Adriano Zumbo The Star Review

Finally can say that I have tasted Zumbarons. Are they worth the hype and the trek- to be frank yes and no- you do get a lot of exotic flavours at a decent price and quality control is definitely there but in my opinion (only) I think that other places fare better.

 Wunderbar $9

One day I shall buy you, maybe in September when I drag my dad along

 Lip Smack Whack

 Lots of Variety

 Lychee & Coconut, Almond & Pear, Bread and Butter Pudding, Passionfruit, Caramelised Banana and  Balsamic Vinegar, Salted Butter Popcorn @ $2.50 each

 Salted butter popcorn

This was the first one that I tried and it was quite strange experience eating it because it was chewy. For now I'm going to say chewy but in a delicious way. The salted butter really came through in the ganache or filling was so light it tasted almost as if it were real salted butter that you buy from the supermarket... or at least I hope it was suppose to give that impression rather than being real butter (hahaha I don't think that's possible). The popcorn, however wasn't really there except for the macaron shell but I guess its these exotic flavours (and also their name, can't forget that) that brings flocks of people to Zumbo stores around the state- I mean where else do you see lines of people queuing to pay in stores besides on their grand opening.

 Caramelised banana with balsamic vinegar- with a special surprise inside.

I was forward looking to this one the most but in the end it was the most disappointing. I tasted caramel but no banana, they should of just renamed it as caramel with balsamic vinegar because that was definitely there. The 'surprise' that I was referring to is a balsamic vinegar compote or jam in the centre of the ganache which balances the caramelised 'banana' ganache well.

Passionfruit

You can never go wrong with passionfruit, if the unspeakable does occur then let me and we shall tarnish the image of whoever ruined the good name of passionfruit. Fortunately, as the first passionfruit macaron that I've seen, it lived up to my expectations- it had a lovely combo of sweet and sour, just like a real passionfruit. Although I wonder why there were black sesame seeds on top of the shells- strange, yes they are a quirky way of resembling the seeds of a real passionfruit but they taste well with the macaron as a well; I know it's minor but it's there. 

Bread and Butter Pudding

I'm lost for words on how to describe this one. It was nice but I wouldn't buy it again. That's all.

Almond & Pear

I was also curious as to how you can combine almond with pear because you're already using almond meal for the shells, turns out that there's whole almonds inside. Hard to taste the pear as the filling was overly sweet but look at how fat that macaron is. value for money <3

Lychee and coconut

Coconut flavour was definitely there, it's one of those dominant flavours that tends to overwhelm and obscure whatever it's mixed with and that was exactly the case, it was difficult to see how it was a lychee AND coconut macaron. The filling was more creamy and thus smoother so I found that to be a pleasant change up in comparison to the chewier filling of the first two macarons that I had.

Overall, I find the ganache to be far too chewy meaning they get stuck to your teeth, the ideal macaron should have a smooth shell texture, it needs to be delicate yet slightly crispy but not so much so that it becomes crunchy like a cookie. The fillings needs to be smooth, and light and overall the macaron should not be too sweet and the flavours need to be distinct. So how did Zumbarons fare, well I did complain about the filling a bit so I think that's where they're lacking and I might be being picky here or a tad too critical but the shells seemed a bit dense (just a bit). That said, what I loved about Zumbos was that compared to it's competitors, they're one cheaper, two a bit fatter so you get more for your money and three each macaron that I bought was only chosen after they checked that there were no cracked shells. I really appreciated this because Ladurée didn't take the initiative to do the same and thus I ended up with most of my macarons being cracked. So yeah Zumbo gets a big thumbs up for aesthetics, price and quality control 

Bitter's Rankings for Macarons in Sydney according to value for money and of course TASTE

1. Baroque/ La Renaissance

2. Adriano Zumbo

3. Ladurée 

Next stop on the best macaron hunt is Mak Mak in Newton which is conveniently located close to uni so hopefully I can go in the next month or so.