#shoesnoop | Emma Nicholas-Jennings
Gelato always saves the day. Gelato brings people together. Gelato can lift your mood from zero to hero in less than five seconds. Now imagine being the person who owns the gelateria? Emma Nicholas-Jennings is that person. She saves lives with a daily dose of good cheer that is frozen and sold by the scoop. We call her the gelato doctor.
Emma, alongside her husband Gary, opened their gelateria Miinot in Pascoe Vale South in 2015. Their idea was simple: to offer the finest gelato made from the finest ingredients. After returning from home to Melbourne after a 15-year-stint running restaurants in London, Emma and Gary decided to start their own business. A gelato shop was the obvious choice, Emma’s parents had run them for years, and she always had a passion for food and flavours. This was Emma’s chance to combine the two and unleash her delicate, frozen creations onto others.
Since opening, Miinot has become a local favourite known for gelato that doesn’t just taste good but gelato that tastes really, really good. Emma pairs unlikely flavours together that you might not think of but are happy to learn exist. She suggests trying Miinot’s walnut, salted pistachio and liquorice together for a surprising frozen revelation. Similarly, Emma’s shoe collection pairs the unlikely with the everyday, embracing high end designer finds and classic comfort trainers. On her feet 12-hours a day, we got the shoe scoop from Emma, literally.
What was the first pair of shoes you remember owning as a kid, and why did you love them?
My first pair of shoes that I remember, and still have one of, are my tiny white Swedish clogs. My father took me to the Queen Victoria Market one day and lo and behold one of my clogs fell off! I kept repeating “KOG! KOG!” all around the market in my little pushchair but he didn’t realise until we got home and I only had one shoe on.
What pair of shoes are you still lusting over from childhood?
I am still lusting after my pair of Jean Paul Gaultier red kitten heeled flip flops that I purchased in London at the age of 22 (that feels like childhood to one as old as me!). I wore them to death and threw them out when they finally fell apart. I still ask myself, “Why, Why, Why? Why didn’t I keep them and get them repaired?” One of life’s great regrets!
What do you think your current shoe collection says about you?
My current shoe collection says: Eccentric weirdo lives here.
What is your all time favourite pair of shoes?
My wedding shoes! They were Japanese-inspired, wood block, platform, suede knot shoes by Eley Kishimoto.
The age-old debate: heels or flats?
For years and years only heels! Now that I stand on average 12 hours per day it is flats, mostly trainers.
What has been your biggest splurge on shoes?
Biggest splurge? There have been too many! There have been multiple Miu Miu purchases when I was on a waitress's salary in the ‘90s, which often meant no food for a week. But I looked fab so didn’t care. A recent splurge was a pair of Acne trainers.
Where’s the best place your shoes have taken you?
The best place my shoes have taken me (probably those JPG flip flops) were to the street market in Marseille, Southern France on a regular basis where there used to be a guy selling samples/dead stock from Robert Clergerie and Stephane Kelian. I would make my pilgrimage to him twice a year on holidays!
Be honest, do you keep your shoes in out of the box?
Shoes out of the box!
What type of shoe would you never been seen in?
N.E.V.E.R wear Crocs.
What’s your biggest shoe regret?
No shoe regrets to report. Just buy/hoard everything!
Your verdict on ugg boots out in public, yes or no?
Uggs only to be worn under the cover of darkness.
If you were a pair of shoes what would you look like?
If I were a shoe I would be a traditional, handmade and stitched, leather soled, lovingly made piece of art. Most likely a two-toned tan and white, slip on, brogue.
How many pairs of shoes is too many?
No such thing as too many!
Finish this sentence: Whatever happened to the Old Lady who lived in a shoe…
The Old Lady who lived in a shoe ended up as a 1970s plastic bedside lamp in my childhood bedroom, sold at Camberwell Market six years ago for the princely sum of $15.
To find out more about Emma Nicholas and her amazing gelato visit her for a scoop or seven at Miinot Gelato, 71 Melville Road, Pascoe Vale South, and follow her on Instagram.
Emma chooses habbot’s Prickle to get her from A to B in style and comfort.