a cafe for bird lover in Saigon

Tucked away in Phu Nhuan is PetMe (179 Tran Huy Lieu), a small narrow café attracting curious customers eager for a unique view with their coffee.

From brightly colored parrots and cockatoos to owls and tiny parakeets, there is no shortage of feathers ruffled here. The opportunity to interact with the birds is irresistible, especially since some can cost up to US$2500.
“We knew we were doing something no one had done before in Viet nam but we certainly did not expect for people to like it so much,” says 27-year-old owner Nguyen Ba Le. “Until earlier this year,I was still working full-time as a digital designer. The idea of opening up a café came to me when I thought I had spent enough time in an office job.

I wanted to try something new, but opening a company is so restricting. I have always adored parrots since I was a little kid so I thought, ‘Let’s make a place for bird lovers. Let’s make a place for people who have never thought about birds as pets to find out what having one may be like.’”

There are many types of South American parrots sizes, different colors. There are some great baby signing, but also fits in the palm of your hand. There is the whole body covered in white fur, with children as a torch red, green petal remaining strangely.

Specially trained to play with diners so the parrot in this very dynamic, friendly, like begging and lime guests. So, if you have a little favor, you will easily induce them to fly to the table or on the shoulder, on hand. The interesting point is that you have selected is “targeted” to park and pay almost did not want to leave without detecting targets more attractive. In case we do not want to come to you, you may ask staff to bring to the table to caress you, or watching them eat. Two weeks parrot bar will change once. So if you like and want to learn it, you can return the calendar to find out consistent characteristics, features live, the personality of many different parrots by intuitive.

“A lot of people come to us nowadays because they read about us in newspapers, see us on TV, or see their friend’s photos with our birds and we have our crowd of loyal customers. Parrots live a surprisingly long time. Small parrots can live up to 30 years while bigger cockatoos can live as many as 80 years. So when you have a parrot as a pet, you effectively have a friend for life.

“To accommodate more guests, we plan to open up a second floor next month where the star feature is a nursery where you can see baby parrots in all their natural glory.”

Beside parrot shop also has fascinate guests with the cat owl Mini with only 8 cm in height when mature. In addition to size pretty small, dark hair and eyes more lovely round scary that these birds are very young heart. Point unless they are pretty shy person so the catbird hardly left the parked position. You can only take pictures but can not play with them. In addition to the birds, the bar also be pleased diners with tea and soda. Hot summer noon, enjoy a cup of tea with peach aroma mild, sweet flavor combination of small pieces of fresh peach tea is wonderful. You can add cream if you like fat. Homemade ice cream shop should not bitter sweet, just the smell of fresh milk fat and finer lot of creams available.

Most of the birds roam the café freely, flying from shoulders to outstretched arms, even sometimes perching themselves on the café’s stock — harassing the staff for a bit of syrup. The birds are friendly with people, having been trained by Le, and the few chained parrots are new additions that require further training.

“Most people when they come in for the first time expect meek birds in cages or on chains,” Le shares. “But the parrots don’t really behave like birds. They are more like cats or dogs, except they don’t smell. They like to be petted. They like to play with toys and to make trouble. There’s a sweet spot on their heads which if you scratch just right, they absolutely love it.

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“They don’t fly around nearly as much as, say, a sparrow would. They like to walk and climb. A couple of our parrots, if you put them down on the ground and leave them alone, will walk to the backroom on their own into their cages and go to sleep like cats.” For Le, the challenges of keeping a bird café are unique — and costly. And in a region where the term “bird flu” can still incite mass panic, Le’s first priority is health and safety for both his flock and his customers.

With no specialized veterinarians or medicine for these specific breeds in Vietnam, they are first vaccinated in Bangkok before being transported to Vietnam, and every three months receive regular checkups. The birds are also rotated in shifts, with only five to seven in the café at one time while the rest receive some downtime and care in the backroom. The entire staff have been educated on how to care for and handle their fellow ‘colleagues.’

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