http://www.nespresso.com/#/au/en
The PFE’s were honoured (well, more than honoured actually – totally in awe and shock and in absolute delight) to be part of the invitees chosen for the official launch of the Nespresso Boutique right here in Perth!
I have to say when I first received the email from one of the fine people, I was wondering, “what is this?”… and when I read further, I realised, “wow! awesome!” It is not very often that we do get invited to such events, so I was personally really excited.
As the date approached, we received the actual invite in the mail, and wow. It was absolutely grand. It almost felt like we were celebrities. The feeling was totally awesome to say the least. (:
But enough of that! Let’s get on to the actual deal.
The date was 6th December 2012, 6.30pm.
Upon arriving, I saw a queue of people outside (I was early), and everyone was dressed up so very nicely. Being the sloppy person that I usually am (unless I know that I have to make the effort to dress up!)… I was there in my work clothes, and saw every other lady dressed so prettily with their cocktail dresses, and high heel shoes. Felt rather under-dressed to say the least! But tis okay, my partner in crime, Miss L came along, and so onward we went to join the queue!
It wasn’t long before we were greeted by a Nespresso staff member, who took our names down, and when we entered, the first word that really came to mind “WOW”. Colours, sophistication, elegance, inviting, lovely.
On the left as you entered, you would see the pod variety Nespresso had to offer, stacked up nicely in their various colours… and really, what I found, was that I never did realise the range they had with their coffee! And whoever thought to use those bright and striking colours, K.U.D.O.S!
On the right hand side, one would see interesting little ‘sections’ of the boutique, one of them, the “Discovery Wall”. Pretty aptly named, considering they featured all (I would think?) their Nespresso machines, old and new.
Now, although I do not own one, I will say that I will own one in the near-ish future! Promise! (:
Of course, the good fun doesn’t stop here.
The other sections include a “Recycle” station, “The Club Room”, “The Collection Wall (?)”.
It really wasn’t long before I realised we were in the presence of true celebrities… borrowing the excellent knowledge of a fellow food blogger we met that night, the celebrities who attended this evening were Basil Zemplias , Josh Catalano, Alissandra Moone, Patti Chong, Herb Faust, Rick Hart, as well as Daniela Pitone and Stefania Muscara.
Along with these celebrities, food bloggers who were present included the infamous food pornographer (I am personally a fan!), Simon Says Eat, Foodie Cravings, Perth Munchkin (sorry we didn’t get to talk much at all!) and Libertine Eats (it was actually M who came along to say hi to us first and later introduced us to the other great bloggers, so thank you!).
We saw quite a number of people being served with some Veuve Clicquot champagne, so there was no stopping me (naturally) of getting a glass myself… which really did end up being about 4 glasses worth, because of their generosity in coming over to us time and time again offering more of that bubbly. It was lovely.
It wasn’t before long that canape’s started popping out from every corner, and once again tapping the knowledge of our fellow blogger (foodie cravings), the catering came from Comestibles. There was a range of items from pumpkin, to duck, mushrooms (my personal favourite!), mini quiche (also a favourite!), and then to dessert that had mini meringues, lovely smooth chocolate flowing from the trays of the extremely friendly wait staff. It was a joy, really. They took the time to explain the name of each canape with such friendliness – truly commendable!
If you dream of having a boutique like Nespresso someday as well, online colleges have culinary arts classes
Not to forget, there were also beautiful cocktails towards the end of the night… Cherry cocktail that came with a nice coffee/chocolate stick, and of course, how can there be a Nespresso boutique opening, without the appropriate espresso martini! (: That was certainly the highlight for our fellow blogger Simon Says Eat because as he was talking to me, he saw the waitress come by with a fresh tray of espresso martini’s, and he immediately excused himself to grab another glass whilst we were in the middle of a conversation! But we’re food bloggers. We understand. (:
Enough blabber. Feast your eyes for now.
During the food service, we were also approached by one of the friendly staff to ask us if we were enjoying ourselves, and where we came from (i.e. we were food bloggers), and chatting along, we were then offered a Nespresso of our choice. Being silly and forgetting that it was about 7.30pm at night by then, I decided to order the strongest one they had to offer. Miss L had one with moderate strength.
We were served with the infamous Nespresso glasses. Lovely.
With that lovely food (and coffee), we were greeted by Renaud Tinei, the General Manager of Nespresso Oceania after a bit of mingling and a getting-to-know session with the fellow bloggers.
A great man with a good sense of humour, he told us how great it is to have a boutique opening in Perth, and I couldn’t agree more.
He explained the great indigenous artwork created from Nespresso pods, wonderfully cased and beautifully presented on your left as you enter the boutique. The artwork is credited to the Jumbana Group, with all proceeds from this installation goes to the Indi Kindi, a group project by Jumba.
Before he ended the speech, he introduced the WA Aboriginal Dance Company who presented us with some great dancing and music.
This was certainly a wonderful experience, and it was even better meeting fellow food bloggers because there was this innate common ground with them that can be characterised by two things – camera, and the ability to talk about food for about 80% of the conversation!
I would certainly be urging those who haven’t gone to the boutique to pop in for a peek because it truly is a work of art, and whether you already own a machine of your own, or have one in the office where you can buy your own pods and utilise the machine, this place is worth the visit, just because it is well laid out!
I would personally be getting my Nespresso machine in the near future, and am excited about the variety of coffees I can have!
And to end this little narration, the combination of the strong Nespresso, espresso martini, cherry cocktail and Veuve proved to be rather whack. I ended up sleeping 2 hours, wake up for another 2, then sleeping for the final 3 hours before I had to drag myself out of bed the next day to continue my engineering profession!
A special thanks to Nespresso for inviting us, and a special shout out to those fellow bloggers whom we met, we are looking forward to a food bloggers’ meal!
Narration by: S.T. (a.k.a Miss Egg)
As good, quick and reasonably priced places for lunch is not common in the East Perth area where I work, I’m always on the look out for cafes/restaurants to visit. I walked into our office kitchen one day and spied my colleague eating a nice looking chicken bulgogi (marinated and bbqed) lunch set. I pounced on him and enquired about his lunch – it was korean, tasted good and was only $10 came the reply. That was enough to set me off on a lunch quest to try the place out.
What do YOU say?