Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier, Balmain

Enjoying my wonderful purchase from Zumbo outdoors, at a nearby park, with friends. Life is Good.

So, guys. SORRY I've been away the past week and a half. Even though it prolly hasn't been that long, but it felt like forever in "blogging-time". Have really missed you guys!! JUST finished my final paper for my undergrad degree and it feels GREAT. Been looking forward to this post for a long time so I'm glad to be able to share it with you guys today.

Don't worry, after this I've only got ONE Sydney post left from our Sydney Food Trip, i.e. our last degustation dinner at Marque, so watch out for that soon! But then again, I'm going to Sydney again this December with my family, and I can't wait to bring my parents to eat all the yummy stuff Sydney has to offer! The family is positively excited because we've all been looking forward to the day when we can go to Sydney together for SO long, YAY! =D (Really wish you and your family were here, Gogo!!)

Any-hoo, Zumbo. I know I've heard mixed reviews about them but I wanted to go try it out for myself. And before I went, I already knew which two desserts I wanted to try that day:

1) Passionfruit Tart (heard SO much great things about them) and

2) Pear Dessert (just cause I saw it on Junior Masterchef) ;p

View from outside the Balmain store. Short, easy bus ride from the city

Lovely display at shopfront window

Array of desserts but I already had my eye on two things hehe

DING! DING! DING! Jackpot!!

How those 2 kids (who haven't even finished primary school yet) could make this themselves, is beyond me

L-R: Rice Pudding and Salted Popcorn Macaron

Rice Pudding Macaron:

I'll be honest, when it comes to macarons, I'm more way interested in the creative flavours than their texture. Just cause most places can make really good macarons these days (texturally). Went with the two that most caught my attention =)

The powdered cinnamon really gave this rice macaron so much character. Was also pleasant to find small, sticky grains of rice in the ganache. Interesting.

Salted Popcorn Macaron:

LOVE any popcorn desserts!!! It's great how unmistakeable the smell of the popcorns were and couldn't help but feel taken back to the times I was at the movies with my friends or family. Don't you just love it when a food reminds you of good memories in the past? =) The ganache was a bit stickier, chewier than usual but I didn't mind. These flavoured macarons rose much higher and beautifully than the others there that day too =)

Two for me that day, and a box of five to bring back for some peeps in Melbourne =)

Passionfruit Tart

Let me tell you, everyone's first reaction to this was "WOW!!". We knew that it was gonna be good, but we didn't realise that it was THAT good. Flavour of the curd was really natural and just bursts in your mouth from the first instance. The curd was so smooth too. But the best part really has to be the sweet and seriously fine, crumbly yet buttery pastry. AMAZING!! I've had lots of great pastries in the past, but none can compare. This was really hands down the best pastry I've ever had in my life!

Pear Dessert

Bought this more for the novelty of eating something that wow-ed me on TV haha. Flavours: just okay but idea and execution: still very intriguing. The pear filling in the top piece of profiterole was light and flavourful and I enjoyed the slice of cooked pear in the bottom piece. The bottom chocolate hazelnut was sandy and really delightful. Overall, choux pastry was just okay, would prefer it were thinner or more chilled.

The pear placed perfectly in the centre of the bottom profiterole. Mmmm...

On a different note, I'll be leaving for Cairns to go DIVING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF for a week for my Grad Trip with my uni friends early tomorrow morning. Woooooo-hoooooooo!!! Oh man, it's gonna be so epic. We've been through so much together the past 4 years and we can't think of a better way to end our time in uni before we all go our separate ways. Friends for Life!

Anyway, hope you're all eating well, and doing swell. Will see you all on the flip side! Ciaoooo, chicos and chicas! =D

Gonn' on Holiday~

Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

Hey all,

Did everyone enjoy the Melbourne Cup public holiday today? I know I did =)

Anyway, I know I said that I would just do recipes for the next month but I realised my leftover Sydney posts (except for our Marque degustation) were pretty short so I thought I'd share them anyway cause it wouldn't take up too much of my study time =D So, yeah. Will be going back and forth between reviews/recipes again hehe.

After our really enjoyable lunch at Bills, we decided to take a walk around the Surry Hills area and find our way to Bourke Street Bakery (BSB) to have some tart and pastry goodness to share. It was the perfect weather anyway so I really loved the walk there, just soaking up the sun and enjoying the company I was with =)

Almost every person I know who's visited Sydney has been to BSB so I was really excited to give it a try. Thankfully we had that nice walk to give us time to digest before eating again. Here's a look at the food we ordered and really enjoyed...

Top Left: Ginger Brûlée Tart; Bottom Left: Lemon Curd Tart; Right: Rhubarb and Almond Tart

Ginger Brûlée Tart:

AMAZING! The ginger wasn't too sharp or overpowering and was just nice and faint enough like your favourite gingernut biscuits. I thought it was creative of them to use ginger in their custard. Also, I've always loved brûlée tarts more than crème brûlée because it's more interesting to eat. You get contrasting textures from the crunchy top/pastry and then the smooth, silky custard in between. YUM

Lemon Curd Tart:

This was great too I love how silky the curd looked and taste. The curd was nice and cold and had perfectly set consistency. Flavour wise, the curd was tangy and citric and had a good balance of sweetness too. Just nice mmm

Rhubarb and Almond Tart:

Yay for sweet and soft rhubarb. But what I loved most about this was the aftertaste from the almond meal mmm...

BEST thing about these tarts was how incredibly crumbly the pastry were. They reaaaaaally made their shortcrust pastry very well, delicioso~~

Before the "unveiling" of the Pie... ;p

Beef Pie

Beef chunks weren't dry or flaky, and I enjoyed the gravy in the pie as well. It's nice getting occasional bites of chunky mushroom too mmm...

Chicken, Pea, Sweet Potato and Lime Pickle Pie

As much as I enjoyed the good ol' classic Beef Pie, I liked this one sooo much more. This pie was SOOO NICE. The chicken was fantastic and moist and there were lots of pepper too. But best of all, the sweet potato gave a lovely creamy texture to the filling and had so much flavour YUUUUM. I loved it and I would definitely recommend this.

Again, the pies were really nice and flakey and I knew that my Mum would enjoy this. I always value the pastry for pies/tarts just as much as the fillings, which was what this place executed really well and what makes them so famous! Both shortcrust and puff.

We were really enjoying our day and our time in Sydney =)

Overall, lovely dining experience was shared with lovely people. To be honest, I would actually recommend people to do the same thing we did if they were to visit Sydney too, i.e. to go to Bills for lunch before taking a short walk straight to Bourke Street Bakery to enjoy some "after lunch snacks" haha...

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!

To working adults: Have a great remainder to the week "post-Melbourne Cup"

To students: All the best with your upcoming exams!!

Peace!

Winston =)