Butler's Chocolate Cafe

Well it was a Saturday night. I think it was Sharon’s turn to cook, Sharon thinks it was mine. Either was we said what the hell, lets go eat some Malaysian grub. Isobel had mentioned to Sharon that the Malaysian food in Welly was really good.

So it was out with the Lonely Planet and their review of the local restaurants. The first restaurant on the list was a place called Kopi and coincidently the only Malaysian restaurant in the list. The review read “ Kopi is constantly voted the city’s best Malaysian eatery, the crowds attesting to its popularity.” High praise we thought and decided to look no further.

We were hoping to head to see Ricky Boyd and the Boom Shack Band afterwards, another Isobel recommendation, so we said we better give the Bodega a call to see what time the gig was starting. The friendly Kiwi at the other end informed me that the band we warming up and asked me to hang on while he found out…..sound of drums……chatting……finally he returned, “they reckon about 10-10.30.” Great I thought and asked if there was a cover charge. The Kiwi confirmed there was and said he would ask the band how much…..sound of more drums….a bit of guitar….more chatting….”they haven’t quite decided yet but they reckon about $7 dollars.” Great I replied again and asked if we could buy the tickets “at the door.” The Kiwi hesitated for a moment and suggested that we should “make sure to come inside the door” the phrase “at the door” not commonly used in NZ it would seem.

Armed as we were with the info from the Bodega we said we would book the Kopi for about 8 pm. We have had mixed experiences with Lonely Planet books and in particular Lonely Planet Hong Kong. You would think a book specifically about a single city would be up to date but not once, not twice but three times we ended up staring at a Pizza Hut or a run down hovel where a nice restaurant should have been.

Anyway, suffice it to say that, our instinct served us well and after trying to ring several times I decided to walk down to the restaurant, No. 103 Willis St., about a fifteen walk from our hotel.

What has this got to do with Butlers Irish Chocolates? Well coincidently my parents, a few days ago, had mentioned that there was an Irish newspaper article about an ex pat who was setting up a Butler’s Chocolate Franchise in Welly. I told them it was about fifteen minutes from where we were living and we passed it quite often! By now I’m sure most of you have got the picture, but if not, take a look at the photograph of No. 103 Willis St. below where our lovely Malaysian restaurant should have been. Another update required in the Lonely Planet guide it would seem and a small victory for the Irish food industry over the “competition.”



Ireland 1 Malaysia 0.

If you’re lucky they have done an exchange and now at the top of Grafton St. there’s a fab Malaysian restaurant just waiting to satisfy your appetite!

Cathal

Let's make love and listen to death from above.

This post was meant to be a rare Sharon post more commonly found on the Clickety Knits blog. Unfortunately due to a growing number of “WIP’s” (she’s found a yarn shop and is busy knitting) Sharon has not been able to write in our blog for the last few weeks. If you want to see what she has been working on since the beginning of 2007 check out her blog here. It might be worth a look, as there’s a damn cute guy modelling a beanie, if I do say so myself.

Anyway back to the post at hand.

We were watching MTV a few nights ago and there was a section on called “try it you might like it.” They had a Brazilian Band on called Cansei De Ser Sexy or CSS for short. I wrote down the name in a book and went on and on to Sharon about how good the album apparently was and how Tom Dunne was constantly playing one of their songs called “Let’s make love and listen to death from above.”

Anyway a couple of days later, my darling wife went into a local record shop to buy the CD for her devoted husband! Unfortunately they didn’t have any of the CD’s left but asked if Sharon was going to the concert on Sunday! Concert? They’re playing here? Where can I buy the tickets? were the questions that ensued. A serendipitous encounter it would turn out. (How’s that for good word usage Hugh?)

After much looking and asking, Sharon eventually found out where the shop selling the tickets was located. We both went up to “Real Groovy” the following day and purchased the tickets @ $40 a pop. That’s 20 Euros to you! The tickets stated the following. “Doors: 8pm- early show!” Notice the exclamation mark! Here’s a pic of the tickets.

Anyway the guy in the record shop confirmed that the gig was on in the “San Francisco Bath House” on Cuba St. (formerly known as the Indigo Bar) a notoriously difficult place to find as it is literally a door in the street. Here’s a pic of the signage and a few views from across the street.

We were late getting back from the Beach Volley Ball but decided not to rush as concerts rarely start on time in any event. A thought that would turn out to be oh so accurate. We eventually arrived at about 8.15 relieved that the concert had not started and somewhat disappointed at the bad turn out. Two hours later the turn out had improved ten fold and we had had a few promising tuning sessions. Our patience was starting to really wane by the time the warm up band started, a crowd called “So So Modern.” Thankfully like most start up bands they had a short enough set and left the stage promptly at 10.30.

By the time CSS got on stage we were bored to the point of despondency and wondered if we would be able to enjoy the gig. However to be fair to the five girls and one guy they energised the place, and us, within seconds. The lead singer to her credit “gave it socks” and the whole experience was fab. We bought the album at the gig and it’s well worth a listen if you’re open minded and don’t mind the many expletives.

I would go see them again in a heart beat but, maybe next time, a little later than advertised!

Cathal