10/21/2012

Fresh Provisions (Mount Lawley, Perth WA)

77 Walcott St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9227 6309
http://www.provisions.com.au/
Hours:
    Mon-Sun 7:00 - 22:00

One of my fav suppliers for years, Fresh Provisions is an iconic business in Mount Lawley, where it has been open for + 20 years.

THE POSITIVES
* The Location in the heart of Mount Lawley, with parking on site.
* The long opening hours, perfect for emergencies when the rest of the shops are closed.
* They have a decent selection, and decently priced, of organic produce.
* Their veggie and fruit section has good quality produce.
* Their non-organic pre-packed vegetables, remark pre-packed, are usually good quality and good-priced. They are better quality than the ones you find at IGA and can be even cheaper or the same price.
* Do you want to go bananas without visiting the fruit section? Easy, FP is a perfect place to bring your inner banana out: chocolates, cheeses, gourmet pastas, WA hand-made stuff, International favourites, packaged sweets, packaged barista coffee, gourmet breads (New Norcia's, Lawley's among other other bakeries), cured sausages... the list of gourmet temptations is endless.
* They sell frozen berries and mango, Kale and some unusual veggies. 
* They sell flowers.
* They pack their sweets, cakes, pies, and takeaways properly, so you get them home in a decent state.
* My experience with the staff has been good 99% of the times. Sometimes the guys are a bit tired and sleepy-ish, like on another planet, but many of them are students earning a few bucks, and we have to be understanding. Still, they are always polite, courteous and eager to serve.
* Cash out lines move fast. If a line is forming, they immediately call more people to the cash out area. 
* The Place is  clean and well kept.

THE GO-LUCKY
* Sweets, Cakes, pies and cold salads in the cabinets. Some of them are really good and gourmet, and others are greasy, bland and tasteless. Good luck with your choices!
* Ditto re their hot take-away food.

THE SO-SO
* Their frozen shelves are just OK.
* At times, their mesclun salad looks a bit "mushy" despite the water sprinklers.

THE NEGATIVES
* Their main sin is that most things are expensive or overpriced. We can justify the price of the gourmet thingies, but not of most staples, which are cheaper elsewhere; that even includes chocolates :O.
* They have a small and poor meat section, which does look ugly, not especially appealing to the carnivore in me.
* They sell their hot food by the weight. If you have a normal-size stomach you are thinking about 250 grams per person, and you are going to pay a lot for your take-away meal. More than you would be paying if you visited one of the cheap restaurants on Beaufort St. The cheap stuff, like roasted chicken, hot pies, etc. can be found cheaper elsewhere. 

TIPS
Go for your Sushi takeaway to Yuzu next door. It is way better.
Go to the supermarket across the street for your staples, and for basic hot food like roasted chicken, pork, beef  an roasted veggies.
Go to the Asian veggie grocer for your mesclun and basic veggies.
Go to Antonio's for your continental Italian, Spanish and Mediterranean Gourmet food and antipasti.

Tayha Designs (Mt Lawley, Perth WA)

Shop 4, Astor Arcade
665 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley WA 6050
(08) 9371 6566
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm

Tayha Designs is a tiny rocket pocket of a jewellery, selling only Western Australian jewels (designed and made in WA by Western Australian designers). It is located at the bottom end of the Astor Arcade, in Mount Lawley. I have passed thousands times by this shop, always sticking my nose to their shop window and telling myself that next time I am going to come in. And here I am to comment on my experience.  

Tayha sells solid silver and pearl designs made by the in-house jeweller Taryn Compagnoni, and by other local artists: Tamara Dixon, Amanda Hasenkam, Elizabeth Hesler, Kate McGregor. Roland Laval, Irvine Hay and Gillian Cordiner. The styles are varied, from the edgy, cool, creative, high design, or classic.
The do not only sell jewellery. They offer much more:
1/ They repair and clean your jewellery.
2/ They will melt your old stuff if you don't like it and turn it into whatever you want: earrings, necklace, ring. Anything.
3/ They will make come true any design that pops up in your head, wedding rings included.
4/ They will reproduce any drawing, mostly simple, you happen to like and turn it into a pendant.
5/ The shop has a workshop inside, where the in-house jeweller works, so they can adjust anything you buy on the spot.

Prices go from moderate to very expensive. Still, you can find unique earrings for 60-70 dollars. They rarely make sales or discounts, which is a pity and a bit inexcusable.

The quality of the silver, pearls and of the design is very good. The earrings I bought from them have caught the attention of many people already and they ask me if I bought them in Europe. No, in WA!

Customer service is excellent, by both the shop attendant and the young lady who happens to be the jeweller.

If you are the lazy kind, you can shop through their online shop, but as it always happens in these cases, what they offer online and in the shop is never the same or look the same.

