Sunday, May 31, 2009

Ruh-roh! It's another Zumbo-fication!


I know, I know. If you read lots of Sydney food blogs you've already read something like this a million times. I don't blame you if you close the window right now! I wasn't even sure if I would bother posting about this, since all the other wonderful food bloggers have already done such a fabulous job reviewing Adriano Zumbo's new collection, 40 Days & Nights in Paris. But I feel compelled to gush about it, just a little. I had yet to experienced anything Zumbo-related until I joined a travelling party of bloggers (organised by the fantastic Reem, thank you so much!) to check out the new collection. All I can say is: I am converted.

Where's Zumbo?

We arrive at the cafe to find a ridiculous amount of desserts laid out just for us. Ohhh it's days like these that I want to give my little blog a hug! Thanks to Reem's organising with the lovely Rachael, they have very kindly given us free reign of the inside seating area of the small cafe and provided us with 4 of every dessert from the new collection for us to photograph, pick, purchase and polish off as we please.

Hello pretties!

I am pleased to realise I tried a lot of the things in the above photo! I was very nervous about what I would/wouldn't be able to eat because of my nut allergy, but I decided to be a little risky and try some things that may have had almond meal in them. I didn't have any sort of reaction at all, so either I was very lucky or I'm not really that allergic! Anyway I will spare you the gory details. Here is a quick summary.

What I got to taste:
I sampled the first three desserts shown below in the cafe. The first, '6/11/81', was mind-blowingly good. The combination of all those different flavours. It was intense but it worked so well. And OMG the crunchy coconut bits. The man knows what he's doing.

'6/11/81' - Milk passion caramel mousse, lime crème, passionfruit marshmallow, coconut crunch & brownie
The rice brulee tart was so pretty, it even tasted pretty. Perfect pastry with a smoky rice pudding interior balanced beautifully with the violet and zesty fruit.

'!'- Smoked rice brulée, violet curd, pate sable with mandarin & ruby grapefruit segments
People seemed scared of the olive oil dessert. I'm never scared of food, though I was a tiny bit apprehensive of the actual olive pieces, not being a huge fan of olives. I am a big fan of olive oil, and this dessert was like an olive oil party in my mouth. I found it intriguing and quite lovely.

'Z' - Olive oil biscuit, olive oil ganache, vanilla candied Kalamata olives, lemon & olive oil crème, vanilla lemon crème legere, jumbo gumbo jelly

The one I that had me at hello was the coke can. One look at it and you start to understand why he turns all the food bloggers into gushing groupies. I mean, look at it! I took this one home with me to enjoy privately hehe, though it barely survived the trip (see below). Yes I did try slurping up the gooey innards and made some very offense gloopy noises, the fizzy disc was really fizzy, and the whole thing was just sensational! I also purchased two others, though I only tasted the 'M' while A snuck off with the cheesecake in the middle of the night. The lemon curd and sable sand of the 'M' were lovely but I think the baked meringue was a touch too crunchy for me. I also enjoyed a mint hot chocolate while I was eating the goodies in the cafe. It was rich and thick, the right amount of sweetness with just a hint of mint.

'Escape from a Columbia Rainforest' - Flourless chocolate sponge, dark chocolate fizzy disc, cherry cola jelly, cherry cola slurp, chocolate sabayon mousse

‘M’ - Baked meringue, crème citron and sable sand

‘Ed Rock the Cradle’ - Milk coffee cheesecake with chocolate cheesecake base, coffee scented caramel crème and Italian meringue


Mint hot chocolate
What I wish I had tasted:
These two looked so yummy and they didn't seem to have nuts in them...and Belle looked like she was in heaven while consuming the 'S'!

‘S’-Tea and passionfruit soaked pears and savarin, lavender saffron mascarpone crème, crumble, raspberry jelly, coconut rehydration pipette

‘X' - Pine nut gianduja mousse, dark chocolate crème, pate feulletage caramelise, sacher sponge

Chocolate counter

What I definitely wasn't allowed to taste :(
Nuts nuts nuts...

‘.....’ - Hazelnut meringue, anzac moisture, mint chocolate disc, vanilla apple tatin chantilly, apple tatin compote, isomalt caramel

Also very nutty - 'P', 'V' & 'W'

Several bumps by some not so polite Balmainians on the trek home led to some chaos in my poor little Zumbo box :( I was almost too scared to open it to look when I got home. Noooooooo....

Carnage!

The desserts are all at a such a high level of gorgeousness that it is almost too painful to damage them by eating them. But you usually forget this initial hesistation once it gets to your tastebuds. So I've been Zumbo-fied and I will definitely be back for more. It was fantastic to meet or catch up with all the lovely bloggers (Reem, Trina, Anita, Lili, Simon, Karen, Belle, Susan, Chris and Tim) and a huge huge thank you to Adriano, Rachael and all the other staff at the cafe for spending the time and effort accommodating us and keeping us company! It was so sweet and truly awesome.

More carnage!

Adriano Zumbo Cafe Chocolate & Patisserie
Shop 5, 308 Darling Street Balmain

(02) 9555 1199

Monday-Friday: 8am to 4pm

Saturday: 8am-5pm

Sunday: 9am-5pm

and
296 Darling Street Balmain

(02) 9810 7318

Monday-Saturday: 8am to 6pm

Sunday: 8am-4pm
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13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Oops what happened to my other comment? Anyway take 2...

    Hey your 'M' survived intact. My lemon ball creme fell off and flew onto my tart!

    It was a lovely arvo wasn't it (except for that puddle of water I stepped in ugh!) and it was really great to meet you! :)

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  3. Aaah nuts to being allergic to nuts! :/ Glad you managed to taste a decent selection of cake though!

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  4. Oh, I'm glad that you found some nut-free delights to sample. It seems, though, that you tasted almost all the things I missed out on! Great review, I think I will have to return soon :)
    Lovely to meet you.

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  5. omnomnom i want me some more cakeage now! shame about the cake killage but guess thats another reason to visit again =P

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  6. Karen - Oh your poor M :( but it's still good, it's still good! Haha I remember that puddle, it was so huge and sneakily hidden! It was great meeting you too :)

    Y - Yeah nuts to that! >:( I was pleased I got to taste so many things!

    lili - I'll have to read your review to see what you tried ;) Lovely meeting you too!

    chocolatesuze - hehe its a great reason for a revisit. holy cow i just saw your 26 popcorn macarons, green with envy!

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  7. Join us on the Zumbo siddee XD I must make another trip soon mmmm

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  8. I just love your photo in the mirror. You've captured the chandelier, the crowd and Zumbo, all in such a creative shot. The passionfruit and coconut cake sounds good!

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  9. Such a shame you have a nut allergy. Lucky that Zumbo has a few nut-free (and gluten-free) creations for you to try! And it was great to meet you, finally!

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  10. Hey Steph, great to hear you had such a good time. I really did love 6/11/81, it was awesome! Great to meet you and the other food bloggers :)

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  11. FFichiban - me too! been having zumbo cravings all week!

    Arwen - :) Thank you so much! That cake was amaaaazing...sigh!

    Belle - I know, I definitely feel like I am missing out when I can't have Zumbo macarons! It was great to meet you too :)

    Anita - Yes the 6/11/81 was the best introduction to Zumbo, I'm so glad that was the one we picked to share first :) It was lovely meeting you too!

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  12. if I die, I would imagine that heavan would be filled with Adrian Zumbo creations! So jealous that you live in sydeny and I'm stuck down here!

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  13. Oh me too! Fingers crossed he will expand interstate in the future ;)

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