Adriano Zumbo Patissier - #MELB2014

DAY 3

Ah, Adriano Zumbo. He needs absolutely no introduction, and I was so excited to visit his Melbourne store especially after seeing all of his amazing creations on Masterchef as well as all over social media.

Zonut $5

Flavour of the week: Spicy chocolate mudcake and marinated cherries

The day this photo was posted on their Facebook and Instagram page was the day before we left for Melbourne so I immediately sent a screenshot to my friends who would be accompanying. Let's just say they weren't too pleased seeing as we had seen flavours such as 'mousse au chocolate with orange and brandy snaps', 'coconut and dark chocolate' and 'spiced mascarpone with caramelised pecans and candied orange' all over their Facebook page. It was actually an absolute delight! I realised I actually enjoy the combination of chilli and chocolate way more than I thought. The mudcake was rich and very chocolatey, and the amount of spice it contained was just right to provide a bit of a kick! The marinated cherries were sweet and reminiscent of jam, a perfect accompaniment to the mudcake. The zonut itself was flakey, buttery and all you could really want from a cronut.

Pars the strawberry gran $9

Strawberry & white chocolate mousse, frangipane, parsley jelly and granola

A super light cake with subtle, fresh flavours. The mousse was light and fluffy while the cake base was spongey. The parsley jelly had a very obvious parsley taste on its own, but when paired with everything else it was barely noticeable. The granola added a crunchy texture and nuttiness into the mix, giving a well rounded dessert. We all shared this but I could have easily eaten the entire thing myself!

Parsley jelly layer!

Zumbarons for the trip home! A dozen for $30

I am so disappointed to report that although they were beautiful, they didn't live up to my expectations. The textures all varied from crumbly and dry to slightly chewy. I found that many of the fillings contained too much butter (I think?) that the flavours weren't coming through very well. For example, the Grape Hubba Bubba (far right). Just look at that filling to biscuit ratio! Honorable mentions go to the Berry Brulee (2nd from the right) and Malted Milkshake (the blue one) which were my favourites in terms of flavour and texture.

I was a little let down by the Zumbarons but the cake and Zonut were fantastic! Can't wait for my next visit so I can try the other beautiful things on display. Service was friendly and efficient, and the store is gorgeous!

Muratti's Cakes and Gateaux

For a bit of a sister bonding sesh, my sister and I went out for a morning coffee at Muratti's!

 So many gorgeous cakes!

 Latte

Salted caramel macaron

$9.60 altogether

It's all about the details! The dark chocolate dipped dried apricots (placed on the spoons) were a lovely little treat on the side to enjoy with the lattes.

They've finally picked up their game with the macarons! Or perhaps they are just more fresh. The past few times I've had the macarons, they've been extremely dry and crumbly - very unpleasant! This time, however, it was the complete opposite and definitely much more enjoyable. This is just my personal preference, but I prefer them to be slightly chewier.

Mini jam and cream eclair

Mini citron tart

$6.40 for both

The eclair's texture was too spongey and chewy for my liking and was overall lacking in flavour. Super pretty but not worth trying, unfortunately!
The citron is one of our absolute favourites - it has the perfect amount of sweetness with just the right amount of tang. Delicious!

It's impossible to dislike Muratti's, with it's delicious cakes and coffee, and consistently great service. Give it a go if you haven't already! Also, their cakes are perfect for birthdays. My family's favourites are the Citron, Concorde and Coffee & Bailey's.

Copious amounts of dessert!

Apart from a lovely 18th celebration last weekend, I was guilty of indulging in way too many sweets and carbs!

Early Saturday morning, prior to our study session, my friend and I were in Rundle Mall running a few errands when we spotted some 'cronuts' while walking past Signore's in the David Jones food court.

What's that? You're yet to discover the cronut? Let me quickly fill you in; a cronut is a croissant and donut hybrid first created by Dominique Ansel in New York. They've taken the world by storm, with 'imposters' appearing everywhere (see here). They've become so popular that people are even willing to fork out $100 per cronut in New York. Insanity!

Now, I call these 'cronuts', with quotation marks, because they don't seem to be as delicate and pristine as Dominique Ansels's (though I do appreciate that would be very difficult). 

We'd seen them the weekend before but thought we'd try Jenny's Bakery's cronuts first (the bakery in which cronuts first appeared in Adelaide, apparently). However, since we'd stopped here for coffee, we decided to try one anyway! We guiltily ordered a Raspberry cronut to share.

Raspberry cronut $6.50

It was definitely better than we thought. Not too sweet, even with all that cream and glaze, and the dough was nice and airy. However, we thought it could have been even flakier to capture more of the 'croissant' element of a cronut. Also, the presentation is not quite as delicate as ones we have seen - they seem to have been cut in half and filled with the cream. Nonetheless, a pretty solid effort and we rather enjoyed it.