The place looks posh from the outside, and a bit intimidating for your wallet, but the ladies inside will show and let you try anything you want, even if you tell them you are not going to buy anything. That is cool.

10/20/2012

"Gattaca" by Andrew Niccol (1997)

An elegant retro-futuristic science-fiction film that explores the ethical and social dangers of eugenics. The title Gattaca comes from the initials of the four essential chemicals of the DNA: GTCA.

Gattaca is the story of Vincent, who was conceived the natural way and born with a heart defect in a world that gives social and professional prominence to genetically-perfect humans. Vincent's dream of entering Gattaca -a futuristic NASA- is impossible due to his genetics so he will try to trick the system with the help of crippled but genetic-master-piece Jerome.

Gattaca is set in a retro-future that uses the elements of both noir films and science fiction to offer an allegory on the superiority of willpower and strength of the human spirit over genetic perfection to overcome difficulties and pursue your dreams. Gattaca is also a story about the need of the individuals to remain such, with their virtues and defects, to avoid creating meaningless amorphous societies based on measurements.

A world like Gattaca is not only possible - it is already happening. When the movie was shot, the mapping of the Human Genome was still an unfinished project, and many of the scientific developments that are now a reality were unknown or just fiction at the time. However, the film explores with philosophical depth and creative inventive the possible effects of human genetic selection and improvement. In fact, it posed (and poses) questions that we are already asking ourselves, +10 years later, regarding genetics and its use in medicine and conception. Where is the limit? What is ethical? What is sensible? Does genetic perfection equal personal achievement?

Visually speaking, the film has a terrific cinematography, with a great photo framing, great hues, and a 1950s-60s ambience, architecture, interiors, and wardrobe. Minimal clean lines and metallic textures create a sophisticated atmosphere and mood. The music by Michael Nyman is subtly enveloping, very classy, and creates a perfect mood for the film. Gattica's style is still modern and chic despite the pass of time. 

The acting is good, especially by Jude Law as the sarcastic heavy-drinker good-natured Jerome, and Ethan Hawke as dreamer calculating impostor Vincent. Alan Arkin is very classy as Detective Hugo. Umma Thurman is OK as the shy, clever and elegant Irene; she and Hawke had a great chemistry on camera, which really reaches the viewer. There are cameos by the always terrific Gore Vidal, as Gattaca's director Josef, and Ernest Borgnine, as Gattaca's head janitor Caesar.

On the negative side, the investigation and suspense part of the film is somewhat predictable, there are a few flaws in the storyline, and there are a few lacunas regarding the life of some of the characters that I would have liked developed or hinted.

A sci-fic suspenseful film that will both entertain you and make your think. A modern classic of the science-fiction

"The Corpse Bride" by Tim Burton & Mike Johnson (2005)

A stop-motion comic-horror-romance musical directed by Tim Burton, which has all the elements and icons of the Burton's quirky universe.

The movie tells the story of Victor (Johnny Depp), who is in love with shy sensitive Victoria (Emily Watson) and finds himself married to the lonely Emily the Corpse Bride (Elena Bonham Carter) due to the release of an old spell. He'll have to find the way to leave the underworld and his unwanted dead wife, and return to the real world to marry sweet Victoria.

The movie mixes the moods of the classic Charles Dickens's novels and the 18th-19th century horror stories, and it is sprinkled with a great sense of humour and lots of winks to the adult viewer. 

The colours and backgrounds are beautiful, with a mix of the dark bright colours and precious quirky design that characterises Burton's world.

The characters are physically well designed, his personalities well-constructed and brought to live, and they are very witty and charming with the very charming old English and Scottish accents. The dubbing is excellent and helps the characters to come to live; you won't recognise the famous actors behind the characters, which says a lot about the good job they did at dubbing them.

The musical numbers are brilliant, hilarious sometimes.

The Corpse Bride is a very entertaining engaging animation movie for both adults and youngsters (not for kids, unless properly supervised) - Very sweet and funny despite the title. A classic of the stop-motion animation, perfect for the approaching Halloween.

10/17/2012

Source Foods Café (Perth WA)

289 Beaufort St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 6468 7100
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Thu - 7:30 - 15:00
    Fri - 7:30 - 21:30
    Sat-Sun - 8:30 - 16:00

Source Foods Cafe on Urbanspoon Source foods is a nice simple café located at the corner between Brisbane and Beaufort St, which offers burgers, salads and simple dishes made using fresh produce. They have an emphasis on vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, organic, and free range food, and affordability. 

 THE PLACE
The café is very simple and small, cozy and welcoming, very quiet, and seems to attract a varied group of quiet interesting people. The place being so small, it is never crowded. Despite the austerity and 1970s vibe, the place has cute decoration elements, and the ambience is luminous and relaxed with a nice background music. They have some of the nicest cutest blackboards in town, painted by one of the lovely waitresses. Their toilets are simple but clean. 



