Adriano Zumbo Patisserie

Adriano Zumbo is a well-known Australian patissier who creates unique desserts that are playful and executed with perfection. He was deemed ‘ the dark lord of pastry’ and the ‘sweet assassin’ on MasterChef for his inventive and complex desserts. So when he opened his first store in Melbourne, tucked away in a narrow street in South Yarra, there was no surprise that there would be people queuing up everyday to purchase his extraordinary desserts.

As expected there was a line out the front but it only took about 20 minutes for us to move to the front of the line. It takes about that long for you to decide what you want to order anyhow, so it works well. They have full sized cakes, mini cakes, macarons, chocolates and pastries. The flavours sound interesting and spark your curiosity. Sweet tooth's beware, you may want to order everything.

I was excited to try the ‘Zonut,’ and as expected, it was absolutely delicious! Finally we have a ‘cronut’ in Melbourne that is worthy of the craze. The layers of pastry pulled apart delicately like a croissant and the golden deep fried goodness and round holed shape like a doughnut make the Zonut a winner. It was light and fluffy, really delicious! There is jam and cream between the layers of pastry, jam on one side and cream on the other. Oh my! And if that wasn’t enough, it is then topped with pink icing. Zumbolicious!

Max had his hungry little eyes on the Zonut too. Sorry Max, it’s not for dogs. And plus Zonuts are not for sharing either they are too yummy.

We also tried a range of Zumbarons. Zumbarons are macarons, Zumbo style. There were mountains and mountains of zumbarons to choose from. Some of the unusual flavours that we tried were coconut and lychee (surprise lychee gel in the centre), salted butter popcorn (deliciously buttery), strawberry, wasabi & green tea (didn’t like it), bread and butter pudding (tastes just like it) and finger bun (my fave!) The flavours taste exactly as their description. Zumbo’s detail to flavour is impeccable.

It’s more of a take away patisserie, the store is quite small and there are not many seats around. The seats kind of deter you from sitting down anyway because they are funny looking. I can see the potential in the concept of white and pink vintage chairs covered with melting scoops of ice cream, the idea is fun but they are absolutely hideous. Just saying. No matter, it’s not about the chairs, it’s about the sweets, and the sweets are amazing!

We also tried the lemon meringue tart, which is a tart with a mound of lemon gel and lemon curd crowned with a piped rose of Italian meringue. It was yummy however each bite I took made my jaw zing with the strong tang of lemon. Good though. We also tried the BBB, which was Blackberry jelly, Blackberry caramel with Buttermilk ganache contained in a rectangular box of malt crumble. Blackberry Bonanza!

They had a range of cakes on display, which looked deceivingly simple from the outside but had layers upon layers of different flavours and technique. For example there was the annoying orange cake, which is a flourless chocolate cake with orange caramel, olive sable, chocolate & clove mousse and orange & white chocolate jam. Another one available was the famous V8 vanilla cake, which was featured on MasterChef with eight intricate layers of deliciousness.

Just a side note, they also have sausage rolls, pies and quiches in case you want something savoury to eat aside your box of sweets. It's great to have an Adriano Zumbo Patisserie in Melbourne. Creative and quirky desserts made with precision.

Olives x

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie
Address: 12 Claremont St, South Yarra, VIC 3141
Website: http://adrianozumbo.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ilovezumbo
Trading Hours: Mon-Sun 7am - 7pm (everyday)