the heart of food is now a little over a year old, having first started on February of 2009. The birth of this blog is in some part thanks to Helen, from the prolific Sydney food blog Grab Your Fork. She was the one that inspired me to start this whole blogging thing, as she has with a number of other Sydney food bloggers.

Over this past year, there have been quite a number of amazing food experiences. One of the things that stands out in my mind are the birthday celebrations of various food bloggers.

Please join me for a review of the food experiences regarding birthdays and birthday-related posts over the past year, including some new material and images.

Before I continue, apologies in advance if I’ve overlooked anyone’s birthday that I was a part of over the past year.

The first series of posts on the heart of food were about presents and a birthday, or rather a birthday I had to miss due to a last minute work related matter.

The birthday boy, whom I’ll refer to as “That Guy”, is of Filipino origin. The food to be showcased on his birthday was authentic, homemade food from the Philippines made with loving care by his mother. It saddened me to no end that I not only had to cancel, after previously agreeing to go, due to work (on a Saturday no less!), but also had to miss out on such a good food opportunity, especially considering Filipino restaurant food just doesn’t rate from what I’ve been told.

Despite these circumstances, he was kind enough to offer me some of the party left overs the following day. I returned his generosity by getting him a hamper of various gourmet goods from a few of my favourite vendors.

Not long afterwards, Richard from Here Comes the Food had kindly invited me out to a birthday dinner to have all you can eat mussels at Bungalow 8. It was an intimate affair with only four of us in total.

The experience was somewhat surreal. I guess it’s kind of like that moment when you first make friends at preschool or in kindergarten. There’s a sense of child-like joy when you meet with someone that likes what you’re interested in, and just “gets you”, for lack of a better term. In some ways it’s also a sense of belonging. That you’re among like minded individuals, and not just some weird, misunderstood outcast. From a food blogging perspective, that was my moment.

To this day I don’t know why Richard invited me. However, I am thankful that he did, as a lot of interesting experiences have been had since that time.

For instance, a masquerade themed birthday party of around 30 food bloggers, crammed into a private dining room at Wagaya that is supposed to only cater for 25. Who else other than the ever popular Suze of chocolatesuze, whom I like to jokingly refer to as the poster child of Sydney food bloggers (though not entirely untrue), could organise a gathering of this size? It was a gathering of her food blogging friends, acquaintances and other food bloggers that she has yet to meet in person.

At the time it was rather surreal to see a roomful of food bloggers pause from their current activity or conversation in order to take photos of food that had just arrived. A storm of people gather around plates of food. The rolling thunder of conversation goes quiet as photographers focus; the beeps, clicks and whirrs of digital cameras taking over the growing din of silence. On occasion a flash fires; a blinding bolt of lightning that briefly illuminates the room. The eye of the storm soon approaches, as one by one food bloggers sit back and wait patiently for others to finish with their photos. A calm settles in as the beeps, clicks, whirrs and flashes become fewer, less frequent. As the last of the photos are taken, the rest of the storm front rolls in as hungry food bloggers rain down upon a plain of food.

The dinner is a large gathering of friends and strangers alike, all with the common purpose to not only celebrate a birthday or share a meal, but also partake in the appreciation of food beyond that of mere sustenance. It is one that has only since been eclipsed by the Sydney food blogger’s Christmas picnic in Hyde park. Another successful gathering organised, in part, by the poster child of Sydney food bloggers.

Karen of Citrus and Candy gathers a small, intimate  group of some of her closest food blogging friends to celebrate her birthday at the Belgian Bier Cafe. The hearty fare of Belgian beers, meatballs and mussels, finished with some wonderful sweet desserts of chocolate and waffles, makes for a fantastic meal.

It ceases to amaze me how quickly friendships can be born and forged over the common appreciation of food. People, that under different circumstances would likely amount to little more than casual acquaintances, become close friends, mentors, advisors and confidants.

It isn’t just with food bloggers that birthday celebrations have been shared. Adriano Zumbo’s Macaron Day was not only a celebration of 60 different flavours of macarons, but also an opportunity for the food blogging community as well as the general public to celebrate his birthday.