THE FOOD
They have a good selection of burgers (normal, gluten free and vegan), salads, tarts and other simple dishes cooked in the premises. They have a Burger night on Fridays with more than ten different burgers starting from 5.30pm.

Everything I have tried at Source -salads, burgers and sweets- is good in taste and portion size. The  problem I have with their burgers is that they are too big, or better said, the bun is too small to contain all the stuff between its two halves, so it is practically impossible to eat a burger as it should be - with your bare hands without the food slipping out of it. If you have a big mouth and the burger fits in, well, good on you!

They have a small cabinet with sweets, but they do not bake on weekends, so you are going to find what is left over from the week (or so I am been told by the waitress), which is sometimes a poor meagre selection of sweets. I tried the brown rum balls, and they tasted really nice, but were very dry.  

THE COFFEE
Source uses prepares a decent coffee using Antz inya Pantz coffee, a brand that imports the beans and roasts them locally, so they are delivered to the shop in 48 hours. This means that no flavour is lost in the process and the coffee is really fresh. That sounds good. However, the beans are not especially flavoursome or strong if you are into Italian coffees or full-body strong coffee; however, their coffee is perfect for people who like light very smooth coffees with a chocolate-ish sort of taste. If you do not want the ants walking on your tongue, Source's Elmstock teas, smoothies and fresh juices are a great alternative.

 
THE SERVICE
The staff are terrific - a very approachable chatty friendly genuine group of people. They do not have the hype factor, and focus on doing their job and being themselves without any pose or pretence. Re-Source-full people.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
+ They have to figure out the way to have an awesome full burger that can be handled manually. Perhaps they need a bigger pattie, or put less stuff inside :O.

+ Guys, do not over-grill the chicken because it rests juiciness and tenderness to the salads. 

+ They would make a favour to themselves if they baked some desserts in advance for the weekend. Otherwise, it would be great having some easy-to-make-in-the-morning sweets that you serve during the day. Like cream caramel, rice pudding or whatever you want.

TIPS
+ They are serving coffee now from 6am during weekdays.

+ They cater for private functions.

+ They have regular food and coffee specials and offers. Check their website and facebook site to get them.

 +++
Source Café is one of those unpretentious places that caters for people who like healthy food, good portions, decent prices, a chilled relaxed atmosphere and terrific service sans le hype. My kind of place. 

Location: 6/10
Layout: 6.5/10
Ambience 6.5/10
Food: 7/10
Coffee: 6.5/10
Service: 9/10
Pricing: 8/10

10/11/2012

Llama Espresso (Perth WA)

Shop H17 Carillon City
Hay St Level
Perth City Western Australia 6000
0423 153 197
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Hours:
    Mon-Fri 6:30 - 15:00

Pop Up, pop Up, another Café has just popped up in the heart of the CBD, in the Carillon Ctiy, in a temporary shop facing Mazzuchelli's, where they are going to stay for a few months.

Llama Espresso is a very pretty shop, with lovely decoration details and colourful llama paintings by the RedTiki designing team. The place being so small, and the seating area limited to a big common table an four chairs, the place is always quiet. There are plenty of people entering for a take-away, but not many choosing to stay in, which is perfect if you are looking for quietness and an escape-the-world moment in the heart of the city.  

The most important thing is that their coffee is well prepared, good in flavour, and medium strength. Good enough to bring me back. They use fair trade organic coffee beans that are locally roasted by an artisan Perth house called Rubra. They also have a good selection of teas from the same brand, and an eye-catching selection of gluten-free cupcakes, muffins and sweet breads by Catering Green. The cupcakes are really really sweet, not my cup of tea, but perfect for sweetoholics.

The ladies attending to the place are lovely, relaxed and very friendly to  everybody. 

 There is something especial about Llama Espresso, perhaps the colours, the quietness and not being that popular. Or perhaps the fact that I like it :O. 

UPDATE 25/02/2013
 Llama Espresso is already settled in its new location within Carillon City on the Murray St level, instead of the shop on the Hay St level.

The place has lost a bit of the charm and special something it used to have, and has transformed into a small coffee corner. Although there are a few stools and a walled table, and the llama motif is everywhere, the place is mostly for takeaways and quick munches.

On the contrary, the food and drink offer has greatly improved, and together with their nice coffee, they have now yummy crushed ice coffee and tea, a nice selection of soft drinks, juices, sandwiches, rolls, wraps, pannini, salads, and winter soups.

The place is still gluten free friendly.

10/09/2012

Boticca (Online Shop, UK, USA)-REBRANDED

My fashion motto is "Who wants to wear vintage when you can wear the future?"  Then I found Boticca, and she told me "I'd rather wear a unique story" and the friendship was born.

Boticca's motto conveys well the spirit and philosophy of this chic, independent and artistic-oriented market-inspired website that sells unique accessories from emerging International designers.


