So when we caught wind of the exciting news about The #PLAYWITHOREO pop-up café coming to The Zone @ Rosebank in Joburg via our blogger friends, we couldn’t help but start organising our visit to the café .
On a chilly Thursday evening after work we met outside the cafe, naturally there was a queue, however, we didn’t let this put us off. The queue moved swiftly as the hostess at the door explained to each group of eager customers how everything inside works.
The café is part of a global campaign built around the concept of play, and features a moving dessert bar bursting with Oreo-inspired treats designed by pâtissier Danielle Postma of Moemas.
From the Instagram posts by Joburg bloggers seen the night before we knew to expect a Cookie conveyor which would offer an impressive menu of desserts, all made with the famous (vegan) cookie, however, when we got inside, we didn’t receive the same experience. There weren’t any popcorn stacks, white chocolate cheesecakes, shortbread sandwiches with magnum ice-cream or cookie-crumb parfaits following one another on the conveyor belt waiting for us to indulge in.
1. They were all sold out.
2. The staff couldn’t keep up with the amount of customers coming into the café – the cafe wasn’t full to capacity.
Perhaps had we gone in the afternoon we would have had a different experience but we’re working girls now so the evening visit was our only option and we definitely could not wait for the weekend.
The friendly staff advised us to order from what they had, we settled for the Oreo Sundae, White Chocolate Fudge and a Cookie Monster cupcake. We waited … and waited… eventually our order was served and it was definitely worth the wait and super Instagrammable, so that was great.
Dessert prices range from R10 to R40 and if you arrive at the cafe on time, you can pick from a selection of popcorn stacks, white chocolate fudge, cookie monster cupcakes, chocolate truffles, cookie-crumb parfait, white chocolate cheesecake, shortbread sandwiches with Magnum ice cream, ice cream sundaes and more. For drinks, you can order everything from cappuccinos to espressos to a crushed Oreo milkshake – and even an old-fashioned glass of milk in which to dunk your cookie.
This is a lovely experience for young children, they can get creative with their Oreo cookies at the decoration station where they can create their own cookie characters with a selection of edible props. For us grown folks, well there’s an Oreo Selfie station with life-size backdrops for the perfect photo opportunity.
A selection of merchandise and memorabilia area also on sale, we definitely need to go back to purchase those Oreo mugs custom-made with a slot at the bottom for your cookies!
The café has been open from 2 April to 3 May 2015. Opening times are Monday to Sunday from 10am to 8pm
Visit the website or Facebook page to find out more about the global campaign, or follow the #PLAYWITHOREO hash tag on Twitter https://twitter.com/Oreo.