As much as he may be the maestro of the macaron, he is a rather humble, approachable and softly spoken individual in person. One without the pretension or arrogance that quite often comes with those with a high degree of skill or, dare I say, genius. It was personally satisfying to be able to wish him a happy birthday, as well as to discuss a range of topics including his favourite macarons from the collection.

Then it came time to organise & celebrate my own birthday party. Well, birthday parties but I’ll get to that.

When it was time to organise my birthday dinner for a close circle of food blogging friends, I wanted to incorporate a little of the familiar with something that was new to all of us. The familiar ended up being Wagaya, a safe bet when it comes to the quality of the food (not bad), service (fast & attentive) and cost (reasonable, depending on what you order). Wagaya is the sort of dining experience that I prefer; fairly casual & laid back with food that can be easily shared amongst a group of people.

We then moved onto the something new for entertainment and dessert, in the form of Norita Cafe & Board Games. It’s a place where you can enjoy various contemporary & Asian flavoured drinks, desserts and the occasional savoury snack whilst playing a multitude of board games.

The board games are a core part of the experience rather than some tacked-on gimmick, as is demonstrated by the extensive menu of board games they have on offer, separate to that of the food & beverage menu. Though the food & drinks weren’t noteworthy, the fun that was had with the board games was well worth the experience. There were many fits of uncontrollable laughter, as well as a few things that are better left unmentioned. What happens in Norita, stays in Norita :)

Birthdays are a fantastic opportunity to meet with new people and be reacquainted with ones that you may not keep in as close contact with as you may have liked. My second birthday party, a BBQ picnic at Centennial Park, introduced a few new faces, namely Jacq from Penguin Says Feed Me, as well as The Shooter and The Ninja from The Ninja Review.

I could imagine that it would be somewhat intimidating for newcomers entering into an established group of friends or associates, especially when it’s a sizable group.  For instance, it took some time for the The Ninja Review crew to step down from a battle-ready state, take off their disguises and intimidating weaponry, and actually relax and enjoy the company and the food. Well, as much as one could in a blistering 40+ degree heat wave. Once the picnic was over, a subset of the attendees made their way to Sinma Laksa House to counteract the heat wave with Ais Kachang.

On the subject of food at the picnic, a huge thanks must go out to Mei from Brasserie Bread for catering a large portion of the picnic. So large in fact that everyone had a generous parting gift to take home with them, all of it great stuff. From a number of chewy rolls and sour dough loaves (the wholemeal mountain bread makes for excellent toasted sandwiches), wonderful sweet pastries such as various fruit tarts, tea cakes and brownies, as well as THE BEST garlic bread to date I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. The caramelised garlic bread was so highly regarded by the picnic attendees that negotiations were held to determine the lucky few that would be taking a portion home.

The birthday party of Helen from Grab Your Fork was something of a special event for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was a dumpling making party, for lack of a better term. Everyone contributing ingredients and making a large number of handmade gyoza-style dumplings, a fair portion of which were devoured with gusto soon afterwards.

For dessert, Ais Kachang was made from scratch. This began with preparing the various ingredients to form the mise en place. Once this was done, two ice shaving machines buzzed constantly as mountains of ice shavings piled up, ready to be topped by the ingredients and syrups prepared earlier.

To close the evening, chocolatesuze had prepared a fork-shaped cake, a reference to Helen’s blog name. Whilst this was in itself impressive and well received, the true genius of the cake lay within, in the form of a stunning rainbow of colours. Though rainbow coloured cakes are not anything new for chocolatesuze, this implementation of her trademark cake was particularly impressive.

Lastly, we come to a recent birthday dinner, celebrating the birthday of Jacq from Penguin Says Feed Me. She had managed to gather an impressive 17 food bloggers at the Waterfront Grill for all you can eat ribs for $29. The ribs are served along with some tasty but stomach filling steak chips. There is also a web special that is meant to score you a free soft drink with your ribs. It had taken a fair amount of insistence, the attention of the restaurant manager and an iPhone before the free drinks were flowing.

