Bubble tea chain Chatime rolls out risque campaign
A new campaign promoting bubble tea has Sydneysiders doing double takes with risque double entendres adorning buses, bus stops and billboards and organisers say it’s meant to be taken out of context.
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Sometimes marketing campaigns plain suck, but this isn’t one of them.
Bubble tea giant Chatime has rolled out a “ballsy” marketing campaign that has had Sydney-siders doing double takes at the heady double entendres adorning buses and bus stops.
The billboards usually start with “My First (Cha) Time” at the top, before getting straight into a saucy statement above a grinning bubble tea enthusiast who appears to be definitely in on the joke.
Current slogans include:
My First (Cha) Time …
● “I closed my eyes and sucked”;
● “I didn’t know my cup size”;
● “Was at the back of a bus”;
● “I only wanted their peach” (with a bottom-shaped peach emoji);
Past slogans have included:
● “Was in a back alley in Taiwan”;
● “Was with my cousin”; and, probably the sauciest confession of the lot …
● “The balls felt funny in my mouth”.
Marketing head Tim Paton said the campaign was born through introducing “first-timers” to bubble tea.
“We wanted to tap into the playfulness of our products in a gently provocative way to drive awareness and convert people to try Chatime for the first time,” he said.
In an age when you can’t say anything without it being taken out of context, it’s fun to see a campaign that is completely about being taken out of context.
THIS HALLOWEEN, IT’S TRICK OR SOME REAL TREATS
There’s no doubt today will be a tricky time for Halloween haters but these handmade and hauntingly delicious chocolates are something everybody can get on board with.
For the first time in 11 years, Essenze Chocolate at Caringbah has embraced the traditionally American celebrations on October 31 by crafting a range of sumptuous spooky treats — such as bloody eyeballs, coffins, jack-o’lanterns and skulls — which sweet-toothed locals are snapping up.
Having forged a reputation for their intricate creations, Essenze’s Maria Vitelli and chocolatiers Vincenzo Morgia and Elizabeth Cavallaro decided to take things to a supernatural new level this year.
Hollow pumpkins, ghosts and skulls filled with handmade freckles are a particular favourite for kiddies to smash open and find the treasure inside.
Although their creations take plenty of time and artistry, Mr Morgia says even Mum and Dad can attempt something similar at home for Halloween.
“I use a mould that you can get online or at the supermarket for a lot of the Halloween chocolates, it’s not too hard,” he said.
“Even though it can be a bit messy, we don’t want to be too fancy — people can attempt this sort of thing at home.”
Their ghoulish creations failed to scare four-year-old regular Tyler Pitman, who gobbled up her treats in record time.
$53M HUB TO RAISE THE ROOF AT MT DRUITT
Mt Druitt is about to take the west’s hospitality stakes to new heights, with plans for a $53 million, 11-venue rooftop mega-precinct.
Scentre Group has invested the big bucks into upgrading Westfield Mt Druitt Westfield, aiming to usher in a whole new era in Western Sydney entertainment.
Covering 6500 sqm — just less than the size of an NRL field — the new precinct will be home to 11 new eateries, a “large scale entertainment offering”, indoor and outdoor green spaces, a children’s play area and a stage for live entertainment.
The shopping centre carpark will also be upgraded to compensate for the additional traffic.
The plan has been approved by Blacktown City Council and construction will begin by the end of the year, with completion tipped for the end of 2020.
Scentre Group director of development Stewart White said the investment was not just financial, it was an investment in Western Sydney.
“More than just a place to dine, this will be a true leisure destination,” he said.
“Customers can see a film, enjoy a meal or simply relax in the sunshine in a curated space that has been purposefully designed to suit their needs.”
The Mt Druitt upgrade is just one of Scentre Group’s investments across Western Sydney.
Currently a development application is in with council for a $93 million redevelopment of Westfield Liverpool, including an eight-storey commercial tower and a dining, leisure and entertainment precinct, and a $10 million upgrade of Westfield Penrith is also in the works.
The investments largely reflect projections that more than half of Sydney’s population will live in Greater Western Sydney by 2036.
