Happy Birthday Adriano Zumbo!
Three little words – Zumbo’s Macaron Day. Enough to make four sugar crazy girls and Karen’s Captain ditch whatever plans we had for the day and head down to Balmain. How does the legendary Adriano Zumbo celebrate his birthday? By creating sixty (!) flavours of macarons available for one day only! As far as we are concerned, Zumbo makes the best macarons in Sydney, not where technique is concerned, but the flavours he comes up with are so interesting and creative. We couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for us. And what better way to take part in the fun by ordering “one of each, please!”
We took the box of goodies to the Café and sat down, admiring the colours. It was a thing of beauty. Zumbo didn’t quite make the 60 flavours he was aiming for, but our box contained 48 of the most beautiful macarons I’d ever seen. The list had been published the day before, so we chose at random, tasted and tried to determine what each one was. Here are my highlights:
Date and Orange – the first one we tried, but one I was still thinking about later that evening as a combination that worked incredibly well. Definitely kicked off with a bang.
Iced Vovo – Tasted so much like the biscuits, a great one for childhood nostalgia. The Finger Bun was also incredible.
Rice Pudding – Has been a firm favourite for a long time, so it was great to see it again!
Green Tea – Actually had a real matcha flavour, unlike so many green tea flavoured cakes and sweets, and I’m a green tea fiend so I loved this.
Lamington – Again, tasted so much like a real lamington with even a hint of strawberry jam, this was a real winner for me.
Chocolate and Passionfruit – It had been my favourite macaron at Lindt for a while, but this was so much better. An incredible balance of flavours.
Burnt Butter – Do I need to say more!
Mango & Tonka Bean – such a real, fresh mango flavour. Like biting into a mango when they’re at their seasonal peak.
Cheeseburger – I had to mention it, because I think it did what it set out to do, ie: taste like a real cheeseburger, complete with pickle and sesame seeds. It was a brilliant effort, but one I’m not sure I’d try again.
Other notable flavours were Caramello Koala, Strawberry Bubblegum, Popcorn, Blue Cheese and Pear, Olive Oil & Rosemary and Beer.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, it really did, but after the fact, tucking into a huge box of greasy chips and gravy, with a headache from the sugar come-down and concerns about my blood sugar levels, we lament it might just be the craziest thing we’ve ever done. Until next year…
9 Comments on “Macaron Day”
OMG! Macaron-mania! what a fantastic day that must have been 🙂
Damn you girls are all so quick at posting, mine is stuck in my backlog! I'm so glad we managed to do this though :)And I totally agree with you on the highlights!
Did you manage to get your hands on the black truffle macaron?
Yay for the Choc Citrus!! And the Choc Passionfruit! But those are def my predictable favourites.
Now that I sat down and thought of it, I really liked the Strawberries and Cream – the colours, the swirlage and it tasted like a s'berry ice cream!
Wow – you got all of them! FANTASTIC! I would have loved to try one 🙂 oh well, maybe I can convince work mates to have an afternoon trip out there..
Wow, I must be the ONLY one who didn't sample the macarons that day. Sigh.
Looks so delicious~ I might get the cookie attack from this!
Can't believe my eyes…..what beautiful macaroons! They look so pretty…I'm drooling.
Stunning colours….of Macarons! Fantastic. Till next yeare