Ellie from Almost Bourdain capped of the dinner with a homemade Momofuku Crack Pie, which she had generously offered as a birthday cake. I can see why it’s called Crack Pie. So addictive… :)

To end this post, I’d like to thank those of you that have followed my blog over the past year, especially the ones that have weathered through the dry spells, and those that take the time to leave comments. It’s very much appreciated!

For the silent readers out there, I encourage you to step out of your shell and show your love, or share your opinion, by leaving a comment. I don’t just mean for my blog, but for any other one that you may be reading as well. We food bloggers, and I presume bloggers in general, thrive on comments.

Also, a special thanks to Helen for inspiring me to begin this food blog in the first place, as well as all the people to date that have made the past year of food, friends & fun a memorable experience.

You take your place at a table with friends, situated on an elevated platform that overlooks lush vegetation & picturesque water views. A sea of green & blue, as far as the eye can see, slowly fades to black as the curtain of night is drawn slowly over a fabulous Spring day. A gentle breeze carries wonderful aromas of seafood, chorizo, saffron, paprika and other spices, drawing your attention to a professionally prepared pan of paella. The chef, and host for the evening, takes his place at the table and motions for the guests to begin eating.

You could easily mistake this for an alfresco dining experience at a chef’s table at some fabulously expensive restaurant overlooking water views. Oh no, it’s far better than that. This is just dinner at Lex’s place.

Nice view, huh? :)

Lex, chef by trade and food blogger of vue de cuisinier, had invited a number of food blogging friends over to his place for dinner. Whenever I receive an invite to have food at Lex’s, I do everything within my power to be able to make it as I know that there will be some great food, as well as some great company to be had.

Rather than being a pot-luck sort of affair where every guest brings their own thing like last time, this time around Lex takes over the cooking reins and prepares are two course meal of Scallops Boudin, served with pea puree & salmon roe, as well as a fabulous paella.

To see a professional chef at work is something that fascinates me. If you’d like to see how Lex’s Scallops Boudin & Paella are made, feel free to view the embedded video below of the whole cooking process.

Did you catch all of that? :)

Here it is again. However, at a somewhat more leisurely pace.

As stated previously, dinner for this delightful spring evening begins with an entree of Scallops Boudin, served with a pea puree and salmon roe. It’s essentially like a scallop sausage of sorts.

Firstly, scallops are placed into a food processor, along with some cream and egg whites, and blended into a fine paste.

Oh, don’t forget to season! :)

The scallop mixture is rolled into a sausage shape, poached in simmering water until it sets.

Allow the scallop sausage to cool just enough to handle. Place onto the counter top. Removed the scallop sausage from its casing and voila! You end up with a rather unfortunately suggestive photo that may not be suitable for some viewers.

For a recipe of the Scallop Boudin, look no further than Lex’s post of this recipe on his blog.

The pea puree that accompanies the scallop boudin is simply a mix of peas, cream & butter heated through & blitz together. A hand mixer is employed in this case, though I don’t see why it couldn’t be done in a food processor or a blender.

Plate the pea puree and scallop boudin & top with a teaspoon of salmon roe. If you have an eye for presentation like Lex has, it should look at least as nice as the above image.

The scallop boudin is soft and silky smooth, like silken tofu albeit with the taste of scallops and cream. The pea puree complements the scallop with texture and flavour whilst the salmon roe brings pleasant bursts of saltiness to the party.

The scallop boudin served with pea puree & salmon roe once more. Just because it’s so pretty :)

We move onto our main course, which is the fabulous paella. However, this one comes with a bit of a luxurious twist.

The mise en place of onions, potatoes, tomatoes, red capsicum, artichokes, chicken & chorizo are prepared with an effortless grace by a deft hand and a sharp blade.

The ingredients are slowly brought together into the paella pan along with rice & some paprika.

A generous pinch of saffron soon follows.

This looks so good! I could eat this just as it is. However, there’s still more to be incorporated before this dish is complete.