Tenants of the 11 rooftop venues will be announced further down the track.
OSTERIA’S STAR DINERS
Veteran restaurateur Maurice Terzini’s new Bondi restaurant CicciaBella has won plenty of fans since opening earlier this month, including comedy star Chris Lilley.
The Summer Heights High creator was spotted dining in the modern osteria with a familiar face — his ex-girlfriend Milly Gattegno, half of DJ duo The Faders.
The two dated for several years and lived together in Melbourne, and they remain the best of friends since their split.
FIRST PACIFIC CLUB CREDITORS’ MEETING
The first creditors meeting for embattled Pacific Club Bondi Beach will take place today, after the company entered voluntary administration last week after a year of business.
After today, administrator Hogan Sprowles will have an idea of whether the restaurant will enter liquidation, how many creditors are owed and how much.
Going into administration was a shock considering owners Matt Williams (above) and international casino boss Frederic Luvisutto splashed $2 million on opening the Campbell Pde haunt, enlisting top tier fit-out, kitchen and bar staff. Unfortunately it appears they weren’t able to capture the Bondi crowd.
Mr Williams also co-owns Coopers Hotel Newtown, which he bought into earlier this year for $13.5 million.
THE MOUTH: FIND ANY EXCUSE TO ENJOY THIS DAILY BREAD
Across the Pacific in the US state of Oregon, there is a city so left-wing it makes Venezuela look like Thatcher’s Britain. It is a place that is to dopey ideas what Detroit once was to automobiles, an engine room that produces wokeness by the boatload and ships it out to every corner of the Earth. And sometimes, these ideas even show up in the kitchen.
Take “cultural appropriation”, which is the idea that when it comes to food, you’d better stay in your lane and only cook, eat and, in particular, sell what your ancestors did. This idiocy made headlines when a couple of local white girls opened a burrito cart and were accused of victimising every grandma in Tegucigalpa.
So what does this have to do with the proverbial price of tea in China (if we’re still allowed to say that)? Well, simply that here in Sydney we never have that problem. Pretty much everyone comes from somewhere else and no one is, thankfully, too precious about it all.
Yet while it’s easy in this town to find Greeks cooking Italian, Italians cooking Japanese, and Anglos cooking French, Middle Eastern food has always been something of a final frontier.
That is until the opening of Shwarmama, a kebab shop of all things opened up by the team behind Poly and Esther (geddit?), two of the most fun, sophisticated, and delicious restaurants in Sydney.
Sitting in a real hole in the wall in Surry Hills’ Commonwealth St, Shwarmama is all bright and clean and funky — no hotel pans full of toppings or backlit pictures of Iskender kebabs, though there is a wall of souvenir merch available for purchase.
The menu is simple: falafels, shawarmas, a “not halal snack pack” or NHSP, that sort of thing, put together by a team of young, happy hipsters with man-buns and a serious vinyl collector vibe. When The Mouth visits, the protein on the spit is chicken, though apparently some days it is lamb.
“Are you OK with spice?” is the question when an order is placed for the eponymous shawarma, but the thing still comes very light-on in the punchiness department (a good squirt of harissa cures this).
The real draw is the laffa bread, which whether it is being made on-site or acquired elsewhere tastes like it could have come out of a bakery in the back blocks of Damascus. It comes wrapped around all the usual fillings but feels a little bit restrained — as if trying to stick too closely to its backer’s finer-dining pedigree, or be eaten without spilling on your vintage tee.
That said, there’s something really addictive about it, and The Mouth is looking for an excuse to drop by early for a breakfast “sabich” at the next opportunity.
Hopefully he won’t have to shoulder his way through any cultural appropriation protesters.
Shwarmama
Shop 2, 106-112 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills
CREDIT CARDS: MC, Visa
VEG OPTIONS: If you like falafel
HOURS: M-F 8am-3:30pm, 5pm-10pm, weekends 10-10
NOISE LEVEL: Vintage record store
PROS: That bread!
CONS: If you ask about spice, give us spice
Originally published as Bubble tea chain Chatime rolls out risque campaign
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