What Do they Sell?
Boticca has a great selection of unusual creative jewels, handbags and accessories: quirky, daring, shocking, odd, artsy, sophisticated and timeless depending on the pieces.They have an stress on ethnicity and world-wide design, so you can get things from Sudafrica, Lithuania, UAE, Venezuela, Israel, France or USA, just to put mention some countries from where the stuff comes from.

The quality of the pieces and designs is good, classy and edgy. The articles on sale are sold in very limited quantities (1-10 pieces usually) so there are many chances that you get something unique or unique-ish. 

Generally speaking, most pieces are overpriced, although you can find things for 30-40 bucks. There are many things incredibly cheap, but most o them are pricey or expensive. If you are not too carried away by your fashion low passions, wait!


How Does the Place Works?
The place works as a market where the different designers set their stalls and rules. However, they are subject to Boticca's stamp of approval regarding the quality of the design and Customer Service. 

Each designer has different preferences regarding shipping (free or not) and how they ship, which are specified in their personal space; you can always contact them directly for shipping methods, size customisation, ask for out-of-stock items, and any other thing. In "Your Account" area you can easily check the date of order, date of dispatch, find your tracking URL, "received" button, and "leave feedback" button. 

The three items I have bought so far are true to the photo and description of the items on the website, and except for one, they were affordable and good value for money. 




What Makes Boticca Different?
There are similar shopping places on the Internetosphere (new word's alert!!!!), but they sell from well established luxury brands or emerging artists that are chaperoned by the same brands and fashion holdings, not truly independent.

Boticca is in a way, a posh well-groomed Etsy, and shares many things with that vintage and handmade market: internationality, direct contact with the designer, secure-payment, order tracking, clear product details and photos, free customisation, among other things. However, Boticca is more an avant-garde high-design boutique than a handicrafts social-global market. Many designers have accounts both in Boticca and Etsy, but Boticca has a specific market niche and the place is curated by a group of designers, collectors and fashion experts, so it looks and feels different - but it is also way more expensive.

The Dark Side
$$$ As mentioned above, most things are overpriced. In some cases the materials and design justify the prices; however, in most cases they are not justified at all. Sorry, my opinion. Overpricing is a marketing technique I have already mentioned in this blog, so you can get awesome sales when the price is right. This is a global marketing sin, so we have to surf this ocean of nonsense to get to the place we want.

$$$ Many of the items are sent by regular registered mail, so they can take three weeks to get to your place, plus the period required by the designer for customisation if you choose a ring or something sizeable. If you need faster shipping, contact the designer in advance to arrange things differently.  

$$$ They have a small selection of men stuff, but I find it a bit limited and boring. Still, if you are a man, decide by yourself.

$$$ They have a few email notifications options, and they are ticked on by default, so you are going to receive tons of emails from Boticca. They should be unticked by default! They inform of sales, price reductions, new items, and so on, but this is a constant incitation to purchase. Not good for impulsive shoppers and shopaholics!

Tips for Saving
1/ You can get some discount coupons if you invite friends and they join and/or purchase. 

2/ Wait for Boticca's regular free world-wide shipping weekends.

3/ Wait for private sales by the designer of your devotion. Private sales are held on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays; you access to the latter by pushing the "fan" button of each designer you fancy. The sales are regularly scheduled and emailed about, last for 48 hours, and the discounts go from 20-50% and are worth the wait, especially if you are after expensive-ish items. Beware that the sales are not on everything the designer sells, so you could be unlucky and not find what you want discounted.

3/ They give you discount vouchers after your first purchase to use in your next check out. Another invitation to shop, a thing that Boticca does perfectly well.

4/ Sometimes they offer discount vouchers just for joining the site.  

5/ The same item can suffer slight modifications in the price, for reasons that nobody has been able to explain to me. Like, you see a bag one day at X dollars, and next day is 55 more, or vice versa. Sometimes nothing changes, but sometimes it does. I have experienced it myself, so do keep an eye on your prey! 

***
If you want to splurge on unique pieces of jewellery and bags that will not be worn by hundred of women in the city, this is your place to shop from. This is a special need for Perth fashionistas, who have not many high-design places in the city and most of the hand-crafted jewellery is traditional, way too expensive, and mostly branded. To be honest, I think that my fav jewellers in Perth should be selling at Boticca, so the world meets them.
 
Boticca is the sort of secret you do not want to share with your frenemy, because it is way too cool for her, and you could not bear her wearing anything that is very much you. So I am just telling you, not your frenemy. Please, if you buy from Boticca, comment on your experience and the pieces you are buying, so we do not end wearing the same stuff at the Oscars. Mind you?

UPDATE
Boticca was swallowed by Wolf&Badger. It works pretty much the same. But I haven't bought from them since the change.