Some baby octopus and a few handful of mussels are added towards the end to add another dimension of textures and flavours.

What about that twist I’d referred to earlier?

Why, it’s strips of wagyu!

Ok, so it’s not a traditional addition to a paella. Believe me, no one was complaining :)

Scatter some freshly chopped parsley & some lemon slices and we’re done.

There you have it. Lex’s paella, and a damn fine one at that :)

Perfectly cooked mussels poke their maws upwards as if to say “eat me”. Why, thank you. I most certainly will! :)

To be able to dine in such luxury with great food and even better friends, all within the comfort of someone else’s home *sigh* :)

A serving of Lex’s fabulous paella, one of a few that night. The green slime looking thing was additional pea puree. Everyone loved the pea puree so much and since there was so much of it left, we slathered it generously onto every serve.

With a paella and pea puree this good, I assure you that there were no left overs to speak of.

For dessert, Steph brings along a wonderful creation of cupcake cones. Chocolate cupcake on top of a wafer cone filled with a vanilla white chocolate filling. Both on top of and within the cones, pop rocks are incorporated into the dessert. The pop rocks, with its mouth tingling fizz & crackle, renders civil adults, young and otherwise, to the level of primary school children with all the innocence, joy and wonderment that that would imply.

The cross-section of the cupcake cone, cut with expert precision by Richard, along side a whole cone.

Recipe for Steph’s cupcake cones can be found in her post “Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes (with popping candy!)”.

My contribution for the evening was macarons from Adriano Zumbo’s Macaron Day.

I told you there would be another post on this. Promise that this is the last one. Well, for this year at least :)

The macarons are (from top left to bottom right), Lord Nelson beer, chocolate & passionfruit, cheeseburger, Golden Gaytime, doughnut, & mastic, yoghurt, cucumber & mint.

From top left to bottom right, chocolate foie gras, burnt toast & butter, goats cheese & blueberry, & Vegemite sourdough.

As with the previous macaron marathon session, there were some good and some not so good ones. Surprisingly, the cheeseburger wasn’t as good as the previous one I had. It lack a lot of the complexity the previous one had, as it was predominantly tomato sauce and nothing else. I have an appreciation now for why some people weren’t as won over with the cheeseburger macaron as I was the first time around. The other one that didn’t really do it for me was the chocolate foie gras. The cube of foie gras in the center of the macaron didn’t taste much of anything other than perhaps a lump of fairly flavourless fat. It felt more like a textural component than anything else.

Some winners for me were the old favourites the burnt toast & butter & Vegemite sourdough. A new one to add to the favourites list is the chocolate & passionfruit, with its wonderful passionfruit tang which counter balances the richness of the chocolate. The Lord Nelson beer one we had lacked a yeasty note that others experienced previously. It was alright as it was but I imagine it would have been something a little more special with that yeasty element.

A great night of food, friends and fun. Can’t wait for next time!

Join the heart of food Fan Page on Facebook to get access to more photos from this post, as well as photos and videos of other posts that are not featured on the blog.

A rainbow of happiness as one food blogger described it, the selection of macarons available on Macaron Day (the celebration of macarons for Adriano Zumbo’s birthday) was astounding! As the opening quote indicates, a veritable spectrum of bright colours and wonderful & unique flavours ranging from the rather pedestrian green tea to the more exotic flavours of cheeseburger. Well, at least by my standards.

Eighteen flavours of macarons were purchased in the morning, while later that day, three food bloggers gathered to sample & discuss the various macaron flavours.

Actually, Richard & I gathered to play some Xbox over at Yas’ house but the offer of macaron tasting had overshadowed the original intent for the gathering.

Eighteen macarons were carefully laid out on a couple of plates. Unfortunately, some of them didn’t fare well during transportation while others, perished very quickly due to their moisture content.

The flavours were, clockwise from the top – avocado, manga & tonka bean, chocolate 1, chocolate 2, chocolate 3, chocolate 4, chocolate 5, burnt toast & butter, and blue cheese & pear (centre).

