Zumbo Cafe

It was recently Mike and my 4 year anniversary since we met. To be honest i didn't really remember, as i am really bad with dates. However Mike reminded me in the morning and hinted that he had a surprise outing planned for the next day. He kept very tight lipped... but I had my suspicions.

The next morning we set off. with Mike still saying mum on where we were headed. Once i saw a sign taking me towards Balmain i started to bounce gleefully in my seat and shout gleefully 'ZUMBO CAFEEEEEEEEEE'.

I have been wanting to visit this cafe for a long long time, well before Adriano Zumbo's Masterchef fame. I have read many many reviews of his culinary delights throiugh a huge number of sydney based blogs. I have drooled over a great many images of his sweet delights.

We arrived at Balmain by 10:30 am and headed first for the patisserie. Sadly, a peek through the door showed quite a line, and almost not sweets left. We headed off towards the Cafe Choolat a few doors down, where we waited in line for a bit before gaining a seat.

I already knew EXACTLY what i what i wanted from hours of browsing his website

http://adrianozumbo.com/patisserie.html

We ordered two hot chocolates - One dark (mine) one milk (Mike's), and decided to share two desserts, The Younger years and It's not a hamburger! ...It's a macaron.

We firstly had the It's not a hamburger!... It's a macaron. This "Hamburger" was made of two giant chocolate macarons filled with dulce de leche gelato and was nestled on top of a bed of banana and caramel rice pudding, finished with a sprinkle of bitter chocolate soil. This tasted truly great, with the macarons still warm, and rice pudding was just awsome! It tastes like a banoffe pie (which is what Adriano was going for).



Next out came The younger years. This dessert is served in a kidney dish, with a warm chocolate fondant, gorgeous peanut butter gelato and an injection of vanilla anglaise and raspberry coulis, finished with a crunchy scattering of salty peanut caramel. When the fondant is injected with the anglaise and raspberry mix the fondant explodes like a volcano with chocolate lava dripping over the sides.





After the rolled our way out of the cafe we decided to duck in and hae a quick look at the patisserie again. We decided to buy one of each flavour of the macarons, which we consumed over the nect 3 days (although i would say they are best consumed within 24 hours).

Flavours (from my rusty memory) included Rhubarb, Salted popcorn, Salt & Vinegar, Blackcurrant, Mocha, Pear, Passionfruit... ooohhh that's all i can remember!!!

These were really beautiful. It was the first time either of us have had a macaron and we really enjoyed them.


I would definately recommend a visit if you are in the area. Hell, even if you are not in the area, visit it anyway!!!