Since Adriano Zumbo first walked into the Masterchef kitchen, grinning that evil grin that says he knows the challenge he’s just put before the contestants is mind-blowingly difficult, Australia has been in love with macarons. They seem to be popping up in bakeries everywhere. Even Copenhagen, an ice cream shop, has twelve different flavours sitting in their front window to tempt you.
Despite the fact that macarons are much more readily available than they ever were previously, I still think it’s a treat to buy them from the man himself. On a previous visit to Sydney, James and I even waited in an hour-and-a-half long queue in front of his Balmain patisserie just for the chance to buy a few.
We all stood there, watching carload after carload of pastries being rushed into the store through the pouring rain. Eventually, we squeezed inside the shop and bought two boxes of macarons — one as a present and one for ourselves. I savoured every bite of the hot cross bun, strawberries and cream, and salted butter caramel flavoured delights.
Since then, I’ve been looking forward to getting to go back, especially since I’d heard that he had a new patisserie in the Star Complex in Pyrmont. I could easily get to the Darling Harbour area, whereas all of his other shops are a much longer trek. Plus, this shop had its own dessert train — think a sushi train, but instead of sashimi and edamame, you get tarte au fruit de la passion and plates of macarons (or zumbarons, as they are called here). Yum!
I finally made it there on the last day of my Blogopolis trip. I had a peek into the pastel-coated dessert train, but my visit to the Lindt Cafe earlier in the morning had left me feeling very full of sweets already and I really didn’t think I could eat four macarons in one sitting (or any of the other sugary treats, for that matter).
I spent a lot longer gawking at all of the amazing creations in the patisserie itself. I was immediately drawn to the back wall of the small shop, which was adorned with twelve brilliantly pink cases. Each displayed a different flavour of macaron.
The chocolate donut and popcorn macarons immediately caught my eye as I examined each display, trying to determine how much of an emergency it really was. I decided it most definitely was an emergency and, after only a short wait compared to my experience in Balmain, walked out with a box of twelve macarons. I probably didn’t need that many, but I couldn’t pass up tasting any of the flavours that you will only find at Zumbo’s.
In the spirit of Heather’s No Macaron Left Behind Challenge, here’s my thoughts on five of the flavours I tried:
Chocolate Doughnut
This one tasted just like a chocolate donut; however, the chocolate was a lot more gooey. I loved the presentation — the ganache in the middle looked exactly the texture of a donut, sugar and all. It was a really nice surprise to find the lump of chocolate in the middle of the filling too!
Peach Iced Tea
I think this one was my favourite. It had such a punchy flavour with hints of peach — it tasted like Lipton Iced Tea in a bottle should taste! The ganache was really smooth and there was a bit of jelly in the middle, which I loved (although I like milk tea with tapioca balls too, so take that how you will).
Blackened Vanilla
This one tasted like vanilla with just a faint hint of burnt flavour (but not enough to take away from it). It had an interesting texture in the middle that wasn’t lumpy but definitely wasn’t smooth. I enjoyed it.
Pancakes and Maple Syrup
I felt like this one could have done with a lot more maple syrup flavouring. Instead of maple syrup, it tasted more like cake batter ice cream from Cold Stone (which I love, but I was really looking forward to the maple syrup).
Custard Crunch
I felt like this one was a pretty generic biscuit. It had a faint taste of custard but nothing particularly strong; I’m not sure if I even would have guessed exactly what it was if I hadn’t read the label at the shop. It wasn’t too sweet either.
You may think trying all of these would be sweetness overload, but this is only half of the flavours I bought. I shared them with co-workers in the office so they disappeared awfully quickly, but it meant I could try all of the flavours without feeling too ill from all the sugar!
When you travel, do you have a specific food you tend to look for?