Clockwise from the top – maple syrup bacon & pancake, chocolate 6, olive oil & rosemary, cheeseburger, french toast, chocolate 7, carrot cake, vegemite sourdough, and black truffle.

For the full list of macaron flavours available on the day, please refer to my previous post or the original list from Grab Your Fork.

Why the generically numbered chocolate macarons? Well, with the curious mind such that I have, I’d selected a wide range of chocolate flavoured macarons, including all of the single origin chocolates. However, there was some identification fail as I didn’t know which chocolate macaron was which, nor did I think to ask. Not being attuned to the taste of single origin chocolate, going by taste was of no help either.

Oh well.

Anyhow, for completeness sake the list of chocolate macarons I did purchase were chocolate citrus, plantation chocolate, Tanzanian salted chocolate, Mexican chocolate, and chocolate & red wine.

Which troubles me somewhat since there are seven anonymous chocolate flavoured macarons…

As good as the chocolate ones generally were, there weren’t the stand outs. The ones that stood out for me, for better or for worse, were the maple syrup bacon & pancake, olive oil & rosemary, cheeseburger, french toast, vegemite sourdough and the black truffle.

The black truffle. Special in its own right. Not just because it’s a dessert item that contained truffles. Not even that it contained real truffle pieces. It was unique amongst the 50 other odd truffles in that it was the only one priced differently at $10 a pop, rather than the more modest amount of $2 for the rest of the collection (at least by comparison).

The black truffle macaron was left until the end. Perhaps to savour the anticipation. Perhaps to avoid setting a bar too high, too early, and ruining the experience of other noteworthy macarons that would have been considered “not good enough” in comparison.

The crumbled remains of the olive oil & rosemary macaron. The dark, gelatinous cube was an intense core of rosemary flavour, to the point of being somewhat unpleasant to taste on its own. The olive oil flavouring permeated the macaron shells as well as the ganache filling around the rosemary core. On its own, it’s somewhat bland. Though, when consumed with the rosemary gel, it served to mute some of the intensity of the rosemary. Even still, though I admire Adriano for attempting such a macaron, it just wasn’t for me.

A couple of other macarons that fell a little short off the mark for me were the maple bacon & pancake and french toast macarons.

The maple bacon & pancake macaron certainly tasted of maple syrup. However, the bacon did little more than add a textural note as the bacon’s flavour & smokiness didn’t come through. If there was more of that bacon flavour & aroma, this may have been one of my favourites.

The french toast macaron tasted more like rice pudding than something that could specifically be defined as french toast. A little disappointing. Not that it was a bad macaron. It just didn’t taste like french toast to me.

On the other hand, I found the burnt toast & butter macaron to be an absolute stroke of genius. Not only showing off Adriano Zumbo’s talents, but also some of his personality & fiendish sense of humour as well. The firm, chewy, almost bread-like texture of the macaron shells with the slightly crusty outer surface. The distinct flavour & aroma of well toasted bread serves as filling, along with a tiny knob of butter. Simultaneously, familiar and unique. Ordinary, yet extraordinary.

The vegemite and sourdough macaron was similarly impressive. Not only delivering on the flavours of vegemite and sour dough bread but also with the chewy texture of the macaron shell itself.

One other macaron that deserves a mention is the cheeseburger one. Though, it had perished to a sloppy mush, the flavour and attention to detail with this one was amazing. The strong flavour of tomato ketchup. A nearly imperceptible hint of meatiness, or perhaps a figment of my imagination. A real, albeit tiny slice of cheese, a tiny fragment of pickle and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on the macaron shells completed the illusion, for lack of a better word. This one made me smile from ear to ear. A pleasant and pleasurable surprise.

I truly hope that these three macarons make it onto the standard roster of macaron flavours, though something would need to be done with perishability of the cheeseburger macaron.

Finally we come to the black truffle macaron. Having savoured this moment as the three of us worked our way through seventeen other macarons, I was quite disappointed with this one. There wasn’t much of a flavour to it and though there were hints of truffle flavour and aroma, nothing significant enough to come even close to the $10 price tag.

