Zumbarons

I have tried to make macarons a couple of times but I always seem to fail. Macarons are required to be baked in a slow oven (about 150 degrees) in order to get that crispy shell on the outside and the softness on the inside. My oven in my house is temperamental and whilst it is perfectly fine to cook dinners or cakes, macarons do not seem to work very well.

I have tried a number of macaron places and I have to say my favourite so far has been La Belle Miette in Hardware Lane. Maybe I need to do a blog post just about these macarons. However, in my opinion, the man who put macarons (and other decadent sweets for that matter) on the map in Australia is Adriano Zumbo. I have been desperate to try his macaroons and the V8 Cake (8 layers of vanilla - YUM!). I have been to Sydney once since I first heard of him during season one of Masterchef but it was a day trip to Sydney and the shop is not located in the CBD so it was not possible to get there.

The past weekend I read on Twitter that Adriano had teamed up with Renault to drive a truck around Melbourne to sell his macarons in several locations. Possibly he is considering opening a shop in Melbourne? I decided that the easiest way for me to try the macarons was to go to the Melbourne Central location on Monday morning before work.

On Monday morning (after spending 20 minutes looking for the truck because the wrong address had been posted on Twitter) I had six Zumbarons in my hands. A big shout out to the man himself who responded to my tweet about not being able to find the truck and tweeting me the actual location!

From Left: Passionfruit Tonka, Peach Iced Tea, Blackened Vanilla, Salted Butter Caramel, Salted Butter Popcorn & Maple Syrup Pancake.

 

As well as sharing them with a few people from work, I did manage to at least try a bit of each one over the course of a couple of days. Here are my thoughts on each flavour:

 

Passionfruit Tonka:

Very delicious! The passionfruit tasted fresh and this was one of my favourite ones.

 

Peach Iced Tea:

Similar to the passionfruit, it tasted fresh, like it was real peach flavour rather than a sweet dessert. I didn't expect to love this one but I would highly recommend it.

 

Blackened Vanilla:

I usually love vanilla but for some reason, blackened vanilla was not something I loved compared to some of the other Zumbarons. Whilst I didn't hate it, I don't think it is what I expected.

 

Salted Caramel:

Very sweet but I loved it as I am a massive caramel fan. If you are not into very sweet things then this might not be one you enjoy.

 

Salted Popcorn:

Not a big fan of this one. I didn't really get a popcorn taste but the popcorn on the outside did give the texture. I wouldn't buy this one again.

 

Maple Syrup Pancake:

This one was nice but did not Wow me like some of the others.

 

So a brief review of the Zumbarons that I tried. I was really happy with my first Zumbo experience and I really do hope he opens a store in Melbourne so I can try the V8 cake that I have been dreaming about for four years. All the Zumbarons were nice but there were some that I preferred over others and these were the ones with fruity flavours which did not taste too artificial. I think his Zumbarons are on par with La Belle Miette but La Belle has a focus on using soft flavours whilst Zumbo makes flavours that are a bit more original.

 

Thanks Adriano Zumbo for tweeting me the actual location of the truck otherwise I may have had to get to work and miss out on my first Zumbaron experience!!