- - -

That evening, while picking up my sister in Prospect, we decided to make a quick stop at Devour to pick up some takeaway desserts. Since we really enjoyed our previous visit, we expected to wowed get again!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Panna Cotta $8

5 pack of macarons $12

 Apologies for the dodgy lighting - I did what I could while sitting in my car!

From top to bottom: black sesame, salted caramel, red skin, peanut butter and jelly, grape hubba bubba

We actually found that they were too sweet, and that the texture was only improved by over night refrigeration (we didn't finish them all!). My favourite flavours were definitely red skin and grape hubba bubba! I find it amazing how they manage to capture those flavours in a macaron. Genius!

The Peanut Butter & Jelly Panna Cotta was delicious, however a little too sweet as well. I couldn't finish it in one sitting because I couldn't handle how sweet it was, mainly due to the layer of 'peanut butter' and jam on top. I definitely enjoyed the panna cotta part, though.

A little disappointing this time round, but I'm sure that won't stop me from going back and dining in properly!

- - -

As a post study session treat, my friends and I stopped at St Louis' for some ice cream!

Wild Strawberry Junior chocolate-dipped cone with extra cream and chocolate fudge $4.20

Peanut butter-cookie and caramel fudge $4.20

Two of us ordered this and it was delicious! Definitely better than what I ordered on my first visit.

Update + The Mac Factory

Hi everyone!

I'm very sorry for the lack of posts lately. Today I wanted to post a quick update of my life and what I've been up to since my last post.

Firstly, I'll give a quick mention to a place where I'd recommend you all visit if you haven't already and are a huge lover of macarons!

We were there on a Saturday afternoon so I think they were beginning to run low on macarons!

Left: 

Bottom layer

2 x Peppermint

2 x Salted Caramel

1 x Strawberries and Cream

1 x Espresso

Top layer

1 x Raspberry

1 x Jaffa 

Right:

1 x Strawberries and Cream

1 x Espresso

1 x Pistachio

The macarons here are ALWAYS on point. The texture is consistent every time I visit; chewy with the slightest crunch from the shells. The fillings are always deliciously flavoured and not too sweet. I've also ordered a macaron tower from here for my 17th birthday (below), and every single macaron was delicious! 

Sorry for the dodgy cropping - I was trying to conceal my friend's identity! 

This is probably my favourite place for macarons in Adelaide. I highly recommend it!

Now, back to my update! Unfortunately, I simply have not had the time to go out since school began again. I'm sure most of you would understand that Term 3 of a year 12's school year is quite possibly the most hectic and demanding term of all. Even after a three week break, I still didn't feel as though I was ready to go back. There was just so much work that had to be done, as well as plenty of new assignments/tests that were coming our way within the next few weeks.

There was also the UMAT to study for, which I did yesterday afternoon. They're not kidding when they say that it is the most stressful and difficult exam you might ever do. I am extremely glad that I decided to do a UMAT preparation course at the beginning of the year, because the practice really helped and I don't think I'd be as calm as I was yesterday without having completed it. For aspiring doctors/dentists/optometrists, I definitely recommend doing some form of UMAT preparation beforehand. In my opinion, it is not something that you should attempt without a prior knowledge of the types of questions and how to go about solving them. Also, for the lucky 2013 candidates, ACER decided to change the layout go the entire exam a few months before the test date! I'm so glad that it's over now and I don't have to think about it again until September, when we receive our results. As some of you may know, I'm aiming to study Optometry next year, so the UMAT is quite important to me! Another option I have been considering is to study Medicine and specialise in Opthalmology. However this route is 3 times longer than Optometry, which is slightly off putting!

In the second weekend of the holidays, I also had a driving test and I'm now a P-plater! I was, and still am, super excited about being able to drive on my own, though I must admit I was terrified while taking the test! It all went smoothly so I'm very happy. This is definitely a rite of passage for me, since now I have much more freedom because I don't have to rely on my parents to drive me around and they trust me to drive on my own.

Something I did in the last week of the holidays was study in a place with is different to my usual study environment. Since I was able to drive, I studied in town with one of my friends. We took the last hour off from studying and I drove us to the Mac Factory, one of our favourite places (see beginning of post)! We bought a selection of macarons, nearly all of which disappeared within the hour. We also wandered around in Chinatown for a while before going home. I think what was so significant about this was that we rarely get a chance to completely relax and do completely unplanned things, so it was great!

Now that August has arrived, I'm bracing myself for a month of birthdays! Today, my friend of 8 years turned 18 (Happy birthday J!). I also have my mum's birthday as well as a whole bunch of 18th birthdays to look forward to. So exciting!

Also, I think the countdown to the end of year 12 has now hit 10 school weeks... It's such a scary, yet exciting thought that my schooling life will be coming to an end so coon. Everything I've known for the past 13 years will be wrapping up in just a few months! However, I'm SO excited for uni life as well as the freedom that will come with it.

So that's it for my update - I don't want to bore you with any more details regarding my schooling!
I'll have a review or two up by early next week so stay tuned :)

Much love,

Vy
xo