I can appreciate that an elevated price tag was warranted, since real truffle pieces were incorporated into the ganache (note the little black specks in the image above). However, I had a much better experience and more thoroughly enjoyed some of the other macarons. Even if it were only $2, I would still only consider it to be an average macaron.

The whole experience of Macaron Day was amazing. From waiting at the front of the queue with the bloggers from Grab Your Fork and chocolatesuze, the dazzling array of macarons, having a chat with Adriano Zumbo, & sharing the experience of tasting the macarons with Richard & Yas. I hope there will be more Macaron Day macarons to come in the future.

Actually, there will be. Reasonably soon too, as I went back to the store to the day after to pick up some additional macaron flavours that I’d not selected, or had known about, the first time around. Yep, another post to come. One last one, I promise.

Well, for this year, at least :)

Adriano Zumbo. A name that is associated with great, unique and occasionally odd collection of cakes, desserts and, of course, macarons. A master craftsman of his trade; I would doubt that you would find a better macaron, or one that is more unique, in or around the Sydney area.

So, when such an artisan looks to celebrate his birthday (Friday, 6th November), what can one expect?

Well, from the eyes of a food obsessed fan of his creations such that I am, you can expect an early morning rise in order to meet and queue up with other food obsessed fans. People such as fellow food bloggers Helen (Grab Your Fork) and Susan (Chocolatesuze) with the three of us arriving 30 minutes prior to opening time. Others, such as Trina (Foraging Otaku) and Belle (Ohh, Look…), join us in the queue along with other early birds soon afterwards.

The queue starts to build momentum as the time approaches the store’s opening hour of 8am.

Actually, quite a lot of momentum. For a Friday morning no less.

An occasional passerby lets their curiosity get the better of them and stops to enquire about the reason for the queue.

Why, Macaron Day, of course!

What better way to celebrate Adriano Zumbo’s birthday than to have a day devoted to a vast array of unique, limited edition macarons.

The passerby, seemingly regretting his decision to succumb to his curiosity, shakes his head and moves on.

Though the window display pictured above stated optimistically 60 flavours would be available, I believe the final number was closer to 50. However, oh what a collection of 50 they were! Though, more on that later.

The staff arrive with a van load of white cake boxes filled with macarons and proceed to setup shop as the building queue anxiously waits. Then whispers start to buzz around the staff. “Is he coming”? Should we wait for him?

There was a scheduled meet & greet with Adriano at 11am. I’d given up on meeting up with him once more as I had other things I needed to see to that day. Surely, they don’t mean that he’s coming now?

Surely enough, the birthday boy makes his entrance, supplementing the already abundant stock with additional varieties of macarons that had not arrived along with the first shipment.

Adriano takes charge and preps the store for the inevitable onslaught of the salivating food obsessed, and I’m sure the occasional normal customer as well.

Soon afterwards the mob start to file in. The friendly and helpful staff inform us that not all the varieties are available at this stage. So decisions are pondered, compromises made, and seemingly a number of finger nail and possibly tips of fingers were gnawed clean off in the process.

There was much to ponder too, as illustrated by the small sample of photos below.

Each macaron was $2, with the black truffle macaron, containing actual pieces of black truffle within was the princely sum of $10 each (not pictured above). A one-of-everything box, which contained the full range was $110.

For a full list of macaron flavours available on the day, do what pretty much everyone else did and peruse the list on Grab Your Fork. For your convenience and with permission, I’ve supplied an alphabetised list below, with some slight modifications:

