up at home with them forever. But bringing them to a restaurant for a meal can still raise hygiene concerns among those who aren’t pet lovers.

Yet finding a pet-friendly restaurant is surprisingly difficult. Running one isn’t easy (as far as I know, all the ones in Tainan have closed), and it’s a niche market. While there are many cat and dog owners, not everyone necessarily brings their pets out to eat.

For people with large dogs, it’s actually quite inconvenient, and non-pet owners probably wouldn’t be keen on visiting such a place either. One day, I stumbled upon this spot online—it’s called “Konomokuken Café,” a long-awaited pet café. So no matter what, I had to find time to bring our dog here.

The café name “Konomokuken” is actually a deconstruction of the Chinese character for “Shiba Inu” (柴), and I initially thought the place kept Shiba Inus. But to my surprise, the greeter dog was a Maltese named Maaahhh~ The location is somewhat hidden—Lane 227, Nanmen Road, is roughly opposite Chenghua in the alleyways near Jinyutang Bookstore.

Konomokuken is a renovation of an old house with a Japanese-style design. The overall aesthetic is actually quite different from typical pet cafés. Had I not known beforehand, I might have thought it was a Japanese restaurant, barbecue spot, or coffee shop.


After all, previous pet cafés were designed to be lively and colorful, so this one makes a very different first impression.


Pushing open the door, I was again surprised by the space. To be honest, it feels more like a coffee shop—it retains the old house’s gravel floor, along with the wooden furniture commonly seen in cafés, a bright bar counter, and a few warm yellow lights. But it actually serves grilled and stir-fried dishes at night.


The adjacent area features retro-modern style sofas against a red brick wall.

There are also D-rings designed along the walls by the seats, allowing owners to hook their leashes directly. This must be a special feature for pet cafés. The staff here are also super friendly.


They help with seating, enthusiastically introduce the menu, and greet the dogs warmly. When I first saw the shared posts online, I thought it was just a hotpot place that allowed dogs.


But in reality, it’s operated as a pet café, and whether it’s the owner or the staff, they can chat about dogs all day.

The highlight is that once you’re seated, they serve water glasses for humans and water bowls for dogs—a surprisingly thoughtful touch. I’ve never seen this at other pet cafés before. Naturally, the rarity of such a place attracts attention from dog owners everywhere.


So during the meal, I kept seeing Shiba Inus, Schnauzers, and Maaahhhs running around. In the past, when I took my sister out to eat, she could only hide in a bag. Here, she can finally run free.


And there were constantly other dogs coming over to greet her.

As for the café’s resident dogs, there are two—one is named Yuanyuan. Like my sister, she was abandoned at a pet grooming shop and is now a much-loved pup.


The menu here is divided into daytime and nighttime offerings. In the afternoon, they serve light meals and sandwiches, while at night, they add skewers and stir-fries. But the skewers sold out early that day, so we just listened to the staff’s recommendations. The pricing is slightly high but not unreasonable. Still, we ended up ordering a full table of food XD


Interestingly, they also serve dog food—like beef and chicken meatballs or specially made sushi for dogs. The prices are decent, around 100 to 150 NT$, but unfortunately, my dog hasn’t been able to eat any of these lately. I’ll have to bring her back next time.

[Salt & Pepper Chicken Skin / Complimentary]—Simply fried chicken skin sautéed with garlic. It’s a complimentary appetizer, and it’s exactly my kind of crispy chicken skin dish.


[Rose Salt Grilled Steak / 250 NT$]—This was probably the dish we were most looking forward to. It’s steak, pre-sliced, and simply grilled. I think the issue might have been with the grilling time or temperature.


Some parts of the steak had a good texture, but others were too dry, and the fatty parts felt a bit greasy... To be honest, this grilled steak wasn’t very successful. What a pity...

[Stir-Fried Soybean Sprouts / 110 NT$]—Since my dining companion loves soybean sprouts, we ended up ordering this wherever we went XD. Simply stir-fried with garlic, the crisp texture was quite nice, and the portion was generous.


[Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Thigh / 120 NT$]—Crispy golden crust with tender, juicy chicken. This one was pretty good.


[Spicy Salt Shrimp / 150 NT$]—A common stir-fry dish. The shrimp shells were fried until crispy enough to eat whole, with a fragrant, non-chewy crunch. The shrimp meat remained springy, and paired with lots of garlic bits, it was great.

[Salted Egg Bitter Melon / 120 NT$]—I prefer this dish made with green bitter melon, which has a much crisper texture. The salted egg had some graininess, and the savory flavor was so good I even used the sauce to mix with rice.


[Hua Diao Pan-Sha Pork / 200 NT$]—This was the best dish of the day for me. Though it wasn’t what I expected from a Hua Diao-style dish (probably influenced by the popular Hua Diao Chicken I’d had in recent years, which is cooked in a three-cup style), they seemed to have stewed it with Hua Diao wine and sesame oil. The Pan-Sha pork wasn’t too tricky—the only issues were controlling the doneness and getting the seasoning right.


The richness of the sesame oil completely coats the Matsusaka pork, and with every crispy, bouncy bite, you can smell its strong aroma. I thought it was quite tasty, especially comforting in winter.

[Crispy Chicken Cartilage / 150 TWD] — Just as I was thinking this dish was a bit pricey, it turned out to be pretty good. The outer layer of crispy batter is lightly crunchy, and the highlight is the sweet-and-sour-like seasoning that’s mildly sweet, paired with chewy cartilage inside. It’s really not bad.


[Golden Sand Tofu / 120 TWD] — Like the salted egg bitter melon, this is a dish centered around salted egg. The little golden tofu cubes are quite adorable, and each one is evenly coated with the aroma of salted egg yolk.

Coming to a place that feels like a café and ordering these stir-fried dishes feels a bit odd, but it’s even more unusual because it’s also a pet café. However, I think the food tastes pretty good, and the prices are about on par with a typical izakaya. Today, the four of us spent an average of 300 TWD each and got so many dishes.

As a pet café, it’s actually not bad. Maybe only the grilled steak was a bit of a letdown. I really liked the service and the variety of dishes. It’s just that I’m not sure if we didn’t order something truly impressive and memorable. But as a pet café, they’ve put in effort to create a unique style.

And here, my sister can have her own chair to sit on — haha, no more hiding. Maybe once her next allergy flare-up clears up, I’ll bring her back to try her very own special treat!!



【This Wood Dog Café (Pet Café)】

Address:No. 11, Lane 227, Nanmen Road, West Central District, Tainan City
Contact Number:06-2160729
Business Hours:2:00 PM – 12:00 AM
Consumption Notice:Closed on Mondays; Stir-fried skewers available from 5:00 PM – 11:20 PM
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