Welcome to our first post and our first milkshake review. Let’s not muck about and get straight into it.
Our first milkshake was purchased in Midnight Espresso, one of the many cafés on Wellington’s Cuba Street. For those of you unfamiliar with the charms of Midnight Espresso it was one of the first “Wellington Cafés” and is reliably consistent – pretty decent counter food with an emphasis on to. Chattels include slightly ramshackle furniture, a pinball machine, and staff who could best be described as idiosyncratic. On the day we visited we couldn’t help but notice the dub music was played too loud. This is not uncommon (albeit it’s usually lite-metal) at ME and long, bitter experience shows that requests to turn it down are usually ignored.
Right, on to the milkshake.
We thought we’d start off with a bang and present the best milkshake we sampled during the 07/08 summer period. The ’shake was not too thick, it had body, but could not in any way be described as a thickshake; this is very good. As we post further reviews you’ll perhaps gape and gasp at the amount of establishments who can’t tell the difference between a thickshake and a milkshake. One is thick, one is not. If gorillas can grasp the basics of sign language, then surely, you’d think, food providers could at least appreciate the distinction. Alas, this is not the case. Prepare yourself for more tales of woe in the coming months. Midnight Espresso got it right and for that they are to be commended.
The ’shake was not too syrupy, yet it had a strong taste that did not overpower the palate. A successful meander across a knife blade there then.
It was prepared and served in a metal vessel. Thumbs up there (however it would have been two if served in The Longest Drink In Town cup). (actually, I disagree on this point. Serving it in a metal cup means it keeps colder for longer, as well being a bit more zero-waste; so two thumbs up from me on this one – bronwyn) (well, excuse me, but you were too busy bidding on a cellphone on trademe to come and help me with this review, so as far as I’m concerned you’ve forfeited your posting rights -José) (That’s hard work dammit. I had to see off three other bidders and a price rise of $20 to get that phone – bronwyn).
Very quick service which was appreciated, particularly as the place had a decent amount of people reading their socialist broadsheets. Unfortunately we have to report that it was inconsistent. We both ordered two chocolate ’shakes, but were puzzled to find one was frothier than the other. We suspect they made one and let it sit while they made the other. No biggie, but something to be aware of should you walk through the doors.
Overall, we were very pleased with the experience.
Bronwyn gave Midnight Espresso a nine out of ten.
I dropped back one point to bestow an eight out of ten. I’m afraid I took the difference in ’shakes more seriously than my colleague, but I think you’ll find that a Midnight Espresso milkshake is worth your time.