• Avocado
• Black truffle
• Blue cheese and pear
• Burnt butter
• Burnt toast and butter
• Caramello Koala
• Carrot cake
• Cheeseburger
• Cheesecake
• Chocolate and mint
• Chocolate and passionfruit
• Chocolate and praline
• Chocolate and red wine
• Chocolate and salted caramel
• Chocolate citrus
• Chocolate foie gras
• Chupa chupa, on a stick
• Date and orange
• Doughnut
• Fig and blackcurrant
• Finger bun
• French toast
• Goats cheese and blueberry
• Golden Gaytime
• Green tea
• Iced Vovo
• Lamington
• Liquorice
• Lord Nelson beer
• Mango and tonka bean
• Maple syrup, bacon and pancake
• Mastic, yoghurt, cucumber and mint
• Mexican chocolate
• Neopolitan
• Olive oil and rosemary
• Pan d’epice
• Peanut butter
• Pink grapefruit
• Plantation chocolate
• Popcorn
• Raspberry chocolate
• Rice pudding
• Strawberries and cream
• Strawberry bubblegum
• Tanzanian salted chocolate
• Toasted marshmallow
• Turkish delight
• Vegemite sourdough

This young gentleman was kind enough to model my first batch of macarons purchased.

Yep, that’s right. First batch.

You see, a lot of the flavours we were after weren’t available the first time around. However, just as we were leaving another batch of macarons arrived, and with it, additional flavours.

So back we joined the queue for another run. We’re not the only ones too, as we make pleasant small talk with another person who rejoined the queue.

Adriano seemingly has a moments peace. A rare luxury I would imagine for what must have been a hectic lead up to the culmination of this day.

Even with our second run through, still not all the flavours are available. So, this time we hang out inside the store along with Adriano, offering birthday wishes, making conversation about the macarons as well as his new collection of his soon-to-be-released cakes and posing for the occasional photo.

Some of the time is passed with a free sample or two. Suze poses with the delightful lollipop macaron, inspired by the chuppa chup. Chuppa chup flavoured with pop rocks, though I don’t think we ever found out which chupa chup flavour it was meant to be. Still, a nice macaron all the same.

The french toast macaron. One of the few macarons that weren’t on the original flavour list. We’d initially thought we were handed a different macaron as it tasted like rice pudding, and there was a rice pudding one on the list.

Eventually, all the flavours we were after had arrived, purchases finalised and boxes of macarons accompanied us as we head off to our respective workplaces, albeit an hour or two late.

Which macarons did I get? How did they taste? Unfortunately, this is material for another post.

Make sure to mark down the 6th November on next year’s calendar. Though this was the first Macaron Day, I hope it’s not the last. Happy Birthday Adriano :)

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie
296 Darling Street, Balmain NSW 2040
Ph: (02) 9810 7318

Monday to Saturday 8am – 6pm
Sunday 8am – 4pm

View at the heart of food: map

Escape from a Colombian Rainforest, referred to at the store by one of the counter staff as “Escape from a Colombian Car Park”. I’m sure you’ve seen the cake a number of times. I even passed up the opportunity to try this out during the launch of the Winter collection, where it was first revealed.

The cake has come along way since that time, huh?

I’d finally gotten around to buying one when I went around that way to pick up the chocolate mousse cake as seen on my previous post. Oh, and Masterchef Australia as well.

The cake is comprised of flourless chocolate sponge, chocolate sabayon mousse, dark chocolate fizzy discs (including the silver lid and ring pull) & cherry cola jelly.

After all this time, wanting to try this out back in May, I’d finally gotten to opportunity to taste it. I don’t know if it was just me but I wasn’t won over by the taste. The dark chocolate disc layers made it difficult to cut into the cake. Though the chocolate aspects of the cake were fine, I wasn’t all that fussed about the jelly. 10 points for creative presentation. Probably around 6-7 for taste in my opinion.

The real star for me was Wheely Lost. I don’t believe this was a part of the original Winter collection. However, it’s a welcome addition to the lineup in my opinion.

Unfortunately, I’d not taken any notes or photo of this particular variations of the dessert (please check here and here for references for what it looked like previously). However, I believe the core part of the cake, the hazelnut meringue and the apple tartin chantilly still remain, with a slight change on the exterior crust, which in my case was made up of a combination of hazelnuts and pistachios from what I can tell.

This one was a winner for me, and certainly well worth the asking price in my opinion. As I posted on Twitter, it was wheely good! Give this one a go if you ever stop by the patisserie. She ain’t the prettiest cake, but she’s got it where it counts!