Newtown may or may not be a bit shit, but their right-on coffee company People’s Coffee (sorry, I couldn’t resist adding the apostrophe) certainly know their shit. Their presence in central Wellington is expanding, and two recently-opened cafés proudly stock the People’s brand: Meow and Mon Ami.
Meow has taken over the space of the former (and much lamented) Roti, next to Quoil in Willis St. The decor’s only had a mild makeover, but the retro kitschy kiwiana theme is pretty consistent, with the usual Tretchikoffesque prints, orange lampshades and ’70s TV augmented by some nice chunky crockery. I haven’t eaten there yet, but the brunch menu included some interesting variations on the standards, such as pinenut & saffron scrambled eggs, cashew & cranberry rosti with haloumi and rocket, and all sorts of things with "wild" bacon.
In Bond St, a French café called Mon Ami has also recently opened. It’s interesting that while many French places in downtown Wellington emphasise the stylish urban theme (e.g. Simply Paris, Le Metropolitain), Mon Ami is full of outdoorsy magazines, and their website goes on about "tramping, sailing, kayaking, biking, paraglyding". The decor manages to look both rustic and sterile at the same time, but even if that’s not your thing, dishes such as rabbit terrine and roquefort & sultana loaf (at reasonable lunchtime prices) should be enough to tempt you in.
Often with the Wellingtonista we tell you things. Today, however, we’re asking for things. Specifically:
1. Swag: Wellington is going to be having its first Girl Geek dinner, and I’m putting together Swag Bags – if you have something you’d like to put in around 50 bags for 50 technologically-minded and intelligent women, please get in touch – johubris @ gmail.com.
2. Contra: Last night lots of us attended a Bloggers’ Meet-Up, and the awesome Epic Beer came up with some lubrication to get us started. The Wellingtonista absolutely would be very very keen on doing this sort of thing more often. We’re working on our guidelines, and templates to allow space for brand exposure, but this is just a heads up: if you offer good products or services, and want to reach our smart readers who like disposing of their incomes, we would like to work with you, so get in touch.
Who (or what) is The Masked Barfly? Maybe the primly pinstriped connoisseur sipping Viognier at Arbitrageur? The earnest beer geek debating Saaz hops and top-fermented ales at Bar Edward? What about the tight-panted hipster knocking back deeply ironic cask wine at Mighty Mighty? Or perhaps all of the above and more?
We at the Wellingtonista have never been shy about our love for the delicious demon drink, but now we can introduce to you our newest and most disreputable writer: The Masked Barfly. She, he or it (it’s hard to tell with invertebrates, especially when they are inveterate inebriates) will be brought in as a specialist correspondent to bring you the latest hospitality news, the hottest drinking tips and the most salacious gossip that the libel laws will allow.
The fly has eclectic tastes, so expect everything from decadent new cocktails to cheep beer nights, with even the odd morsel of food and coffee info thrown in. It will be buzzing around the city, bringing the news on boozing in the ‘burbs as well as the fleshpots of Courtenay & Cuba. And of course if you have tips to share, or vile unsubstantiated rumours to spread, send them our way and we’ll make sure it gets to our new correspondent.
Spinning the platters that matter on VBC from 7 to 9 tonight on behalf of the Wellingtonista will be… Dan S.
Hardy souls happy to be enraged or enlightened by some blasts from the past (many tunes will be conjured from actual vinyl artifacts) can tune in on 88.3FM or by visiting http://www.vbc.org.nz/ where they will stream the content direct to your PC speakers. I’ll try and make a recording of the show for podcast conversion but, in the likely event I am consumed by panic, I make no guarantees.
Stephen’s intro to version 2.0 still applies:
The show will go from 7 – 9 pm, NZDT (GMT+13). The studio line is +64 4 463 9994 if you feel like ringing up and abusing/encouraging me.
Last week saw the quiet but confident debut of the Wellingtonista Radio Show on The VBC. You can listen to an edited version of the show here Wellingtonista_Show_EP01 (right-click, save as), and hopefully we’ll get our podcasting steez together and start publishing the shows as umm.. podcasts.
I’ll be presenting the second show, same time: 7pm – 9pm, tonight.
Tech info after the jump…
The Wellingtonista has a calendar of events that we think you really REALLY want to know about. We also know that you want this vital information delivered into your own calendar – easy peasy, just follow the instructions after the break …
Just a wee heads up: I’ll be presenting the very first Wellingtonista Radio Show on The VBC tonight. The VBC is the student owned and operated/community LPFM radio station broadcasting on 88.3FM, based at the Kelburn Campus of Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand.
So, 2007 has pretty much kicked some ass, and sucked some ass, but let’s concentrate on the goodness.
In 2007, the Wellingtonista:
Yay for us! What are your predictions for 2008?
Ahem.
Hi. I’m new. I’ve been recently invited to write for this fabulous website, so here’s hoping I don’t make a complete dick of myself in my first post.
Introducing yourself to hundreds, possibly thousands of readers is a tough one to pull off. Even though I’m a writer by trade – a features journo for the Dominion Post – I figure who needs actual sentences when summing yourself up is best done by a list:
Things I like:
– Craft
– French food
– Red things.
Things I may post about in the future:
– Why bus drivers have PMT at the moment
– The chronic shortage of decent maternity wear in this city
– Suburban cat politics
– Best hairstyles for windy weather
– Why living in a cul-de-sac is the coolest thing since red shiny shorts in the 1970s.
I usually have a home at Special K where I make lists, talk about my cat, ponder my gradually expanding body, and wax lyrical about the people I meet through my awesome job. Hopefully, what I write on here will be much, much more interesting.
Look forward to meeting y’all. K
I’ve avoided it as long as I can but I’m going to have to start laying into the Wellington buses. This will serve two purposes — to gather a weight of evidence with which to construct a platform from which I can launch a series of more formal remonstrances; and possibly more importantly, to make me feel better.
I have begun a journal of woe — chronicling my problems and frustrations — and you can join in too, if you want.