Adriano Zumbo

Lucky for me, my husband is a total sweet tooth and was more than happy to drive all the way to Balmain to pick up some treats from Adriano Zumbo Patisserie. I was really disappointed that by the time we got there (11am Sunday) the "Upside Down Cloud" and "Escape from a Columbian Rainforest" (a small cake shaped like a cola can, how ingenious!) was already sold out. So we had to pick some other goodies instead....not easy because everything was so tempting.

Let's start off with the macarons....we had these after lunch....mmmm...very good.

Clockwise starting from the top left: Salted Butter Popcorn (this was a little weird for me, but a clever concept), Rhubarb Crumble (Very nice), Rice Pudding (Definitely my favourite and the surprise of rice grains in the filling. Love it!) and the purple one I got because I liked the colour was Blackcurrent. I really enjoyed this one and wasn't expecting to. There was this sweetness but also a tartness which really worked nicely.

Next was the Toffee Apple Macaron.

This was too cute to resist.

First bite started off well, but as I kept chewing, it got harder. And my teeth stuck together. Taste wise it was nice, but the whole teeth sticking together thing....not good. My two year old was not impressed....see below

Hhahahahah! Sorry Mr Zumbo, I really wanted him to love your cakes and macarons as much as I do, but unfortunately not this time.

We were way too full by this stage and decided to save the 2 cakes after dinner.

First of the cakes was the "F", a chocolate ganache with caramel tart. This was gooooooooood. Take a look at the dissection photo in all it's oozy gooey goodness. Oh my.....

And the second cake was the "W" and described by the Adriano Zumbo site as: Decadent layers of flourless chocolate sponge, almond praline feullitine, salted popcorn disks, pop rocks, dulce de leche and

vanilla almond chantilly.

I would have just said it's chocolate sponge with oozy caramel, chocolate and sprinkled with popcorn. Ha! This is why I EAT it, not make it LOL!

Hmmm makes me wonder how wrong I got the chocolate tart description.....

Anyway, this was another winner. Both cakes were really decadent and rich but so delicious. I'm definitely going back for more (seems like everyone knows about this place now, yet he still hasn't moved to a larger premises - part of the charm perhaps).

If you haven't tried Adriano Zumbo, you must go. He is a creative genious!

The Patisserie:

296 Darling St Balmain
Ph 02 9810 7318 Open 8 to 6 Monday to Saturday and 8 to 4 on Sundays.

The Cafe:

Shop 5, 308 Darling St Balmain
Ph 02 9555 1199 Open from 8 to 4 Monday to Friday, 8 to 5 on Saturdays and 9 to 5 Sundays